88 force 125

[Zareski20]

So i picked up a 18 ft bayliner cuddy cabin last year with a force 125 on it took it out for
First time couple weeks ago was a lil rough starting but got it going then about 15 mins in the water startes
Bogging down and goimg nowere barley made it back to the dock but pulled off engine cover messed with a lil
And think it was a choke issue but took
It back out and with 3 guys about 650 -700 pounds of weight we hit about 30 mph going upstream is tis
Were the abouta the speed should
Be for thesea engines first boat took it out once and love it anything i should look for on these engines problems sounds like it was running sould after that little studder step i had ran good for
About an hour but fellt like i could get a little more out of the engine just trying to get a couple seasons out of this then hopefully upgrade

 

[Justinde]

Re: 88 force 125

Welcome to iboats firstly.

I would not look at her as getting ' a couple of season out of it' for a couple of reasons. 1- if you treat it like ****, it will treat you accordingly and 2- if all is good ( compression/spark/fuel) then these engines are a gem to work on when needed. Do a compression test, check your fuel lines/fuel pump and look at the link and sync sticky at the start of the forum. As for speed- what size prop? I get 45MPH out of my 125 ( also a 1988) and it pushes a 18 foot bowrider with kids and fuel. Do you want to get to the fishing hole a massive 3/4 of a second faster than anyone else? Go for reliability, that these boats have in abunance ( as any do) when taken care of. The ' keep it for a couple of seasons' means- to me- that you don't give a toss about the engine, and are waiting for an upgrade. If you don't like your engine, change it now, and while it is running, sell it on ebay or similar. Nothing wrong with a well maintined engine- even a Force.

 

[Zareski20]

Re: 88 force 125

Thanks for
The welcome what i meant by for a couple seasons thing is i would like to get rid
Of the boat sell it after a couple seasons still
In worlimg order i dont want to blow the the thing up so was just wondering if these engines have any problem areas to keep close
Eye on cause i mean it was sitting for About a year and a half i checked everything threw some fuel in hooked up a batterie and it fires right up i just meant would like to upgrade boats after a few seasons of learning boats and pass this
Nice boat onto
Some new beginer dont lno the prop
Size would have to check but i kno the guy dis replace it before i got it what size should it be and what should the compression be in each cylinder i read on another post the guy had an 85 force 125 with 150 in each cylinder is that correct for an 88 also thanks for any info and help

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: 88 force 125

Prop size depends on the motor.If it's running right then it should run at about 52-5500rpm at wot.
Compression depends on the guage.
A good guage will read 145-155# on a good motor.
What your looking for is the same reading on all cylinders.
Your guage might read 120.Mine will read 150
What your looking for is all cylinders about the same.
Any more than 15% in any one cylinder there might be a problem.

Back to the prop.See if you can read the size.You might have to take it off.Post pics,that always helps.
Somewhere on it should be a size ,might be just 2 numbers.Anywhere from 15p-21p
Your should be around 19p MAYBE??????Depending on the last person to own the boat.
I know the wrong prop can cause excessive gas consumption.Poor performance.

 

[Jiggz]

Re: 88 force 125

For an '88-125HP, the std prop should be 13 1/4" - 17P or 19P. It cannot be larger than 13.5 for this is the maximum distance from the prop shaft to the bottom of the cavitation plate. Others pushes it to 13 1/4-21P which is still doable although it will start to affect your WOT speed.

 

[Zareski20]

Re: 88 force 125

Checked the prop today its. 13.1/4 17 p also the boat turns easy to
The right but hard to turn left is there any ajustment on the drive to adjusy this or a way to fix it thanks in advance

 

[Jiggz]

Re: 88 force 125

If you are referring to the steering make sure the steering arm is well lubed with lithium grease. Inherently, the steering is a little hard going left but not really hard you have to muscle it.

 

[Zareski20]

Re: 88 force 125

Yea was talking about the steering its pretty stiff going left have to muscle it pretty good to go left

 

[Jiggz]

Re: 88 force 125

Lube the steering unit and cable and also the center post for the engine. In the Navy, the motto is, " If it moves grease it, if it doesn't paint it!"

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: 88 force 125

The snout on the bottom of the motor is the steering fin.Look at it???
It has an adjustment space.Needs allen wrench and 5/8s socket.
If it turns hard left move the snout left.