Logo
FULL SITE MENU

98 Evinrude 115 SPL- Replacing Head Gasket and Head Cover Gasket

J

Jaysuuun

New member
Did a compression test on my 98 Evinrude 115 SPL outboard and discovered the pressure was low in cylinder #3. Cylinders #1,2,4 were exactly 120psi and Cylinder #3 came out to 100psi. Upon inspection I noticed quite a bit of hard water residue along the seam of the cylinder head, which leads me to believe that my low compression problem is from a blown head gasket...I hope. I plan on replacing the head gasket and also the head cover gasket. I was able to find torque specs and sequence for the cylinder head, but not for the cylinder head cover. Does the sequence matter for the head cover? Also Shop Manual says to apply gasket sealant to the head gasket, but doesn't mention anything about the head cover gasket. Should I apply sealant to both? Shop Manual also says not to apply sealant to the threads of the bolt and should be screwed in dry. Watched a lot of videos and they all have applied some kind of sealant, oil, anti seize etc. to the threads of the bolts. Just trying to get as much info as possible before tackling this project. Thanks.
 
Be careful as some of the newer gaskets do not use sealant!!! Use a few drops of oil to threads of bolt or thin coat of anti seize , the cover start in middle and work your way out...and get yourself a factory manual. Doubt the gasket is the problem
 
Thank for the feedback guys. This is the new gasket. It's OEM ordered from this site. Does this need gasket sealant? It didn't come with any documentation or it doesn't specify otherwise. I'll post an update once I have the cylinder head removed.
 

Attachments

  • image1.jpg
    image1.jpg
    41.4 KB · Views: 94
Well, finally got the cylinder head off and you guys were right. =( There's a bit of damage to the piston and cylinder head as you can see to in the pics. Cylinder walls are in good shape though. Unfortunately I don't have the means or the money for a repair like this. Having said that, this engine runs great. Starts right up after the second crank on a cold start and fires up right away after it's all warmed up. My concern is the little piece that looks like it's about to break off in the cylinder head. Thinking about breaking it off and grinding it down to prevent further damage to the cylinder. That's as much as I can do at this point.
 

Attachments

  • image1.jpg
    image1.jpg
    65.3 KB · Views: 130
  • image2.jpg
    image2.jpg
    64.8 KB · Views: 130
  • image3.jpg
    image3.jpg
    98.9 KB · Views: 124
No surprise to me.---Broken top piston ring.------Every one of these crossflows will suffer like this.-----Except for the piston ring design these are a rugged motor.
 
Back
Top