Dunked Motor

[UOPaul]

Hi Everyone, First post just looking for some advice.

I recently bought a 25hp 1983 Mariner Engine. I am a novice boater, and I learned a very harsh lesson on the first trip out with the motor. The motor was not mounted securely enough, and it wound up in the water. I was able to pull the motor out fairly quickly and get it back to my house within an hour.

I pulled the plugs out right away, poured the water out of the motor, sprayed lots of WD40, and put motor oil directly the cylinders. Flushed out the motors fuel, and pumped clean fuel in. After I felt all the water was out, I tried to start it. I was able to pull it, but I was not getting any spark. It was Saturday night, so nothing was really open at the time. Next morning I was not able to turn the fly wheel any more.

Now, I have called a few of the local boat motor repair places, and none of them really want to deal with it. Between the cost of parts, and labor it would probably be more than the value of the engine to have it repaired.

Is this motor worth trying to rebuild myself, if the parts are less than around $300.00 I will try and do it myself. I have the shop manual already. It is a pull start motor so there are not really a lot of electronics on the motor, and the ones that it does have appear to be fairly inexpensive. Would this be a very difficult job to do? I have not really worked on anything other than a lawn mower motor, and that was 15 years ago.

[Fanie]

The motor should not get damaged by getting dunked if the correct procedure was taken. The electronics are supposed to be waterproof.

The motor oil may not have been such a good idea, it may be what is preventing your motor from starting now.

If you can, get as much oil out of the engine. Don't disassemble the machine, take the plugs out and run the starter motor. Cranking it with lots of oil in it can break pistons or it just wouldn't start for the plug fouling up.

Clean the plugs, they shouldn't be oily. You could make sure there is spark. Put the plugs back and try to start. Remember you must have the water pump submerged in a drum or a house pipe with muffs, otherwise you will burn the water pump impeller. You may have to do this a couple of times...

Next time - if submerged in salt water rinse well with fresh water, dry the machine , crank without plugs to get the water out, plugs in and start as soon as possible. Two stroke machines will work themselves clean in a very short time.

If you cannot turn the flywheel and the plugs are in, there may be a liquid buildup left over in it a cylinder(s). Remove plugs and try again.

[Knut Sand]

I agree with Fanie... Been there, done that.

Was the engine running when it got soaked?

Remember CRC556 is your friend (as is the HP15C).

Spray with fresh water.
Get the plugs out, clean the cylinders with alcohol, water dillutes in alchohol (NO, NOT THE SINGLE MALT!) same for oil, The carburettor should also be drained, there may be water/ oil in the house beneath the cylinders (probably), sooo, you keep the plugs out, and pull, pulll, pulll, pullll, pulllll etc.
More alchohol (to the engine) repeat the pull, pulll part. You may add something to yrself, probably an ok idea.

Dry out sylinders with compressed air from time to time.

Rest

Spray in a little CRC556 in the cylinder

Insert new spark plugs (watch the treads...)

Pray'n Pull. Choke on/ off (It will be an advantage if you knew this engines' setting for trouble free startup procedure...).

It will probably not start the first time, that' where the Single Malt comes in.

Repeat procedure.

3 full cycles.

Try again the next day. IF no succsess I would consider a complete stripdown ( or an ad... ).

If it starts, its going to smoke down the area, so do not do it indoors...

Yea, forgot; check spark plugs for sparks, If the wire to the spark plugs are old, these may need replacing (beeing in 1 position for 20-30 years, suddenly beeing pulled on/ off etc.).

Good luck

[UOPaul]

I drained out all the fluids, and I was able to turn the motor again. I thought I had poured it all out. But there was still oil in the lower cylinder. Once it was all out I was able to turn it slowly. I drained it all out, and got it spinning by hand at normal speed. After cleaning out the plugs, and a good shot of starter fluid in the carb, holy crap it started up on the first pull. It ran smooth for about 10 minutes, then it stalled out, I think the plugs got gummed up because I had put extra 2 stroke in the gas to lube the engine up better. Not a lot extra, about 45:1 instead of 50:1. I didn't see water coming out either , even though it is submerged so I think maybe the impellor is gone. But that is a lot better than a whole new motor.

[Knut Sand]

Originally Posted by UOPaul

It ran smooth for about 10 minutes, then it stalled out, I think the plugs got gummed up because I had put extra 2 stroke in the gas to lube the engine up better. Not a lot extra, about 45:1 instead of 50:1. I didn't see water coming out either , even though it is submerged so I think maybe the impellor is gone. But that is a lot better than a whole new motor.

Good, its running, but be careful with running an engine without cooling....(Close your eyes and think of the material in the cylinder walls being chiseled away, while the cylinder pistons getting hotter and hotter, expanding due to the mechanical abuse, until they don't fit in the hole, now; think of what compression ratio you'll have when the temperature has normalized - in many cases you're lucky, but not always...).

You've got the manual, replace the impeller. A steel wire inserted and messed about in the hole for the control beam for the cooling water may also result into something.

Just me thinking aloud here:
If it runs for minutes and stops, no water coming out from the control beam; Impeller gone, sounds plausible.
Vacum build up in gas tank; also plausible.
Dirt in the carburettor; mnjaa, maybe.
(never assume straightaway that you know the fault....).

[UOPaul]

Running now, not stalling out. Have plenty of water coming through it. It is sputtering every 10 seconds or so, and letting out a big poof of blue smoke. Sometimes the sputter will go away for a few minutes but it seems to keep coming back. Been running about 20 minutes now. Is the blue smoke most likely just the oil residue from what I poured in to the cylinders? I am going to let it run for the next hour or so. Tomorrow I will buy new plugs for it.

[charmc]

First, congratulations. You took some basic steps, then asked for help, then followed the suggestions. You got it running again. Nice work!

The occasional blue smoke spout is probably residual oil from your recovery procedure. I don't think it's a problem. The new plugs should help. How did it run before the dunking? Could be in need of a carb rebuild (simple kit) or just some adjusting. There are websites and forums dedicated to every make of outboard motor; some have downloadable service manuals. Search and ye shall find.

[Knut Sand]

The WD40 you poured in the cylinders, have seeped into the engine house, beneath the pistons (2 stroke engine uses the vacuum created beneath the pistons (when they're moving up) to draw gas/2 stroke oil thruigh the carburettor, ok now you have some WD40 there, It'll "wash" out, but until then you have accept the blue smoke.. (I would probably have done the same, if I hadn't been able to start it the same following evening/ night... (been there, done that...).

My personal meaning also is, when everything seem to be ok (blue smoke almost gome, smoother running), I would have replaced the spark plugs with new ones.

btw; gratulations (and now you know why some of us have a small loosehanging chain from the engine to a strongpiont in the boat :-) ).

[UOPaul]

Yes. The motor will be reinforced. I am going to replace the boards on the transom. Bolt the motor all the way through the transom instead of just the clamps. I am also going to chain the motor to a strong point as well. This was a lesson that was harshly learned that I am glad the motor survived to take me out again.

After an hour or so of running last night with the poofs of blue smoke, they are still coming but other than that the motor is running very smooth, like it did before going in to the water. So ran for quite awhile, then I shut it down for the night and pulled the plugs out. The water in the barrel had a big slick of nasty oil on the surface of it, the exhaust blows straight down in to water almost, so those poofs are hitting the water. The plugs have a thick coat of black soot on them. I am going to pick up a few sets of new plugs today, and let the motor burn through a few gallons of gas in my backyard on saturday.

Having just purchased our first house, there is no extra money for anything in our funds. So this boat is going to be most of our entertainment for the summer. Small motor, good fuel economy is hours of inexpensive fun. When the motor went under I just saw a very boring year ahead of us for my family.

Thanks to everyone who posted here with ideas on how to help in my situation. It was/is greatly appreciated. I was not looking forward to going back to standing on the beach and casting while I had a motorless boat sitting in my back yard.

[UOPaul]

I took the boat out again for the first time since the dunking yesterday. It ran ok. When I had it in gear, it was fine most of the time, but I had some stalling issues when it was shifting. Also, it I noticed that when I allowed it to idle yesterday it would make a squeak noise sometimes then stall. I went in early because I did not trust the motor to run the way it should.

[thudpucker]

Fiddle with the mixture screw at Idle.
1 1/2 turn out to start with.
Try to get it running smoothly, adjust the Idle speed to keep the Rpms up.

The puff of smoke after a miss can be the unburned fuel of the Miss, being burned by the ignited pulse coming along after it.

The Squeek could be a 'cabinet rattle' from the engine vibrating so much.
You may have to pull the Carb off and clean some 'stuff' out of it.

[BHOFM]

You need to go back to the 50:1 oil mix, you may have
way too much oil in the fuel mix. That can cause the smoke
and sputters!

Always mix your fuel carefully, in a separate container.
An empty one, put in the proper amount of fuel and
the proper amount of oil.

If you have a six gallon tank and you dump a pint of
oil in and can only get 5+ gallons of fuel and do this
several times, you can quickly end up with a 25:1
mix!

[kayaker2]

I dunked my 25 xd mercury in november (was not Running) by sliding off a boat lift. no water in side it ran fine later that November, no problem starting at all.
After 4 months of winter the 84 mercury had plenty of spark,compression and fuel but would not pop. took it to the mechanic. to look at.
What happend, under the fly wheel ice must have formed and expanded under the magnets causing them to brake loose. The adhesive or welds did not hold. After thawing in the spring they shifted during the start up process, throwing the timing off. stopped by the shop to discuss the problem, I noticed the magnets were not 180 degrees apart. He ordered a new one and fired right up.
That one sure had the mechanic stumped for a few days.
Bob