Home Forum Ask A Member ‘62 5.5 evinrude

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  • #10619
    scottshea
    Participant

      Hey everyone. New member looking for some help with my 62 evinrude 5.5. To quickly get to the point I have this motor. Been in the family since the 60’s. Taken care of well and I’m looking to continue the lineage and teach my 4 year old how to drive. This winter I freshened the rude up with all the trimmings. Got it running and idling reasonably well but the motor will not handle a load. Carb has been rebuilt, new fuel lines, gaskets, fuel pump, filter, tank and hose. Did it myself so mistakes could have been made since I’m no expert but these motors are pretty simple. Anyhow, tried a different set of tank conectors and hose to eliminate that. Tightened all packing gaskets. Can not get a tune that will get me any kind of throttle under load. The motor will idle on a hose or at the dock. I can idle around town without too much issue. As soon as I try and add throttle the motor doesn’t respond then eventually bogs until she shuts down. Then she doesn’t want to run again until some time passes. I think she’s flooded at this point. After rowing home multiple times for multiple days in a row I conceded and took it to an outboard shop. Well it’s been two months and they admitted they don’t know what’s wrong and I got the motor back today. Does anyone have any suggestions? One thing I did do that’s ‘unconventional, I replaced the power head bolts with Allen head bolts. I did my best to get the lengths right. Using washers where they were too long. I do not know if this can have an effect. Oh. Don’t want to forget to mention. Motor revs wonderfully in neutral or in gear on a hose. Running 32:1 fuel. Ignition side has been rebuilt as well. Coils, wires, and condensers. My gut is telling me it’s a fuel side issue and I’m suspecting a vacuum leak of some sort. I’m now invested and feel a little over my head. Plus this motor is in just too good of shape to give up hope. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.

      #79808
      frankr
      Participant

        US Member

        My immediate thoughts as I read your story was bad coils. Then I saw that they were replaced. I don’t know if I would believe that without looking. Anyhow, I would pop the flywheel and check their work.

        Your story shouts out "running on one cylinder".

        #79809
        frankr
        Participant

          US Member

          Um..could be running on one cylinder because of a ruptured fuel pump diaphragm. Remove the two screws holding it to the motor and pull it away from the motor, hoses attached. Then squeeze the primer bulb. Does gas squirt out the back? It should not, and if it does there is your problem.

          Pump is not repairable, replace only.

          #79812
          retiredoz
          Participant

            US Member

            One possible reason for that peculiar behavior might be a malfunctioning shock absorber – it may be expanding under load and binding up the gearbox. But I’d try to exhaust the powerhead options before tearing it off again. Recheck that the points are properly set, maybe try a spark tester to see if a coil misbehaves, synchronize the carb and magneto, and I’m sure wiser heads will think of many more options..

            #79813
            amuller
            Participant

              My first thought is: Does pumping the primer bulb do anything? You should be able to get it hard and keep in hard, and this should pretty much bypass fuel pump issues.

              Second: Have you checked for a weak spark? It’s possible to have a spark that will start and idle, but crap out on the higher cylinder pressures of hard running. A good approach is to check for a spark at least, say, 1/4" to ground. I notice you mention replacement of coils, wires, and condensers, but not points. Points rarely *need* replacement but they have to be clean and properly adjusted, and the cam clean, smooth and lubed so they stay adjusted. So I suggest checking for a good hot, long spark on both cylinders, and, if not, pop the flywheel and check out the ignition.

              You don’t mention having changed the water pump impeller. People may avoid doing this on these motors as the power head has to come off and it’s a chore. Are you sure you have water flow and it’s not overheating? Also note that these motors have a spring clutch shock absorber in the drive line. It’s fairly common for these to separate a bit and create a lot of friction. Something to check for while doing the pump.

              Good luck. These are nice little motors. I got a 64 a couple of years ago and it ate up more hours than I was expecting before it was set up.

              #79828
              fleetwin
              Participant

                US Member - 2 Years

                Well, my first thought was like retiredoz posted, a binding gearcase due to the driveshaft shock absorber binding on the upper bushing/seal housing.
                But, I would need to hear how the engine "bogs and dies"…Does it misfire, run rich, drop a cylinder while it is bogging/dying? Or, does it seem to run normally, just lose power and die…The shock absorber is not to blame if the engine misfires/runs rich/drops a cylinder while dying.
                Anyway you can post a video of the engine misbehaving? You mentioned the engine is hard to start after it fails. Is it hard/stiff to pull over at this point?
                Please do not pull the gearcase off based on this post, do the simple things first. What the heck did the repair shop do with the engine for a month? Did they offer any advice, or check anything? I am assuming they saw the engine misbehave when they ran it in their tank, maybe not though.
                Again, simple things first. One thing you can do is to drain/refill the gearcase. If you see signs of water in the oil, then the shock absorber may be suspect. But, just because there are no signs of water in the lube does not mean the shock is not at fault.
                Hopefully, I am totally wrong and your issue is a simpler one….Carb/fuel issue or ignition problem. Have you drained your fuel tank, perhaps there is water in the tank. You might try using those inline neon spark testers on the plug wires so you can watch them when the engine is misbehaving to see if you are losing spark on one of the cylinders…
                The engine might be overheating when you throttle it up also. Does it appear to get hot when it misbehaves and stalls?
                Finally, I would keep the fuel/oil mix at 24:1…

                #79830
                kerry
                Participant

                  US Member

                  Probably not the cause, but you said you were running 32:1 mix- Those motors need QUANTITY of quality oil, at LEAST 24:i ratio.

                  If you have too many, AND not enough, you're a collector.

                  #79834
                  fisherman6
                  Participant

                    US Member - 2 Years

                    As others have stated, the recommended oil mix ratio for this engine is 24:1. It is for good reason on these engines.

                    You say that it revs properly in neutral and in gear on the hose, does it rev properly in neutral on the boat? If it does, I’m really beginning to suspect the shock absorber in the gearcase. Definitely eliminate the easy stuff first, but I find these broken or sprung quite often. If the motor appears to have average to above average hours on it I usually weld them and change the drive pin to brass as part of the tune up service. Unless you need to get into the gearcase anyway though, save that for after all the other things have been checked out. If everything else checks out and it is down to the shock absorber, fix that immediately. Running with a dragging shock absorber damages the bearing carrier for the drive shaft and it will eventually destroy itself.
                    -Ben

                    OldJohnnyRude on YouTube

                    #79838
                    lindy46
                    Participant

                      US Member

                      What are the compression readings?

                      #79843
                      scottshea
                      Participant

                        Wow! Thanks everyone for the input. If I can answer most of the questions raised. Yes one set of points were replaced. I have checked the spark to ground on both cylinders. They were ok but I adjusted the coils better and got them a little whiter. I’m not sure I have the equipment to synchronize the cam with the carb? If I read that right. The compression was above 80 on a ratty old compression tester. Interestingly the water pump came up. Yes it was replaced. Which is why I went to the Allen bolts. They’re much easier to remove now than the original ones. I don’t recall seeing anything with springs in the lower unit when I had it off. I am assuming it’s simmilar to an pump coupling. They’re in the gear case? I haven’t opened that up yet. But I have flushed and replaced the lower unit oil. I’m not sure how many hours are on the motor it has sat dormant for almost 4 decades. When the motor bogs it really just Peters out like it’s flooding. No unusual shuddering so I don’t think it’s a misfire but it will almost always shut down even if I back off the throttle. Last but not least it does seem to be harder to pull start after she stalls. That is something I did notice but maybe ignored since it could easily be me feeling tired from pull starting the motor while I’m trying to get the tune right. I’m definitely going to give the fuel pump test a try. It’s brand new and shouldn’t be failing but at this point nothing can be taken for granted. Also if I do try and prime the motor while it’s running it does not seem to make a difference. I attempted to keep the fuel bowl full while trying to diagnose this and that didn’t seem to help. The motor does rev on the boat and in the water in neutral. The outboard mechanics who’ve been locally in business for at least 50 years are all out of ‘vintage’ grade techs. Sadly they’re a more rare breed. The young guys just don’t have the feel to tune things anymore. I really don’t think they looked at this motor too hard either. Here in the north east he was handed the motor just as the season was kicking off so honestly it probably has more to do with they can’t charge me too much to fix it since it has little value even if it is running. So sadly they don’t invest the time.

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