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How common would a thermostat issue be?

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EatenByLimestone

New member
I'm going through a '61 Evinrude Fisherman and am about ready to order parts. It dawned on me that I'd never go this far into a car or truck and not install a new thermostat, but I don't see this as a common thing to do with the old outboards.

Should I order and install a new thermostat? The one currently on the outboard may be from '61. I don't know the past history, but all of the normal wearable components seem to be in good order and freshly replaced. The impeller was still pliable, the magnetos were relatively new, etc. so this appears to be a well maintained tool.

Thank you,

Matt
 
I am restoring a 1976 Johnson and planning to install a new T-stat. I think a new T-stat for my boat costs around $17 which to me is cheap insurance. Outboard T-stats fail most of the time in the open position from what I hear, so you may not know it is bad except for bad ideling. A cold 2 cycle does not like to idle right, and you may spend a lot of time working on carburators or ignition when all you need is a new T-stat!

Just my 2 cents!
 
Well here is my limited experience.
I ran my re-furbed 73' 65HP 3 seasons before I checked it.
I found it completely missing. Someone had removed it long ago.

I have a 89' 6HP that was giving me intermittent tell tale troubles. Getting clogged with small pieces of metal.
I checked it out and it was in a lot of small pieces. Corrosion.
 
EatenByLimestone said:
I figured I'd better replace it just to be sure.

The next step in this process is the carb rebuild. I'm dreading it a bit as I hate opening carbs up.

Matt
Click to expand...
there is nothing to dread, they are not complicated at all. just make sure you order the correct rebuild kit. clean it really good with a product you prefer and blow it out with compressed air, replace the gaskets,float,needle and seat etc.. and bolt the float bowl back to the carb assy and your done. I just got a 62 fisherman from a buddy who cleans apartments after tenants leave and he found it in one of the garages and his boss said he could have it. the rope was gone off it and it looked like it had not ran in a very very long time. I put new plugs and oil in it and a new rope, choked it and 3 pulls later it fired up and smoked real bad and I had to play with the choke to keep it running but after a few minutes the smoke went away and it idled on its own....besides the outside of it being filthy, under the hood was super clean....
 
I have a question about the packing under the high and low speed needle valves. The '61 Evinrude I pulled apart has black, gummy packing. I can't tell if they are plastic or cork that has had 50 years of 2 cycle oil through it. There are both plastic and cork gaskets of a size that will fit in the carb kit. All I can tell from the service manual is that there are 2 under each valve. There are enough of the plastic and cork ones to work either way.

Matt
 
Ok, everything is back together. I hope it will work. I forgot to bring a gas tank down so I can't tank test it. I didn't hit the ignition system yet. If I didn't get the carb put together correctly I want to be able to rule out an error I might make doing the ignition system. When I went back through the fuel system cleaning and back flushed the fuel filter I loosened a lot of crap. Or at least the spray pattern out of the filter changed a good deal from start to finish. That right there could have caused the lack of power I felt I had.

The thermostat was pretty nasty. There was sand in the compartment, the thermostat itself was black and I think I found what was once seaweed wrapped around it. I'm glad I opened the housing up.

Now the question is: can and should I hold off pulling the flywheel and going over the ignition system?

Matt
 
no need to be scared of working on the magneto.----Pull the flywheel and inspect everything in there.----Really simple stuff in there.
 
I inspected the coils through an access hole and they were in good shape and had been replaced at some time in the past. I'll try to find my feeler gauges out in the garage and that will determine the speed I tackle the ignition.

Matt
 
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