Rookie mistake, need help

Hello,

As indicated I made a totally rookie huge mistake. I have recently acquired an 4 stroke 4 HP Yamaha outboard. I think the year is maybe 2012. Anyways, I laid the motor over on its side, the incorrect side, for about 12 hours. I then placed the motor on my boat and set off from the dock without checking the oil or gas which I had topped off before laying on its side. About 3 minutes from the dock the motor cut off. I was able to recrank but it quickly turned off again. The flywheel then locked up preventing any further user error. After I got back to dock I discovered my oil well completely empty. I had the motor on an old moving blanket which may have soaked up the oil but I am wondering if there is any oil somewhere in the engine. Where does the oil "leak" to? Any thoughts If I should just top her back up and try to fire it or take it to professional to be serviced? Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks

rh123 said:

Hello,

As indicated I made a totally rookie huge mistake. I have recently acquired an 4 stroke 4 HP Yamaha outboard. I think the year is maybe 2012. Anyways, I laid the motor over on its side, the incorrect side, for about 12 hours. I then placed the motor on my boat and set off from the dock without checking the oil or gas which I had topped off before laying on its side. About 3 minutes from the dock the motor cut off. I was able to recrank but it quickly turned off again. The flywheel then locked up preventing any further user error. After I got back to dock I discovered my oil well completely empty. I had the motor on an old moving blanket which may have soaked up the oil but I am wondering if there is any oil somewhere in the engine. Where does the oil "leak" to? Any thoughts If I should just top her back up and try to fire it or take it to professional to be serviced? Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks

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Does anyone have any advice or thoughts on this? Does anyone know if it is possible the oil leaked deeper into the motor? Does anyone know about the process of the oil transferring to the motor during use and if it is possible that leaning the motor on the wrong side could expedite the rate of flow? If anyone has any thoughts please share them. Thank you for your consideration.

Buelller.......Bueller......

The oil would end up in the cylinder, which would explain why your flywheel "locked up". Have your pulled spark plug to check?

Jay1234 said:

The oil would end up in the cylinder, which would explain why your flywheel "locked up". Have your pulled spark plug to check?

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Thanks for the thought Jay. I have been wondering what would cause the flywheel to lock up. My thoughts were there is some mechanism in the motor that kicked the flywheel into lockup to prevent further damage. I am going to try and look at this after work today. Many thanks for the suggestion!

to circle the wagons i took jay's advice and pulled the spark plug to see if there was oil in cylinder. no oil. I decided to top her up on oil and then try and dissemble the flywheel to see if I could start it. the oil went in.........and immediately came out the other side of the block. The oil drain screw was missing. I am not sure how or why this screw is not there. I did not remove it. I dont know why I would not have noticed the oil flowing directly out when i filled it to use originally. either the screw fell out or was not there from my taking possession the day before my trip. Perhaps there was some debris clogging the hole until the motor was laid on its side. Seems like a stretch Not sure where to go from here short of pulling the whole thing apart. mechanic says its anybodies guess how much damage is in there. He said not financially viable for them to start pulling it apart. May cost more to repair then buy a new motor . Classic salesmen. So I think I get to learn how to dissemble and repair a motor or whatever the outcome will be. Anyone have any thoughts or ideas? Hoe much damage can be done running an engine without oil for maybe 5 minutes and then an additional 1-2 minutes? I know that is probably a dumb question but is it possible the motor is seized and could be dissembled and reassembled with minimal damage? Any thoughts appreciated. Thank you for your expert opinions.

If you pull the plugs and it still won't spin over, then you would be best off pulling the powerhead and disassembling it...especially since it was run under a load...

Your motor is junk only plan on a complete rebuild. (Expensive) You ran the motor with no oil how good do you think it can be?

Toasted, brother. Maybe look for a used powerhead. If not, there is a beautiful little Suzuki 4 hp 4 stroke on eBay out in Pennsylvania for 900. You could still get a couple hundred for parts out of your old motor too.