jjoey312
Well-known member
I wanted to take a few minutes to share the stories about two blown powerheads that have came into my shop over the last week...Both of these cases were different scenarios but both could have been easily avoidable....also I might add the oil injection systems didn't actually fail in the these two cases but the warning systems to alert the boater did...These two powerheads were from Johnson/ Evinrude engines but could have easily been from any brand of outboard.
The first I'm going to talk about is a mid-90's Evinrude V6 engine.. The customer is like most of us...family, on the go, lucky at times to get a chance to go fishing.. He had forgot to keep his oil tank toppped off with oil, he had been on his 6th or 7th trip without checking his oil tank...his engine literally sucked the oil tank dry..stalled a couple of times..& then..(you know the rest of the story). In this case running out of oil would not of been a big deal if the warning systems would have been operable to alert the boater... A Johnson or Evinrude is supposed to alert you when your oil tank is less than a 1/3 or 1/4 full. After checking his boat out I figured out pretty quickly that his warning horn had gone bad.
The second engine I'm going to talk about is a late 90's Johnson V4 engine.. The customer had purchased the boat last fall from an individual & used it about 5 or 6 times... 1st or 2cd time using it a couple weeks ago motor shuts off & will not crank back up.. Customer pulls up to my shop with the head already off of the powerhead...of course one of the pistons is destroyed.. I notice quickly that the oil line going to fuel pump is not even hooked up & tell him this & I ask if he has been mixing his on oil..& of course he says NO.. he said I have been making sure my oil tank is full every time I take the boat out. I said well I guess most people would assume they have a working oil injection system with an oil tank still in the boat..I then said well I were you I would fairly ill at the person I had bought the boat from for not telling you the oil injection had been disconnected.. In this case he had bought the boat from a widower who's husband had passed away at some point last year... so naturally she has no idea what has or hasn't been done to the boat so you can't fault her in any way..
FYI...Everyone might know or may not know if you have a Direct fuel injected engine disconnecting oil injection is not an option... Carb or Efi engine it is an option (in most cases)
Anyway I feel like I'm rambling but the moral of the story is both of these power head failures could of been avoided...if you insist on keeping your oil injection MAKE SURE YOUR WARNING HORN WORKS.. & to do anybody a favor that buys your boat in the future if your oil injection system is disconnected PLEASE REMOVE THE OIL TANK ALONG WITH ANY SIGNS THAT THE OIL INJECTION SYSTEM MIGHT STILL BE HOOKED UP..
By the way rumors seem to fly like crazy in the marine industry but I am very much still in business....(I do have the front part of my shop leased out to a tire store which might have thrown some people for a loop)..I strive to get any repair work completed by Friday that is brought in early that week unless its a major overhaul such as a power head or gear case repair..My number is 706-891-9921 Chattanooga Marine... thanks Joey..
The first I'm going to talk about is a mid-90's Evinrude V6 engine.. The customer is like most of us...family, on the go, lucky at times to get a chance to go fishing.. He had forgot to keep his oil tank toppped off with oil, he had been on his 6th or 7th trip without checking his oil tank...his engine literally sucked the oil tank dry..stalled a couple of times..& then..(you know the rest of the story). In this case running out of oil would not of been a big deal if the warning systems would have been operable to alert the boater... A Johnson or Evinrude is supposed to alert you when your oil tank is less than a 1/3 or 1/4 full. After checking his boat out I figured out pretty quickly that his warning horn had gone bad.
The second engine I'm going to talk about is a late 90's Johnson V4 engine.. The customer had purchased the boat last fall from an individual & used it about 5 or 6 times... 1st or 2cd time using it a couple weeks ago motor shuts off & will not crank back up.. Customer pulls up to my shop with the head already off of the powerhead...of course one of the pistons is destroyed.. I notice quickly that the oil line going to fuel pump is not even hooked up & tell him this & I ask if he has been mixing his on oil..& of course he says NO.. he said I have been making sure my oil tank is full every time I take the boat out. I said well I guess most people would assume they have a working oil injection system with an oil tank still in the boat..I then said well I were you I would fairly ill at the person I had bought the boat from for not telling you the oil injection had been disconnected.. In this case he had bought the boat from a widower who's husband had passed away at some point last year... so naturally she has no idea what has or hasn't been done to the boat so you can't fault her in any way..
FYI...Everyone might know or may not know if you have a Direct fuel injected engine disconnecting oil injection is not an option... Carb or Efi engine it is an option (in most cases)
Anyway I feel like I'm rambling but the moral of the story is both of these power head failures could of been avoided...if you insist on keeping your oil injection MAKE SURE YOUR WARNING HORN WORKS.. & to do anybody a favor that buys your boat in the future if your oil injection system is disconnected PLEASE REMOVE THE OIL TANK ALONG WITH ANY SIGNS THAT THE OIL INJECTION SYSTEM MIGHT STILL BE HOOKED UP..
By the way rumors seem to fly like crazy in the marine industry but I am very much still in business....(I do have the front part of my shop leased out to a tire store which might have thrown some people for a loop)..I strive to get any repair work completed by Friday that is brought in early that week unless its a major overhaul such as a power head or gear case repair..My number is 706-891-9921 Chattanooga Marine... thanks Joey..
