93' FORCE 120 HELP..... PLEASE !!

[JRamage]

My family and I recently purchased a Bayliner w/ 93 FORCE 120. The boat was seldom used by the original owner and the motor has roughly 45 hours on it. I made the owner take it to the local shop and have eveything checked out. All was well, compression & all "expensive" components were deemed in good shape. The shop said the motor was in great shape... hardly used. So, this summer we really hit the water ready to go... the motor always was always touchy to start and idled rough... also had rough idle speed and died alot when shifting into gears. I dealt with this for a month until I could get the boat out of the water and get it to a shop. Shop checked compression, was OK and he found the top carb out of adjustment, fixed that and replaced plugs and said it should be good to go. This week the motor started great, idled and shifted great. The motor even sounded quiter at full throttle... UNTIL TODAY... when we were heading in for the day. I opened it up to about 3/4 throttle (not real fast either) and all of the sudden it felt like I ran over something, it made a pop and lifted about 6 inches out of the water.. I threw it into Neutral as quick as I could, and it died. Couldn't restart it.. all it does when you turn the key is the motor start raises the matching gear. That's it... one action..... what am I looking at here ? Have I blown the engine up.... Stator issues, piston, am I looking at large $'s to fix it ? Where can I begin to self-diagnose, or can I being a novice? I did check the plugs and they look great, they were replaced with servicing... I really can't think what went wrong... everthing was going so well. Any help ?

 

[my new fishmaster]

Re: 93' FORCE 120 HELP..... PLEASE !!

I had a 89 Mercury 80hp that had the same problems. Found out my fuel pump the square black thingy was bad. They make diaphram kits to fix$13, take yours apart and see if the rubber has turned over a little. My local outboard mec could not solve the problem I had to figure it out. Now I own a 96 75 Force and have the same similar problems with only one carb running 3cyl I think my reeds might be bad but dont know.

 

[JB]

Re: 93' FORCE 120 HELP..... PLEASE !!

Howdy JRamage.<br /><br />I think your engine broke.. . siezed. <br /><br />An autopsy by a good Force wrench can probably tell you what caused it.<br /><br />It may be repairable, it may not. A rebuilt powerhead can be had for between 2 and 3 Grand.<br /><br />Good luck.

 

[lonewolf5347]

Re: 93' FORCE 120 HELP..... PLEASE !!

INSTEAD OF TAKING IT TO THE SHOP, CHECK THE COMPRESSION ON EACH CYLINDER ALSO SEE IF ALL CYLINDERS ARE FIREING.AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU FIND?

 

[12Footer]

Re: 93' FORCE 120 HELP..... PLEASE !!

Did you actually hit something? Can the engine be turned-over? if not, it may be the powerhead or the lower unit. To determine which, it would require dropping the lower unit,and try it then.<br />If it turns way too freely, it might have still siezed-up, but when it did, sheared the flywheel key.

 

[JRamage]

Re: 93' FORCE 120 HELP..... PLEASE !!

To All Whom Replied, I deeply appreciate it. <br />To answer a few questions, I did not hit anything... it was 15 feet of water where we broke. I was in clean water and cruising about 25 when I gave it some additional throttle.<br />Should it be the Lower Unit or the Powerhead, are the lower unit and powerheads worth replacing after labor costs and all ... will this be a yearly occurence ? <br />Secondly, could/should either of these gone bad on a motor with such low hours and hardly used ?<br />The boat is so new and everything checked out upon inspections....

 

[steelespike]

Re: 93' FORCE 120 HELP..... PLEASE !!

Sounds bad to me.Are you saying the starter cant turn the motor? you should be able to move the flywheel by hand if you cant its probably seized<br />or something broke inside.Were you running the proper oil mix?<br /> Dont spend huge amounts of money on the motor.<br /> Force is an orphan now and have marginal reliability at best.<br />Good luck.

 

[trevorcday]

Re: 93' FORCE 120 HELP..... PLEASE !!

Unfortunately it sounds like something bad happened inside your motor. In order to get an idea of what is wrong I would do the following:<br />1. Remove all of the spark plugs and look for any small bits of aluminum on them. If you see any look in that cylinder with a flashlight to see if the piston has melted.<br />2. Try to turn over the engine by rotating the flywheel (clockwise looking from a bove). It should turn over smoothly with some resistance. If it is tight or won't turn at all either the power head is seized or the lower unit is seized.<br />3. If the motor wouldn't turn over in step 2, remove the lower unit and try to turn the motor over again. If it does turn over now the problem is a seized lower unit. If not it it a seized powerhead.<br />4. If the powerhead is seized examine the block externally for any holes that would indicate a broken rod.<br />5. If the engine turned over ok in step 2 you need to check the compression. You can hook up a compression gauge and get an actual reading for each cylinder or you can just put your thumb over the spark plug holes, one at a time, and turn the motor over. If the cylinders are ok the compression should blow air past your thumb no matter how hard you try to keep the hole closed. Low compression on any of the cylinders would probably indicate a broken piston ring or melted piston.<br /><br />Force outboards have (in my experience) been prone to these catastrophic failures. I know some people love them and to those people I apologize. If you do need to rebuild the powerhead or the lower unit it will cost a fair bit of money but given the age and size of the motor it may be worth doing. However, if you can make a deal to trade up to a non-Force motor that would probably be best in the long run.<br /><br />Sorry to hear about your troubles.

 

[moose211]

Re: 93' FORCE 120 HELP..... PLEASE !!

when you got the boat you should have had a new impeller put in and thurm.

 

[mbb]

Re: 93' FORCE 120 HELP..... PLEASE !!

If your not a good wrench, you dont need to own that motor anymore. It simply doesnt have the intrinsic value to justify spending retail $$ to fix if it needs anything major...and unfortunately it doesnt sound very good.