I dearest the smell of two-stroke frazzle in the morning. And if your outboard was new during the Reagan assistants, you know what I mean. Those former outboards were built tough, and plenty of them are even so running strong today.

Similar anything mechanical, even so, an old outboard needs some love. Rubber ages, parts wear, and corrosion runs its form. Pretty presently that faithful old Johnson is letting y'all down. Read on for some tips to aid your old outboard avoid or overcome the ravages of fourth dimension.

old outboard

Give that sometime outboard some intendance and attention, and it'll run like new for years to come.


Purchase the Volume


A service manual will provide valuable guidance. Usually available from authorized marine dealers but as well from on-line service literature dealers, or even on eBay, the service transmission will explicate how to take things autonomously and put them back together, list essential specifications and maintenance data, and include details like the location of all lubrication points.

Fuel System


Age, heat, and ethanol can deteriorate rubber and plastic components in the fuel system. This can cause unsafe fuel leaks or allow air to exist fatigued into the organisation and make the motor difficult to kickoff or keep running. Fuel lines will get hard and brittle, and actually deteriorate from the inside-out.

fuel line

This fuel line is only most x years sometime, simply feels stiff. Cut information technology open and it'due south easy to come across the inner liner is falling apart, probably from excessive ethanol exposure. This was a problem with the silvery-colored fuel line used by Mercury and Yamaha a few years agone. The deteriorating liner will restrict fuel period and particles can pause loose and contaminate the fuel filter or the carburetor.

Aged fuel pump diaphragms and bank check valves can also brand an outboard difficult to start. Information technology'southward not besides big a job to just replace all of the fuel lines on an outboard with hose made of modern materials designed to withstand ethanol. Get marine-specific, ethanol-rated fuel line from your dealer. There are also kits available to rebuild pulse-type fuel pumps that include new, ethanol-tolerant diaphragms and bank check valves. Same goes for a kit to rebuild the carburetors. If the carb kit doesn't include a new float, be sure to also replace that component. A rehabilitated fuel organisation will be rubber and part at height efficiency.

Water Pump


It doesn't touch fuel, but the prophylactic impeller of the water pump will get dry and stiff with age, especially if the motor is not used frequently. If the motor has seen a lot of hours, the impeller vanes may exist worn or scored. Even if you see h2o streaming from the tell-tale on the side of the motor, the water pump may not be delivering full pressure to the cooling system, and when the pump finally fails you may non discover until the motor overheats. Replacing the impeller is really cheap insurance. Also inspect the pump housing, which on many motors can be replaced if information technology'due south been scored past abrasive sand. Finally, inspect the water intake port(s) on the lower unit to brand sure they are not blocked with debris–a potent wire tin be used to poke them clear.

Propeller


Obviously if the propeller is in crude shape, a replacement or a repair is going to ameliorate overall performance. Fifty-fifty if the prop looks okay, its blades may exist slightly bent from impacting a soft bottom or the bract cupping may be worn; it's thus no longer in balance or correctly pitched. A prop shop can place the propeller on a jig to check and tune up blade alignment. Of course, propeller design has come a long style in the by 30 years. If y'all're still running a prop produced before the advent of figurer-aided pattern, a step up to a newer model could make a big difference in performance and economy.

While yous've got the prop off the motor, check for fishing line wrapped around the shaft near the propshaft seal; it tin can destroy that seal and let h2o enter the gearcase.

propeller hub

Note the small cracks forming in the dried-out prophylactic hub cushion of this propeller. The rubber also feels hard when pressed with a fingernail. It's possible to go the hub replaced, only a fresh prop might exist a better investment in the long term.

The really weak link on an old prop is the prophylactic hub cushion. Similar the fuel organization and the h2o pump impeller, the safe hub material gets hard and dry equally it ages and is constantly exposed to hot and acidic exhaust. The bail between hub splines and the butt of the prop tin fail when the hub fabric dries out, leaving the propshaft disconnected from the prop. Beware an old prop from dealer stock—a marine tech I know idea he'd struck pay dirt when he found a 30-year-one-time NOS stainless-steel Mariner prop for his 25 HP motor, gathering dust in a dealer stockroom. Even though information technology was "NOS" (new on shelf) the hub was dry and spun out the second time he used the prop.

Spark Plugs and Wires


Most outboard owners know to throw a new gear up of plugs in a two-stroke outboard every season. But like everything else rubbery on an outboard, oestrus and ozone volition cause the spark plug wires or cables to age with time and they should also be replaced. Old wires volition experience stiff or breakable, and volition develop pocket-sized cracks in the insulation that can let current to arc out of the wires. One style to cheque for arcing is to get-go the motor in the dark with the cowl off, and await for white or bright blueish flashing where the current is escaping the cables and grounding somewhere on the motor. New plug cables will ensure all that current reaches the plugs.

Rebuild the Recoil


If your motor has a transmission rope-commencement (the so-called Armstrong Organization), it will probable do good from a rebuild. Mounted on pinnacle of the powerhead, the recoil is exposed to a lot of engine heat, and besides gets baked in the hot sun, especially under a black cowl. The lubricating grease gets old and waxy, and the entire mechanism can become polluted with dirt and minerals from the water. The rope itself will age and become potent and become decumbent to breaking, usually at its end where it'south crimped around the spool or pulley.

recoil starter

A make clean, well-lubricated recoil starter is a pleasure to use. To audit the rope, pull it out all the way. If information technology's frayed or stiff, it should be replaced.

The service manual will be especially helpful for this task, equally the recoil often has a number of small parts and a spring or two to deal with. Get it apart and use solvent to make clean off whatever sometime grease. Replace whatsoever parts that announced worn, similar rope guides or pawls that grip the flywheel. Re-lube so reassemble with a new rope or cablevision.

Finally, requite that onetime outboard a hug—everyone needs some love now and again.

Written by: Charles Plueddeman

Charles Plueddeman is Boats.com's outboard, trailer, and PWC practiced. He is a one-time editor at Boating Magazine and contributor to many national publications since 1986.