Look closely at the outboard above and you can see all the little shells and sea critters in at the back of the engine block. Click here to see a close up. The engine is now a write off and was caused by a combination of things. The engine was bolted onto the back of a sport fishing boat which sat at the dock for weeks at a time with no one looking after it, the boat had a leak in a skin fitting which no one noticed because any water that found it's way into the boat was sucked up by the automatic bilge pump. This leaking and pumping cycle went on until the battery went flat and the pump stopped working. The boat very slowly filled with water until the transom with the heavy engine on it started to sink. The water got under the engine cover and with it the critters started to multiply ending up with the situation that we see above. When salt water found it's way into the engine it was doomed and is as you can see a total wreck.
All this damage and a 12,000 dollar repair and replacement bill could have been saved if the boat had been taken care of and the very small leak repaired.
Great Information on your site. The following is an easy fix for ethanol plagued outboards that you may want to share with your readers. Outboard motors on boats really take a beating from ethanol. Especially the older models, but I have a quick and easy fix for old Mercury outboards that works and all it involves is adding "Marvel Mystery Oil" to the gas tank. The full story is on my wordpress blog please see http://wp.me/pb0Ok-1n
Posted by: Capt Jim | August 17, 2009 at 06:59 PM
Jim
Thanks for the tip. I had heard of this before although I have never tried it myself.
Posted by: mark | August 17, 2009 at 09:15 PM