Since I was doing some work on my tilt sensor, after finishing I decided to address what had just been an annoying problem. My rear engine cover latch was very stiff and a pain to turn. I had tried to loosen the bolt thinking it was a pressure type fit with the bolt being an adjustment. That was wrong. After looking at my manual I found that Honda suggests greasing the 2 bushings and the rod attached to the locking handle.
So I decided to remove the entire latch which is composed of 7 elements. A bolt to hold it all together,a latch, 2 washers, 2 bushings and the handle with bronze rod attached. After removing the bolt and 2 washers most of my time was spent trying to remove the handle with rod that goes through the bushings. It took a while as it is awkard and can't be pounded out from within the cowl due to the motor clearance. You have to keep turning the handle and I used a screwdriver to carefuilly pry the handle outward. After a lot of time and WD-40 it finally came out. I was surprised at the amount of salt deposit that had galded itself to the bronze rod. Even with plastic bushings it was a bear to remove. I cleaned the rod up by scraping off the majority of the salt deposit and then gave it a quick rub with crocus cloth.
Putting it back together was pretty straight forward with grease on both inside and outside of the bushings as well as on the bronze rod. Works nice and smooth now. Just thought I would mention this for anyone that has their boat in saltwater. You may want to check this latch before the salt deposits build up which makes it a very simple job.
So I decided to remove the entire latch which is composed of 7 elements. A bolt to hold it all together,a latch, 2 washers, 2 bushings and the handle with bronze rod attached. After removing the bolt and 2 washers most of my time was spent trying to remove the handle with rod that goes through the bushings. It took a while as it is awkard and can't be pounded out from within the cowl due to the motor clearance. You have to keep turning the handle and I used a screwdriver to carefuilly pry the handle outward. After a lot of time and WD-40 it finally came out. I was surprised at the amount of salt deposit that had galded itself to the bronze rod. Even with plastic bushings it was a bear to remove. I cleaned the rod up by scraping off the majority of the salt deposit and then gave it a quick rub with crocus cloth.
Putting it back together was pretty straight forward with grease on both inside and outside of the bushings as well as on the bronze rod. Works nice and smooth now. Just thought I would mention this for anyone that has their boat in saltwater. You may want to check this latch before the salt deposits build up which makes it a very simple job.
. I have a BF 90 with the same problem. Very hard to latch and unlatch. I will give this a shot.