Honda BF150 overheated, now won't move

[journey on]

If you're going to repair the motor, and that's what I'd do, you ought to put in a new one. That shaft broke because of metal fatigue and a used one might be ready to go. A new shaft is $430 which is probably the least of your cost.

Or it's a good time to buy a new motor.

Boris

[Pacificcoast101]

[cmetzenberg]

The lower unit I have is from my port engine.

[thataway]

Considering the amount of corrosion on the shaft, I would check the other engine. My understanding is that you did not leave the motor in the water? Maybe anoxic crevice crack corrosion--with manufacture defect?

How many hours? Of course the boat is pushing 12 years of age, but...

Any excess zinc loss?

Of all that could happen, that is probably the cheapest and easiest to repair. The "symptoms" all pointed to a sheared drive shaft.

[localboy]

[Pacificcoast101]

[Micahbigsur@msn.com]

Metal fatigue cracks commonly end up as a straight across shear like these. Just a tiny bit of constant repeated torque stress over time.

[tsturm]

[thataway]

tsturm, were your props SS or Aluminum? One of the features of SS props is that it will take a lot of impact without much apparent damage--thus transferring more force to the shaft. Aluminum props, damage easier, but less impact to the shaft.

I probably would just go ahead and replace the other shaft.

My son has not pulled his boat out of the water, but he may also have a similar issue. He was boating in an area where there was increased debris from a recent storm run off. He didn't recollect a direct strike, but....Similar symptoms to what PacificCoast 101 has. His engine is a Honda 150 of 2006 vintage.

[tsturm]

[CaptMac]

It seems many boaters place more importance on regular engine oil changes while foregoing crankcase maintenance. The lower unit foot grease is equally if not more important. All the power from the engine is transferred to the lower unit which is always under water and the quality of the grease is the only thing to prevent over-heating of the metal-on-metal components. I change out my lower unit grease each time I change the engine oil. Its cheap, easy and doesn't take long.

As a testament to my maintenance and operating practices, my flounder boat (a 24' jon boat) has the original, 2000 Honda 90 outboard motor on it now with 2786.0 hours on it (i just checked 10 min ago). I think the harder the outboard is run the more stress is placed on every part of the motor and so I rarely run at wot, and then only for a very short distance and usually at 50-75%.

What's interesting is that, on a charter, i use the Honda 90 only 15 - 20% of the time, for getting to and from the gigging grounds where I turn off and trim up the Honda and use a lawnmower air motor engine with an ultra-light composite propeller to cruise an average of 12" of water while searching for the elusive flounder which have the ability to hide-in-plain-sight.

While the work-horse flounder barge / Honda 90 are used to grind out charter after charter in the backwater (with an aluminum prop), the 19' C-Dory Angler is my beauty queen with her 2008 Suzuki 90 (stainless prop) thats gets towed with a Lincoln Navigator and never the the humble 94 Dodge Ram used to pull the Flounder Barge. My C-Dory is used sparingly for personal (non-chartering use only) deep water river cruises to nearby Cumberland Island. I use only non-ethanol gas and flush the motor after each after each use with dual-flush outboard motor ears.

Speaking of maintenance, last month (Dec, 2019) I took her (the Blue Moon) to the factory-authorized Suzuki Dealer for a complete maintenance upgrade to all consumable (genuine Suzuki not after-market) parts and fluids: New oil, oil filter, two new fuel filters, a brand-new water pump (complete kit not a rebuild), lower foot grease, new fuel pump, new spark plugs and even all brand-new (not rebuilt or just cleaned) fuel injectors. Proper and complete maintenance means a long outboard life with many years of happy boating memories.

While there the Dealer pulled the ECM computer data with the engine hours being in the low 400's. A compression test was done with all the cylinders being 119-120 which they said was comparable to a brand-new engine.

Regarding the broken spline if using one's boat in the backwater I feel like an aluminum propeller is a must. The propeller will bend or break instead of transferring the shock directly to the shaft as with a stainless propeller. Its easier and cheaper to either replace the aluminum prop or in the case of minor bending use some pliars to straighten and a file or grinder to smooth it out.

Well thats my rant and advice for the day. Sorry if I rambled a bit

[Pacificcoast101]

We've been diligent about maintenance on our Tomcat. We don't have a trailer, so when we change the lower unit oil we use the crane hoist at the marina and change the oil as quickly as possible. They charge by the quarter hour.

We hauled it out last year and overhauled nearly everything including water pumps.

We've never hit anything solid with the props. Occasionally we go through a little kelp but back out right away. I was surprised to hear the motor rev up, as there was no other sound such as metal grinding or props hitting anything solid.

[Pacificcoast101]

We got the boat back in the water an hour ago!!!
The roller bearing on the drive shaft locked up, causing friction on the shaft. It heated up and split. There was some salt buildup on the bearings. I guess that's part of doing business having the boat in the water all the time. No other damage.

We replaced the water pump while it was out, about thirty hours ahead of schedule. I listened for any unusual sounds while motoring back to our slip. Everything looks good...for now.

[hardee]

Great, Glad it is back, up, and running again. Enjoy.

Harvey
SleepyC

[localboy]

Nice...