Another 2002 Honda 225HP overheating issue

Quite an interesting turn of events this weekend on my first overnight island trip. We went out to an island 60 miles out and motor ran perfect all day, anchor up for the night lift motor up a bit so water can't get in the exhaust. Next morning we wake up to get into fishing grounds and all of a sudden a long beep and my motor turns off while an abrupt shake..How could this be? it ran fine all day yesterday.

Anyways we couldn't go past 18-20 MPH without this happening throughout the day..We went home early but literally can only go 12-15mph the whole way home. The motor sounded completely fine. I changed the oil two trips before. tried putting mono down the pisser to see if it was clogged..was pissing the same. not TOO strong not too weak to say the least.

I did some research and it seems it can point into the thermostat and or the impeller broke up a bit and clogged tiny bits in the cooling system. I'm thinking about going in and looking at the thermostat..

Can you guys give any advice what course i should take? how many thermostats does the honda 225 have? one on each side of the exhaust?

Many thanks, Mr Main22

check your thermostats - 10mm socket w/ extension...remove the muffler on the top, set aside the cables, and carefully remove the thermostat covers...are you running in salt water? They're probably pretty choked up with salt or even grass and other stuff the engine sucks up! Let us know how that goes.

Just found that my OIL level is extremely low after coming back in. Below the first line. Not good. I will report back..I had just done an oil change 2 months ago and with only two trips.

I had a similar issue...been keeping a much sharper eye on the oil level. Good luck with it - and may as well check the thermostats whole you’re at it!

Now, i got a question..How will i know if i damaged the motor with it running low on oil? There was no smoking etc..Actually it ran very well even at 12-15 but just wouldn't go past that because the beep and shut off would happen.

Thanks again guys.

Not sure, to be honest. I'm sure somebody can offer a technical answer at some point. But for now, keep a close eye on your oil level.

Whoa!! Going 60 miles offshore and not checking your oil first???
You really need to "restratagize" your "pretrip" inspections!

Anyway, if you could still see oil on the dipstick it's highly probable that no damage was done.

ON THE OTHER HAND...if no oil was visible on the dipstick...I would suggest another oil change...because...at the very MINIMUM....the oil load itself was likely stressed to the point it's not reliable lubrication for that engine anymore.

If you're really concerned about engine damage, you can:

Cut open the filter and check the media for metal particles.

Perform an engine oil pressure test with a mechanical gauge.

Send a sample of the drain oil to an oil testing laboratory for comprehensive chemical/metallurgical analysis (about $50 and up per sample)

Good luck.

Do I understand that you got an alarm and withing 20 seconds the engine powered down on its own to about 1800 rpm? If so, only two things will cause that - 1) overheat, if so, then engine will shut down completely if not corrected within 20 seconds. 2.) Low oil; pressure, in which case the engine will continue to run but not more than 1800 rpm. It sounds like the latter from what you wrote. So top it off with oil. Run it and see if that didn't fix the immediate problem.

Your real problem is finding out where to oil went. These engines seldom wear to the point where they allow a significant amount of oil to bypass the rings. However, the valve stem seals will deteriorate and leak. But if that happens, you should be seeing a considerable amount of white smoke coming out of the exhaust. Pull your plugs. If leaking valve stem seals, it will show up as oil on the plug electrodes. While you are pulling the plugs check for oil in the cavities in the valve cover that house the coil and spark plug. The seals in that cover can also leak a considerable amount of oil.

@jgmo

Totally learned my lesson with checking the oil every trip, i usually do give the boat a inspection before a trip like this but since i had changed it two months ago with only two trips i didn't think about it twice. Lesson learned

@chawk

I did do the valves and will have to see what it looks like once i open it up. Haven't had time to look it up. I didn't have any smoke whats so ever coming out of the exhaust so that is a good thing.

What surprises me is i wasn't getting a low oil pressure indicator on my dash.

i'm 100% positive motor was acting like this because low on oil and it would prevent me from going past a certain threshold. I will report back as to what i see.

Once again, thank you guys

Just a quick comment, don't panic too.much, it only takes 2lts to take the level from just touching the dipstick to the full mark, that means you still had at least 6.5 ltrs, which is more than enough to prevent engine damage.

Greetings!

I went ahead and took apart the motor today and immediately noticed that it was leaking oil on the cylinder block where you take off the seals to do the valves. They were definitely not seated properly and also the ones that go around the spark plug. Does anybody know what part number I might need for the ones that seat around the spark plug shaft.

Also went ahead and checked the thermostats..man they looked worn out I took some pictures, is there any way I can get this gunk off?
Ordered 19300-ZY3-023 thermostats, there was two different thermostats i believe these are the ones i needed

Ordered a impeller kit as well

Really learning more than i would have ever imagined about this motor but here goes nothing



Thank you again guys let me know what you think

I think you are on the right track - replace valve cover seals and spark plug seals. Replace the t-stats and clean up the t-stat seating area. I use a wire cone brush (gently!) on the t-stat area then get the last stuff out with a Dremel. If you end up with a punch of deep scars on the t-stat seats where it mates with the upper section, especially where the O rings fit, you might want to consider using a non-hardening gasket sealer - no silicon.

Go to www.boats.net to find the right parts. Go to the section where is lists parts by horsepower (225) and pick the one that includes your engine serial number.

Hey Guys,

Another update..Yesterday i received all the parts shortly after getting home from work and quickly went outside to breakdown the engine.. (I didn't even relax 5 minutes)

To start, i went ahead and cleaned up the thermostats inlets and installed the new thermostats with new o-rings. Easy Peasy.

Then i started breaking down everything to take off the valve covers. After doing this a few times you become very efficient at doing this. Anyways after quick inspection indeed both valve cover seals were in real rough shape. I didn't notice how bad they were previously. went ahead and pulled them

Then re-concentrated my efforts to the valve plug seal tubes. This proved to be an effort but once i figured out how to take them out it was a breeze. now i have to say these were completely torn apart..and totally leaking into where my spark plugs were..no worries i cleaned it out.

Inspected the spark plugs..motor was def over heating a bit as the spark plugs were a bit white..wondering if i should change them?

I buttoned everything back together and started her up..no problem what so ever. She sounds amazing. Now i just need to do an oil change and i'm calling it from here and trying to take her out this Sunday. I will report on what i see.

Many thanks guys.

White spark plugs with unleaded fuel are perfectly normal, sounds good!

Sounds like to covered the bases well. Let us know how the sea trial goes.

Hey guys,

great news! Took out the boat as I said today and it ran flawlessly..put in about 60 miles round trip and not one hiccup..came home and checked oil levels etc! No leaks to speak of!

so lesson learned after doing a valve job, make sure seals are in decent condition to use them again and if not CHANGE them..also when putting valve cover back on..make sure the valve seal tubes are properly sealing the tube around. Don’t have anything sticking out

thanks again guys

GREAT! Thanks for letting us know and providing valuable lessons learned.