BF5A leaking 'something' from breather

[RyanM29]

Hi Folks

Got a strange one on a motor I've recently inherited...

I have come into ownership of a 2000 BF5A of the BF5AX SA 1999 model. It was originally my fathers but he has taken the big decision that he is now too old to boat by himself and will be selling his boat. The BF5A was a trolling/backup motor which has maybe seen 50 hours use since it was new in 2000. I personally collected it from the dealer in 2000 and my father is the sort who would service everything himself.

The Engine itself had been sitting on the boat in the yard for a year from 2019, but had always been run in fresh water and serviced annually by my father even if it only had a few hours use each season.

When the engine was taken off the boat it was stored on its side and apparently some of the oil did leak out.

It has been sitting upright for about a year and I've decided to start it today and this is where I have met my match...

The engine is very hard to pull start.. almost as if it has hydraulic lock.. but does pull fine after a couple of turns.. it starts well but does not run on minimum throttle. I've not seen any water coming from the head, i'm not sure if this one even has a tell tale, but water and smoke do come from the exhaust port.

I pulled the cover off today and have noticed 'something' coming from the flame catcher in front of the carb. It has the texture of thin oil oil.. but seems to be quite clean, not the color of coffee or the normal color i'd associate with water+oil mixing...

I'd been tempted to leave it into my local repair shop to get the water pump replaced but I'm wondering if this is usually something that wont make it economical to repair?

Thanks

 

[racerone]

I would just run it.----It will take a while to work the oil out.----Water pump impeller is an easy to do at home task.

 

[NM_Trout]

I'm guessing that is a 4 stroke. Is there a chance it is over-filled with oil?

Is the smoke in the exhaust blue-ish or white?

If this were mine.....

1) I'd pull the plugs and look for oil fouling on the plugs. Replace them with fresh plugs with good gaps (likely 0.034" ish). Watch the torque on the way back in. Before you re-install the plugs, pull the starter cord a few times and look for oil spewage Note : make sure your kill switch is in the "engine-off" (clip out) position any time you have plug wires disconnected. You can fry your electronics if not.
2) While you have the plugs out, you might want to check valve lash. I just did mine and it was an easy maintenance job.
3) Drain the oil. Fresh oil and fresh filter is cheap insurance. Get the fill level right.
4) Pull the PCV hose and check it for signs of oil residue.
5) As noted above, don't fear an impeller / water pump change. It is easy to do on the small motors.

Good luck!

 

[RyanM29]

Hi Guys

thanks for the advice.. the reason for the trip to the dealer was more that parts are hard to come by where I live (Ireland) than most places.

I'll certainly give it a check first though, I would suspect over-oiling too. I presume the cure is to just drain all the oil and start again?

Thanks

 

[jgmo]

Above advice is great. I would add, for future reference, that anytime a four stroke outboard has been stored lying on it's side with oil in it, the spark plugs (or plug in this case) should be removed and the engine turned several revolutions to "clear" the cylinders before any attempt is made to start it.

This will prevent the possibility of hydro-lock as you mentioned above.

While I doubt that you likely did any real damage by trying to start it as you did (Hondas are pretty rugged) if it were mine, I would want to do a compression test before doing anything else to prove the engine is "healthy".

Good luck.

 

[RyanM29]

Cool, thanks for the advice guys.

So I'll take the plug out and give it a bit of a pull through to hopefully sort it.

Can someone give me an explanation for whats actually happened? It seems odd to me.

thanks

 

[racerone]

The lower cowling on the motor has " pads " on one side.----This indicates how the motor is to be laid down for storage.

 

[Alan Hicks]

The lower cowling on the motor has " pads " on one side.----This indicates how the motor is to be laid down for storage.

USUALLY, it's carb side down.

 

[jgmo]

My experience with 4 stroke outboards is that lying them down can and will allow oil from the crankcase to eventually find it's way into the combustion chamber. Pads or no pads. That whole concept came about, I believe, for the convenience of short term transport and not actually for long term storage.

I can't tell you what came from the cover. Have you checked with your dad about what he may have done to store the motor? Maybe he "fogged" it with WD-40?

The fact that it was then placed BACK upright for a long time would or SHOULD have allowed at least some of any liquid in the combustion chamber to find it's way back out but there are no guarantees about what would occur there. A very small amount of oil could have pooled in the chamber and that's why the plug should have been removed prior to rotation. It's kinda-sorta "standard procedure". I'm even pretty sure I've seen it mentioned in owner's manuals for outboards with "pads'.

That's why I would want to do a compression test. That outboard is pretty easy and inexpensive to repair but if it's run with a bent connecting rod, a broken piston ring or "land" it gets much worse quickly.
Not saying that's what happened but a simple test removes all doubt.

Hopefully your "runability" issue is more carburetor related than base engine. Honda carbs don't store well if not completely dry as many on this forum can attest to.

Good luck.

 

[RyanM29]

The lower cowling on the motor has " pads " on one side.----This indicates how the motor is to be laid down for storage.

oh i've learned that lesson the hard way!!


But I've managed to fix it... I took the spark plug out, as suggested, and it pulled a few times, I took the oil cap off and it was totally full, so i pulled the start cord a couple of times and caught a little bit of the oil that fell out.. all very clean and new oil.

Then I took a little allen key and cleaned out the exhaust of the pee hole and found some gunk in there.

Started the engine and fought with it and the choke for a little while to clear out the carbs etc and noticed that the pee hole was really strong and the engine ran well after maybe 10mins.

All sorted.

Thanks for the help!