OldBoatOldNewbie
Contributing Member
Hello everyone,
As my User Name suggests, I’m old (60+) yet a newbie (1-) to boating. Loving it so far. If someone can provide me with a bit of guidance given the below synopsis, I’d greatly appreciate it.
Thinking I’d start small, last year I bought an old Cimarron boat with a ‘86 Evinrude 70 hp outboard. I believe it is the original engine that came with the boat, both ‘86. They are in great shape for their age and I’d like to get a few years out of them.
So, I was living in MA and this past summer and ran on fresh water lakes and everything was great. There are 2 portable 6.6 gal fuel tanks that came with the setup and still had full tanks so I used much of the fuel from those. I moved to TX and took the boat with me. First time I took it out in brackish water, I wanted to fill the tanks, so I did with unleaded fuel. Half way out I realized that it’s a 2-stroke engine and I hadn’t put an oil mixture in (old AND dumb). I turned around right away and headed back to the dock. As I got about 100 yards out I throttled down to half speed but in realizing I was still a way out I throttled back up. When I did, there was no additional power. So, I moved the throttle to neutral and back slowly, giving it more gas. It still moved, but at a speed that creates a large wake. That’s as fast as it would go. As I brought it into the dock, the no wake speed throttle setting worked fine, the idle worked fine but I didn’t want to attempt anything more. I just got it out of the water.
In the readings that I’m doing on multiple forums, I get everything from the engine is ruined to blow the carbon out to rebuild the carbs, etc …. Clearly something is not right, but it’s still running at idle and above so I’m thinking the engine is not ruined, just needs to be fixed.
Here’s what I’ve checked so far, and the results:
1. Removed the fuel filter. No build up of any sediment or discoloration at all.
2. Removed the spark plugs (3). They looked relatively clean of any misfire with slight oil on the screw threads.
3. Removed the black plastic plate over the carburetors. Everything looked very clean. No soot or smoke streaks.
4. Removed both fuel tanks. Cleaned gas and some minor debris from the tanks. They are clean and ready for new mixture.
5. Removed the fuel line and suction pump from tanks to engine and ordered new ones.
6. Removed propeller and checked for any fishing line, etc…. Nothing noted. Prop in decent shape along with lower unit.
Here’s what I’m thinking of doing, depending on responses to this post:
1. Buy BRP Engine Tuner and follow the instructions.
2. Buy 2-stroke outboard motor oil TC-W3 and mix according to directions. Should I add drops of oil to the fuel filter and spark plug access holes directly for any priming as the last fuel that passed didn’t have any?
3. Find non-ethanol gas and fill tanks with it.
4. Take it for a test spin.
Any guidance and/or advice would be greatly appreciated. I am hopeful the engine doesn’t need to be rebuilt and looking for honest opinions and recommendations.
Thanks so much for reading.
VR, John
As my User Name suggests, I’m old (60+) yet a newbie (1-) to boating. Loving it so far. If someone can provide me with a bit of guidance given the below synopsis, I’d greatly appreciate it.
Thinking I’d start small, last year I bought an old Cimarron boat with a ‘86 Evinrude 70 hp outboard. I believe it is the original engine that came with the boat, both ‘86. They are in great shape for their age and I’d like to get a few years out of them.
So, I was living in MA and this past summer and ran on fresh water lakes and everything was great. There are 2 portable 6.6 gal fuel tanks that came with the setup and still had full tanks so I used much of the fuel from those. I moved to TX and took the boat with me. First time I took it out in brackish water, I wanted to fill the tanks, so I did with unleaded fuel. Half way out I realized that it’s a 2-stroke engine and I hadn’t put an oil mixture in (old AND dumb). I turned around right away and headed back to the dock. As I got about 100 yards out I throttled down to half speed but in realizing I was still a way out I throttled back up. When I did, there was no additional power. So, I moved the throttle to neutral and back slowly, giving it more gas. It still moved, but at a speed that creates a large wake. That’s as fast as it would go. As I brought it into the dock, the no wake speed throttle setting worked fine, the idle worked fine but I didn’t want to attempt anything more. I just got it out of the water.
In the readings that I’m doing on multiple forums, I get everything from the engine is ruined to blow the carbon out to rebuild the carbs, etc …. Clearly something is not right, but it’s still running at idle and above so I’m thinking the engine is not ruined, just needs to be fixed.
Here’s what I’ve checked so far, and the results:
1. Removed the fuel filter. No build up of any sediment or discoloration at all.
2. Removed the spark plugs (3). They looked relatively clean of any misfire with slight oil on the screw threads.
3. Removed the black plastic plate over the carburetors. Everything looked very clean. No soot or smoke streaks.
4. Removed both fuel tanks. Cleaned gas and some minor debris from the tanks. They are clean and ready for new mixture.
5. Removed the fuel line and suction pump from tanks to engine and ordered new ones.
6. Removed propeller and checked for any fishing line, etc…. Nothing noted. Prop in decent shape along with lower unit.
Here’s what I’m thinking of doing, depending on responses to this post:
1. Buy BRP Engine Tuner and follow the instructions.
2. Buy 2-stroke outboard motor oil TC-W3 and mix according to directions. Should I add drops of oil to the fuel filter and spark plug access holes directly for any priming as the last fuel that passed didn’t have any?
3. Find non-ethanol gas and fill tanks with it.
4. Take it for a test spin.
Any guidance and/or advice would be greatly appreciated. I am hopeful the engine doesn’t need to be rebuilt and looking for honest opinions and recommendations.
Thanks so much for reading.
VR, John
