reconditioning 1987 Sailmaster J8SRLCUD

[bblument]

I've acquired the above engine which has sat unused for over 5 years. Lots of corrosion on the outside; the water intake screen was completely clogged with corrosion, and I've sanded the gear case and most of the bottom end down to bare metal. The rope starter didn't engage properly due to the safety interlock cam fitting way too loosely on it's shaft. I removed it completely, and cleaned up and lubricated the rewind spool. The motor spins fine and has decent compression; I'm just waiting for the new safety interlock parts to get here. So far, so good.

I pulled the gear case, anticipating the need to rebuild the waterpump. It came off fine, but I'm still wrestling with the drain and level/fill plugs; they're frozen in. Here's my first of what I'm sure will be many questions over the next few weeks. On page 6-21, the OEM service manual mentions removing an o-ring from the top of the driveshaft and shows the o-ring indicated by an arrow in figure 6. My driveshaft didn't have an o-ring on it, nor is there any recess on the driveshaft where an o-ring might go. The diagram on boats.net, 1987 J8SRLCUD Evinrude / Johnson Johnson Outboard GEARCASE Diagram and Parts , doesn't show any o-ring either. It seems as if the driveshaft splines just go up into the crankcase and that's it. Am I missing something? Should there be an o-ring at that end or not?

Thanks in advance.

Barry

[boats.net]

That model doesn't have oring on drive shaft.

[bblument]

I'm the original poster, back after nine successful years with this motor.. it's been a champ.. until this season. After pulling from winter storage back in April, she started up easily after the usual routine maintenance on the test stand. Took it out to the marina a few days later, hung it on our Pearson 26 sailboat, and launched. Motor was very difficult to start, but eventually started and got us to our slip. Throughout the season, the motor became increasingly difficult to start, and finally I couldn't get it to start at all despite trying for hundreds of pulls over 45 minutes. I brought the motor home, thinking maybe it had sat too long between uses (I got careless this season and didn't run it dry before leaving the boat for a week or two at a time), removed the carb, disassembled, and cleaned it (although it appeared pretty pristine upon disassembly... no visual evidence of any gumming at all, and the float bowl was very clean). Still not even a cough. Tested for spark by pulling a plug wire, inserting a screwdriver into the terminal, placing the shaft about 1/4"-1/2" away from an engine ground, but nothing visible when pulling on the starter cord. I have the shop manual, and have attempted to follow some of the ignition diagnostic procedures. Although I have a good DVM, I'm not sure how to translate the specific directions ("Set the Binford MercMatic Tester to "S" and "500") into regular equipment. I suspected possibly a bad "kill" switch (a button at the end of the tiller on this motor), but I followed those tests successfully and it remains open (no continuity) as it should until depressed.

Can anyone point me either to some common fault modes in this motor, or advise some more generalized troubleshooting I can do to help localize the problem? I have to haul out next week, and getting the boat from its slip to the dock without the motor would be very difficult.

Thanks in advance for any pointers..

[boats.net]

Disconnect black/yellow wire from CDI(ignition stop circuit), if have fire then wire is shorted to ground, bad landyard switch or bad ignition switch.
I no longer have the manuals on those models so not sure of correct peak voltage readings, but if you have a peak reading voltmeter or a multi meter with a DVA adapter then check the stator output voltage to CDI should be above 180 volts, check trigger coils output to CDI should see around 2 volts. Check CDI output to ignition coil should be about 180 volts.