Leaks a little fuel... what is this thing, and how do I remove it? 125 HP Force, 1988

[pastorbud]

So, I bought a 2nd 125 HP Force Motor. Compression is very good.. just over 120 on all four cyl. (Guy just had it rebuilt.) #2 spark not firing, but that is obviously a broken connector on the #2 trigger wire.

But .... there are two sort of dog-boned shaped plates (photo below) behind the ignition plate, and the previous owner says bottom one leaks fuel. It's cracked and has a home-made gasket underneath it.

I have a parts motor, so my plan is to rob one off mine. The top and bottom ones look identical. I photographed the top one on my old parts motor, but it's the bottom one that's leaking on the "new to me" motor.

I removed the four bolts holding it on the parts motor, and tried to gently pry it off. No luck. Since the previous owner already broke that part on the one I bought, I wanna go easy on my parts motor. These things look easy to break of you pry to hard on them.

So...

1) What is this thing? (Circled in photo)
2) Any tricks for removing it without breaking it?
3) Is there a supplier I can go to for the gasket under it, or do I just go with RTV?

 

[pastorbud]

Now that I've researched it, it looks like it's a "Cylinder Drain Cover", and they don't make them anymore, but they do sell the gaskets. So.... any suggestions for getting this thing off in one piece?
www.boats.net/parts/search/Merc/Force/1988/H1251X88A/POWER%20HEAD/parts.html

 

[foodfisher]

1) Part of the fuel recirculating system/puddle drain? Searching is required but parts are out there. 2) Easy does it with a stiff putty knife. 3) Parts are there, again with searching. No pressure, so RTV should work as long as none globs up internally.

 

[pastorbud]

It's the assembly in items 35-44 on the diagram above. Should I replace "#40-- CYLINDER DRAIN REED F18160-3" while I'm in there?

 

[GA_Boater]

Those are links to iboats competitors, Pastorbud. That's why they don't show up. This free forum is sponsored by iboats.com and iboats.com does sell parts.

 

[Jiggz]

There's no reason to replace the cylinder drain reed unless it is not closing properly anymore. Basically this is nothing but a check valve which allows unburned fuel to pass thru but keeps close during the intake phase of the cylinder. As for removing it use box cutter blade to go around it and cut the gasket and replace it.

 

[pastorbud]

Thanks, guys. Didn't consider the competitor conflict.... Duh! I'll buy from here if I can find it.

 

[pastorbud]

I can't seem to tell which part number is the one for my engine.

I see my motor listed here (It's a 1988, Model 1251A8C, Serial 1088).

 

[pastorbud]

OK, here:

http://www.iboats.com/basics/force.html

 

[pastorbud]

But I can't tell which of theses gaskets goes on my engine. They're pretty cheap.... maybe I should just buy one of each!

http://www.iboats.com/Force-Cylinde...1908753--session_id.385448787--view_id.271740

 

[pastorbud]

Just gonna call iboats customer service.

 

[pastorbud]

I couldn't get in there with a work knife (don't have a box cutter!), but I did have a gasket scraper that uses razor blades. After I worked it in on the top corners, it came off pretty easily. The upper gasket is pretty thick, so I think it also acts as a spacer for the reeds to have room to move. I wouldn't try RTV in this place.

Parts ordered.

 

[Jiggz]

You can still browse the competitor pages especially if you want to validate the part number of the parts you are looking for. And usually, here at iboats, they give both the cross reference and original Force part number.