’63 Gale 15HP 15D15B Doesn’t Have Nearly the "Oomph" it Should

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  • June 23, 2016 at 5:45 pm #4572
    majorramifications
    Participant

      Hey guys,
      I’ve been absent from the outboard hobby for a while, but I’m foolin’ with ’em again and this one has me stumped.

      ’63 Gale Buccaneer 15D15B
      Great Compression (I have the numbers written down at home, but they were good and also even)
      New ignition (coils, wires, points, condensers, plugs)
      Nice big juicy spark from each plug
      New impeller, seals, etc.
      Prop appears original and in OK shape
      Boat is a very light (105 pounds?) 14′ Meyers aluminum with the V at the bow which transitions to a flat bottom in the stern. I weigh just under 200 pounds and the only other things in the boat is a battery, a 3 gallon gas tank, and a few small items like a fire extinguisher, etc.

      Motor is a bit difficult to start, but once started seems to run just fine and revs freely in neutral. Motor seems to run normally in forward but as I twist the handle to wide open it never revs up very high, and it pushes the boat about as fast as a 6 or 7.5 HP motor would. It’s like the boat weighs a million pounds or the advance lever/throttle are only halfway open. Or maybe like it is only running on one cylinder.

      The advance mechanism is rotating properly and fully, if it went much farther, the throttle roller would run out of ramp.
      The carburetor throttle is wide open at full twist, verified by my aging eyeballs and a mirror and flashlight.
      Both spark plugs look the same. Newish with some unburned oil because I am mixing it at 25:1.

      Any ideas?

      June 23, 2016 at 6:34 pm #38818
      fisherman6
      Participant

        US Member

        You say new seals. I’m guessing those are gearcase seals which would indicate your have been into the gearcase and seen its innards. I’m thinking that rules out rust / corrosion in the gearcase.

        Have you been through the carburetor? If it still has a cork float and has run ethanol gasoline, the float may be coming apart and blocking the high speed circuit in the carb. If you haven’t already I’d suggest rebuilding the carb with a new OMC kits that includes a plastic float. I always avoid ethanol in my outboards but changing to a plastic float is not a bad idea anyway.

        Where are the carb needles set? Could it be that the high speed needle is set too rich and is bogging the engine out at high throttle settings under a load?

        Have you pulled one plug wire at a time while it’s running to see if it is running on both cylinders? Be careful while doing this. Gloves and insulated pliers are good to keep you from getting jolted but the mag. You can check it with inline neon spark testers while running or use an inductive timing light on each plug wires to check for spark while running as well.

        One other thing I can think of right now regarding this motor (the 60s Gale 15s) is they they are notorious for bad crankshaft seals, especially lower seals. Something to check before running it too much anyway.

        There are a few ideas of things to check that I can think of for now. Lots of very knowledgeable people here. I’m sure there will be more ideas to come. Hope that helps get you started anyway.
        -Ben

        OldJohnnyRude on YouTube

        June 23, 2016 at 6:39 pm #38820
        frankr
        Participant

          US MEMBER PAY BY CHECK

          Major, your symptoms sound very much like it is running on one cylinder. Fisherman gave some very good advice, so I won’t repeat it.

          June 23, 2016 at 10:53 pm #38833
          Mumbles
          Participant

            Here’s a pic of that lower crank seal which likes to fall out or disintegrate and a link to the same ’63 Gale built Viking 15 horse running on a lake. I find the 15 is no screaming powerhouse and I can easily notice the extra power of an 18. Watch the video and compare it to your motor. ☺

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlpD-mgtBpo

            And a short video of a leaky top seal.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXt6fV6Z5rc

            June 24, 2016 at 12:35 am #38844
            majorramifications
            Participant

              Sorry, I forgot to mention that I rebuilt the carburetor, the float looked fine, and I adjusted the mixture while it was running on the boat more than once to get everything I could out of it.

              I will have to run it in a barrel and kill one cylinder at a time and see what happens, that seems to be the logical next step. I figured that if one cylinder was not pulling it’s weight then it would show up in the plugs. But it is quite possible that I haven’t run it enough to show a difference.
              I’ll let you guys know what I find out.

              You know, I meant to change that lower seal a long time ago when I first went through this motor, but I cheaped out and elected not to. It sounds like I should have done this in the first place.

              June 24, 2016 at 12:38 am #38845
              fleetwin
              Participant

                US Member

                sure sounds like it is running on just one cylinder, pull the plugs and have a look after running it a few minutes at WOT…Perhaps a wire got chafed under the flywheel after you did the tune up…

                June 24, 2016 at 1:11 am #38849
                majorramifications
                Participant

                  You guys are the BEST! If you all weren’t so ugly, I could kiss you!
                  The lower cylinder is making no power whatsoever, and lo and behold it now has no spark.
                  OK, I’ll check out the ignition again and take it from there. I really should change that lower seal as well. I’ll try to make room in the budget for more outboard parts.

                  June 24, 2016 at 1:26 am #38851
                  fisherman6
                  Participant

                    US Member

                    Excellent! Glad you found the ignition problem. I have a 1963 Gale Sea King 15. My seals were good, but I pulled the powerhead to hearing sure after finding out how often they go bad. I have a new set waiting for when mine do fail. For whatever reason I still can’t make that motor happy though. I seem to still have some kind of fuel delivery problem with mine. It seems to be kind of finicky but I’m not sure why.
                    -Ben

                    OldJohnnyRude on YouTube

                    June 24, 2016 at 2:11 am #38856
                    majorramifications
                    Participant

                      Mumbles, my motor does NOT run like the one in the video. That one screams compared to mine.

                      I think I found the problem, guys. It seems that I was sloppy when installing the new coils and the lower cylinder’s coil’s plug wire got speared by the coil pin at an angle and it looks like it was arcing in there until it could no longer jump the gap. I KNOW it had spark when I first installed the new coils.

                      I’ll change that plug wire and check it out again. It would be nice if it ran like the one in the video Mumbles posted.

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