Outboard Motor Trim Pump

This is the hydraulic trim and tilt unit for a 90 hp Honda outboard.  The unit did not work, so I checked the resistence on the electrical leads and found that it was an open circuit (infinate resistance).  The most likely cause of this is stuck or worn brushes in the motor.  In this photo the motor has been removed and is laying on the work bench, the red stuff is hydraulic fluid where the motor mounts.

When I took the motor apart there was a bit of rust and corossion inside.  The brushes appeared to be OK, but one of the springs had rusted away. 

This motor is built with an internal overheat protection.  It is hard to see with all the rust, but there is two round electrical contacts mounted on a bimetal spring.  If the motor overheats the spring will open the contacts and stop the motor. 

The contacts did not work anymore, so I soldered a jumper wire across them.  There will no longer be an over heat control on the motor, but I think that it is unlikely to be needed in our cold climate.  I reinstalled this part and replaced the spring in the brush holder and the motor runs great now.

Honda 90

I ran my motor in the test tank today and it was not pumping any cooling water.  I pulled the lower unit off and checked out the water pump.  As you can see in the photo the impeller on the right is a little bit shorter than the new one on the left. 

I also made a few adjustments to the throttle linkage and changed a faulty kill switch.  When I put the motor back in the tank everything worked good.  Now I need some nice weather so I can finish up the boat.

C.O.

Honda 90 Outboard

Today I put the last few parts and pieces together for the motor that is going on our boat.  When I bought the motor it was set up with remote controls.  I decided to convert it to tiller steering for our boat.  A tiller is simpler than a steering wheel to install and maintain.  It also leaves the whole boat open and uncluttered.  It should make it easier to fit more cargo in the boat this way.

I was lucky and found a brand new tiller for a 90 Honda on Ebay for only $200.  Unfortunately I was not so lucky connecting it to my motor.  The bolt holes that it connects with were tapped some kind of odd metric thread.  I think that they were made for a Honda specific stud that should have come with the motor from the factory.  I searched all over for a bolt to fit it but came up with nothing.  Even Mcaster Carr, the worlds greatest hardware store did not carry anything that would fit.

Eventually I decided to drill the holes out and tap them to 7/16-20.  This is an odd sized fine thread bolt, but is is the only thing that I could get to fit in the available space.  I called the auto parts store in Nome and they amazingly stock fine thread bolts in just the size I needed.  I gave them my credit card info so they could charge me $1.85 for the bolts and $12 to ship them out here on the next plane.  The bolts made it here in the evening and I rushed out to finish up the project.  When I opened up the package I realized they had mistakenly sent me 1/2-20 bolts!

I called them back the next day and explained the slip up, the lady at the parts store apologized and agreed to send me the right ones for free!  Unfortunately the weather was bad the planes couldn't fly for a day and a half. 

Today the weather cleared, the planes flew, and the correct bolts finally made it.

C.O.

Yamaha Outboard

Sometimes what's in the shop, isn't in the shop.

We have a lagoon near our village that makes a natural harbor where you can keep your boat safe from the big waves on the ocean beach. This is where most people keep their boats. Today I was down at the lagoon working on a newer Yamaha outboard. The owner told me that the wires from battery get hot enough to smoke and the motor is hard to start.

It turns out that the main battery cables had a small damaged area that had allowed the copper wires to corrode. The corroded section of wire caused so much resistance that the wires did actually heat up and smoke when you tried to start the motor. The salt water environment is hard on electrical equipment.

It was a simple job to cut off the wires before the bad spot and put new terminals on the ends. I crimped and soldered the new terminals on and reconnected them to the motor.

C.O.

Suzuki DT 20

Today I spent some of my time in the shop scraping the head for a Suzuki DT 20 outboard motor. It had a blown head gasket, a bad water pump, a cracked tiller arm, and a was in need of a general clean up/ tune up.

The water pump impeller is an easy fix, just take four bolts out and replace the impeller. I found another old motor to take the tiller arm off, just two bolts and the two throttle cables. But, the old gaskets on the head and water jacket are very stubborn. I think when the motor over heated (from the frozen water pump) the gaskets got cooked into a rock hard state. I may end up flat filing it and then sanding the gasket surface on a large flat plate?

C.O.

Honda 90 Outboard

I currently have a 90 hp Honda outboard motor in the shop. I bought it in non running condition from somebody here in Brevig a few years ago. I am fixing it up to put on our boat.

The motor has very few hours on it, but it was sunk in saltwater once. This led to some corrosion in the ignition wiring, the starter motor, and the power trim pump.

I was able to track down the faulty connections in the wiring and clean them up. I swapped out the starter motor and trim unit from another broken motor that I have. I also changed the water pump and thermostat just to make sure everything was in good shape. Next step is to put the lower unit on and drop it in my test tank.

The motor was originally set up with remote controls (steering wheel and throttle lever) but for my simple open boat I decided to put a tiller control on the motor. I was able to find a brand new Honda 90 tiller on Ebay for only $200. You can see it laying on the floor under the motor. It only takes a few bolts and a couple of wires to connect it and then it will be ready to run.

C.O.