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I've just gotten a call from the marina that stores my Whaler. I was told "we should have called you last year... we saw the head gasket was leaking. We took the power head off the motor and found the block is cracked... the motor is shot." They tell me the Service Mgr was supposed to have called me... never did. He's been let go.

I'm stunned. The boat ran well all last summer... I took it out of the water myself. The motor is old 1982, but has less than 20 hrs per year put on it and it is thoroughly maintained EVERY winter. This place has done the boat every year for the past 25 yrs. when I first got the boat.

I'm angry... pissed... sick to need a new motor. I'm sure that's contributing to my paranoia. Is it possible this is a 'normal' problem I wouldn't have noticed... or, my worst fears, these guys didn't properly winterize my engine.

I'm sick...

Mike

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Mike, that sounds pretty suspicious to me.......especially when he said "we should have called you last year... we saw the head gasket was leaking. We took the power head off the motor and found the block is cracked... the motor is shot."

Why on earth are they telling you now and also why were they working on your boat without (I'm assuming) your permission?

I have no real advice to give but I can sympathize with you.

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That sounds about as fishy as fishy can get!

They let the service manager go and they were working on your boat without your knowledge or consent. You might want to go look things over to see if it really is your motor and try to determine if the service manager just did a swap of your parts to help out some other friend or customer.

A leaking head gasket should have been noticed by you or at the very least reported to you immediately upon detection during the winterizing procedure. I think the Marina should be eating the repairs to make your motor right in view of all this mystery.

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Serial number on the power head, usually a freeze plug with number on it, should match the serial number on the transom bracket.

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I don't often say this but call your lawyer

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I'm not sure I would jump to paying lawyers just yet. As whalerman said, the freeze plug could identify if you have all your original engine or the block has been swapped. If you can determine that foul play has occurred then the first stop would be at the local police department.

I am not sure of this but I don't think outboard motor blocks just crack because they were not properly winterized. I could be wrong! I am leaning more toward a swap since as you claim your engine was running fine when you had them do the winter service. I tend to think that most of the cooling water in outboard motors drains by itself and should not be the cause of cracked blocks. The freeze plug should have popped if this were the case.

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my guess is it wasn't winterized properly. Don't know it for a fact, but would guess there are pockets in the jacket of the motor that retain water. If the water freezes, thank you, a cracked block period. If correct, then they owe you a new block. B. if they fired the manager, they are saying he was wrong and they owe you a new block. C. they were doing unauthorized work on your motor, they owe you a new block. give me a minute, i'll think of D.

Duf

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Hey Mike, I hope you are taking a cooling off period and will come back and tell us what you have learned.

It sure does sound like a rather unscrupulous dealer you are dealing with. Sad too since you have been with him for so long.

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Take pictures of the block and a close up of the crack. I would expect some residue from a cracked block that was being run last summer.
When I winterize, I trim the motor down all the way past vertical and back to vertical to allow gravity to drain the passages. If this was not done I would expect freeze damage at the front of the block where water could pool. Although you really need to examine the block passage layout and crack to support this theory.
The service manager didn't get fired because he did not call you. Talk to staff and customers and find out what's going on. Heck, maybe track the old manager down and get his side of the story.

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Mike, i gotta tell you that i'm "stunned" that a place that has had your business for 25 years is treating you like this.

So sorry my friend.

Duf

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Its a 1982. You were on borrowed time anyway. Get a new motor. Then have someone else service it.

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WOW! I find that absolutely ridiculous!

My Montauk is a '74 and the EV 90 is an '84, should I just sink them both?

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Lol. Me too.

Any engine will last for many years with the proper preventive maintenance and care.

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Yea, but when they go they go... get over it. They don't last forever. You got a good amount of use out of that engine. Time to move on.

I think it is unfair to blame someone else for the failure of your 20+ year old outboard!

What year car do you drive? How old is your Dishwasher?

Anyway, I doubt they pulled the power head, but only removed the cylinder head. The crack is most likely under the #4 cylinder on the exterior/cooling side of the bottom of that cylinder. Install a new head gasket and run it to your hearts content. You will only lose a small amount of cooling water through that crack under the block, not into the combustion chamber. The motor will run as it has for the past 20+ years, but corrode more and more.

Didn't mean to cause an uproar. sorry!
Good luck.

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Mike

After rereading the above, I think we have all jumped to the wrong conclusion, me included. Yes they should have called you last year and you could have gone thru the same roller coaster in the fall as the boat was being put up for the winter rather than when your ready for spring. The number of hours on the engine isn't really a key to it's health. It sounds as if this could have been slowly leaking all last summer, I am guessing you don't pull the cowling off your engine to check for leaks? I don't either. I would find out why they didn't call you, yell about paying for them to winterize your engine and then not telling you about a leak when they should have but I doubt they did anything wrong. Unless you can show they have swapped your engine be glad it didn't blow when you were out on the water and had to wait for a tow.

A good used engine with good compression is an option, rather than new.

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I will agree that with an '82 or '84 engine it is time to move on when a serious problem arises. Unless you are looking for Period Correct Nostalgia you are likely throwing good money after bad. The blanket statement that all motors with such age are on borrowed time is where I disagree.

Clearly, we need Mike to come back and report his findings after he has had an opportunity to inspect his engine. I still believe there is something very fishy going on as reported in his original post. An update from him would be nice!

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Thanks to all for their comments... the ones that tried to 'see it my way'... and those that didn't too!

We went and visited the shop yesterday. I'll be as concise as possible...

The head was off the left bank of cylinders (standing behind the engine looking at the cylinders). The crack was below the lower of the 2 cylinders on the left bank. The crack was not in the cylibder wall but the exterior wall of the block opening to the outside... looks like water would run out of this and down the inside of the shaft... not visible if the cowl was on. I'll put some pictures up on my page here that aren't great, but show the area of the crack. It is at the 7 o'clock position on the lower cylinder just to the right of the head bolt at about 8 o'clock.

I was told water runs out like crazy when it runs. It also appears that some water is fouling the upper portion of the cylinder.

The shop says the following... 1) it was probably there all along and unoticed, 2) apparently Evinrude / Johnson is no longer supplying parts, 3) in view of #2, they would not advise a rebuilt power unit, 4) the failure to tell me about the blown head gasket had nothing to do with the block cracking over the winter,,, it would have let the problem be dealt with last winter vs, now when I've lost the season.

I asked about a recommendation. He's suggesting a new Yamaha F 70 (vs. the 90 hp Yamaha)... about 100 lbs lighter than the old Evinrude, better fuel economy, quick off the line, etc. He wants $8.000 installed, all gauges, controls, etc. After I get out of mourning, I plan to shop a bit. I have no idea if this is a good price or not, but I'll have all winter to shop.

That's it. I welcome any further input, opinions about the Yamaha 70, etc.

Lost season.... better next year!

Mike

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I was finding prices of f90s for around 7500-8000 that seems high to me. Also look for places that may have old stock and you can find better deals.

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Don't give up the HP unless you really want too. Look at the E-Tech, 90HP. It weights close to what your current outboard weights but is new, no maintenance for 3 years or 300 hours has all the power of a 2 stroke and none of the smoke (carb 3), is supper quiet and fuel efficient. Currently Evinrude is running a repower special until September with a 5 year warranty and cash for accessories. In January they usually run a similar special.

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Seems your getting on with it. I really don't believe you had any legal recourse. I'm sure it will be all good.

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If you were doing a straight up buy of the F70, in New England, that would be a decent deal, if not a great one. But they're certainly not giving you any sort of a break as payback for having killed your old motor.

Although I have an F70 on my 15, for Montauks, I prefer the eTec 90. I like to be close to the top of the power range, and for a Montauk, the eTec gives the best power to weight ratio. You'll still be saving some weight over the existing motor, and you'll be able to reuse your existing controls and gauges.

Tim

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Tim, what makes you believe "they" killed his motor. Things happen.

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The question I still have Mike is did you ever authorize them to do anything other than winterize this motor? Winterizing does not include pulling heads or any real mechanical work and I would be very upset to find a mechanic performing such work if I had not specifically ordered it. You should have been notified immediately, last fall when they found the issue and before they went any further. A blown head gasket is a fairly simple repair as long as no further damage has been caused.

I think, if this were me, I would be looking for a deal on a new E tech 90 and a new dealer to do business with if at all feasible.

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I've kept my boat with these folks for 25 years... the Whaler has only been with them over every winter. The head was pulled because he knew I wanted to use the boat for the first time this weekend... much later than I ever have put the boat in.

I'll chack out the E-tech. But my guy says that Mercury / Johnson has recently refused to supply parts for a 1997 engine. I've heard nothing but good things about the Yamaha's. But... as I said before, I have all winter to shop. Damn it!!

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That part about Johnson refusing to provide parts for a 1997 motor is not true. An F70 on your boat would be a dog compared to your present motor in good shape or to a 90 E-TEC.

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"I'll chack out the E-tech. But my guy says that Mercury / Johnson has recently refused to supply parts for a 1997 engine. I've heard nothing but good things about the Yamaha's. But... as I said before, I have all winter to shop. Damn it!!"

Where do such rumors come from?

There is no doubt that every part for every engine does not remain available for ever. That said, this happens across the board with every engine manufacturer and some do better than others with parts supplies. I have always found Johnson/Evinrude (OMC) to be at the top of the supply list and Mercury running a close second. I have no experience with Yamaha, Suzuki, Tohatsu or Nissan motors but I will never own a Force engine.

As far as I have heard the Evinrude E Tech line has performed very well here in the NE and not much in the line of complaints over parts availability or premature failures.

There will always be those dealers who specialize in one brand dogging the others to close sales. I would expect a Non Scientific poll here would show the E Tech at or near the top for owner satisfaction.