New to Force

[RFEvans1965]

I recently purchased a 24 ft Landau pontoon with a 1988 Force 125. I'm a newbie as far as the Force engines are concerned but not a new to outboards. I read all the sticky's and trying to get this thing into shape.....Right now not getting above 3000 RPM's. and lost a water pump on my second outing...So the journey begins and outboards are always a journey seems like for me..lol.....I've already ordered the water pump will be in today done the disassembly to find no fins on the pump just a few small pieces in the pump it's self....so I'm concerned about where the others are...so I have a couple of questions...

1 would like recommendations on a manual
2 anyone did engine flush? what's involved, tips, pointers...
3 recommendations on a decent compression tester..

I'm going to change the pump today when the new one arrives but after that I think the best of course of action is a compression test to see what I have....She did get pretty warm with no water pumping she ran about 10 minutes before i figured it out....things I had done prior to the second outing was link and sink changed the lower unit fluid....I also checked spark to all cylinders with my spark tester and seemed good... The original owner had told me it just had all been serviced including impeller ....I should have known better and checked it for piece of mind....It did pump well on the first outing...anyway any and all reply's are welcome.. going to.just. learn as I go with this...Thanks in advance...Randy

 

[MrMarty51]

A timing light with tachometer and spark advance mode is real helpful.
try doing a compression test and see how that goes.
the 70 horse Force on My sons boat was shoving the throttle too far and pushing the throttle plate through wide open and back to about 3/4 throttle.

 

[Tassie 1]

Welcome
G'day
Not really surprised it got hot with no water after 10 mins,

If you can't see the p...er outlet consider fitting a fitting to the top of the engine block that then flows out the side of the cowling.

 

[RFEvans1965]

Thanks for the reply's.....the first time I had it out it took a minute to get water out the ports to start with..... boat only went a 200 yards but that very well could have been too far....Anyway's borrowed a snapon compression tester and the verdict was not good....Cylinder 1-140 2-140 3-135 4-90....I suspect it was that way when I got it but I'll never know now...and honestly the motor would have been a bonus...Pontoon double axle trailer and motor was just 1600 bucks I was expecting some trouble....Rebuilding is probably a little above my pay grade...not that I couldn't do it but tools and a place to do it would be a issue...the question now is whether to rebuild or find another engine....I going to talk to a Marine mechanic tomorrow that I know and get some feed back from him....I can tell the stator has been replaced and one cdi box..so I'm thinking of the positives I wouldn't probably not have to buy if I rebuild...But from reading here and looking online parts are getting harder to find from what I'm seeing so that could be a problem...Well that's where I am any suggestions are welcome....Feel free to beat me up on a rookie mistake..lol..I knew better...lol

 

[Nordin]

Force engines are really old school design and easy to work with.
10 minutes running with bad cooling is not a good starting point.
But I would suggest you to pull the head and check.
Maybe only a bad head gasket at #4, BUT check the #4 cylinder walls and piston.
If the wall is not to bad worn (check with your nails) then maybe a new piston and rings is enough.
Parts are still available.
Franz Marine, Mastertech Marine (Maxrules) are good sources for parts and Ebay too.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Tools: buy the best you can afford.
Some Harbor Freight tools are ok, my battery
load tester is great.
Other tools like a comp tester NO they give crappy
results.

Like Nordin suggested, pull the head and check the
piston and cylinder walls.
Maybe pull the port cover and check the side of the
piston???

Missing pieces of the impeller??? You need to back flush
through the thermostat housing, remove the drive and
check the tube going to the motor.
That's where the pieces should end up??