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BF225 Severe Trim Leak

Can you guys see the pics alright? The leak is coming from where the pen is pointing on the parts blowup and where it looks damp in the center of the photo.
 
Well... no help so far even just to confirm that my links work. Anyway, I'll continue posting so maybe it will help someone else down the line.

The dealer says that the port right above the reservoir is for manufacturing purposes, is never supposed to come out and is only ever open when it has corroded away. There is no replacement part as it is never supposed to be removed. It would appear he is correct as there seem to be remnants of both screw and hole thread present. It appears the PO allowed it to go without the large Zinc anode for who knows how long.

The dealer's advice was to try to get it welded or replace the entire main body. It looks like, now that I have the reservoir off, there would be enough space to weld it in place. Dunno yet if I can talk a welder into doing that. If I do this, i'm thinking I need to pull the ECM for its safety and disconnect the battery to protect the rest of the electronics.

As an alternative I'm considering just fixing this myself with epoxy. My thoughts there are to add a small glob of nearly set resin to close the hole in the bottom then directly mix a new batch and fill the whole cavity. This should prevent resin from flowing down into the fluid passageway and create a very durable plug. This is basically a JB Weld job but a little more elegant and inert.

I think I'm going to discuss it with the welder and if he won't do it or eventually fails, I still have epoxy in my back pocket before I have to pony up $1000 for a trim unit.
 
I believe that your dealer is right. I've never seen anything like that type of failure on this forum. Metal-chicken's approach seems the best - tap it and insert a very short bolt that will seat all the way in there, and use an O ring to seal it, if that is possible. If you do tap it, be extremely careful to not get any debris in the chamber - that would mess up all the seals big time.

Given the pressure in those units, I doubt that an epoxy like JB weld by itself will hold up for long. However, if you could craft an aluminum plug that just tightly fits, and JB weld that in place, it might hold.

I believe that the base metal is cast aluminum (could be wrong about that) so a weld will need to be done by someone who has the equipment and knowledge to work with cast aluminum.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I was able to remove the remains of the plug once I really got in there. It was aluminum. There are even a few threads down there. The plug is completely unavailable. I was at the dealer and he said yep that's one of those and Honda doesn't offer it. I then went by a couple boneyards where I saw plugs but they wouldn't sell them bc they'd rather sell a whole trim unit. Makes sense for them I guess.
i tried to remove the whole trim unit to take to the welder but now realize that some sadist at Honda designed it to not be removable without dismounting the entire engine from the boat. (WTF?) having come to that realization, I took the welder the whole boat. He said he had done a bunch of these but the guys always handed him a clean empty casting to work on not one dripping oil bolted to the back of a boat in the parking lot. He was concerned about it being clean enough to weld, not start on fire, and not get the whole mess so hot to melt the seals. Probably valid concerns. He said he'd work on it in situ Monday if I could get it clean and dry. We discussed welding a little slug on top rather that building it up with bead. From a heat transfer standpoint I think that makes sense.
The bolt idea is interesting but I am concerned about submerged dissimilar metals. PREtty sure there's no Aluminum metric hardware at Home Despot. To confirm, yes the base metal of that casting is Aluminum.
 
Before I got all crazy with trying intricate fixes I'd coat a wooden plug with epoxy and tap it in. If it holds I'd put another coat of epoxy on the plug in place. If you really want to make it tight in there you could drill a pilot hole in the plug and put a stainless screw that is a bit oversized for the pilot hole and then coat it with epoxy.
 
I've not taken the entire T/T out of the 225, just replaced the T/T motor. However, I believe that you can remove it without removing the engine.

You will need an overhead beam or a strong branch of a tree. Loosen the manual release screw on the T/T. Raise the engine to maximum height. I've used a come-a-long and a tow strap, but anything that will support the engine's leg and will attach the the hook on the come-a-long should work. You can use a step ladder as an extra support. Alternatively, you can fabricate a sturdy ground brace. Just remember that you're fooling around with a 600+ lb. engine. If done properly, the transom will be carrying most of that weight.

Disconnect the electrical connectors to the T/T motor and the trim indicator and snake them back out of the upper cowling on the engine.

Remove the two E clips on the upper pin where the T/T attaches to the engine, then carefully punch out the pin, being careful not to damage the two bushings in there. Then push down the tilt arm all the way. See item #23 at:
http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Honda/Outboard Engine/2005/BF225A5 XA/POWER TRIM-TILT/parts.html

Remove the long bolt through the lower part of the mechanism.

Remove either the left side or the right side bolts that attach the engine bracket to the transom. Loosen the bolts on the opposite side, but don't remove them.

Gently pry apart the bottom of the stern bracket so that it just clears the collar holding the T/T mechanism. See item # 25 at:
http://www.boats.net/parts/search/H...225A5 XA/STERN BRACKET SWIVEL CASE/parts.html

Be sure to have someone holding the T/T mechanism while doing this, because it will fall out as soon as it clears that collar.

When re-installing, be sure to reseal the through bolts going in to the transom. I typically use 3M 4200. Also, don't forget re-installing the two wave washers.
 
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