How many hrs will a honda 90 get?

C

CaptMac

New member
I looked at the tach the other night ( I run flounder gigging charters exclusively at night-time ) and noticed the hr meter which I never look at. 1,294.2 hrs. Maintenance? I take the motor to the honda dealer once a year for a complete tune-up incl new plugs, impeller, thermostat, oil chg, oil filter, fuel filter, lube, lower foot oil, etc and compression ck - which they said was excellent. This year they found water in the foot which they said would have caused the bearing to overheat eventually but it was caught in time. It was a bad gasket. I wondering if I can put money into some boat upgrades or if I should be putting some away for a new(er) outboard. How many hours can be expected on this honda before I will need a new outboard or a major rebuild?
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If you look at Gypsy Cd-22 that did about a 1/3 the Great loop It has a 2004or 2005 90 hp yamha with over 2000 hours and still has great compression 110 in all cylinders I think Mike has it sold about now and is getting a bigger boat to finish his adventure . The newer 4 strokes should get 2000-4000 hours depending on maintenance .At United airlines we had Trucks and machinery lasting over 20yrs so it can be done whatch the red lining and do the maintenance and it should go another 1000hrs or so .
 
Noticed you have a 16. Bet that thing will fly with a Honda 90 on it!! :shock:

Please tell us you meant Honda 50 or that you have another boat.... :lol:

Charlie
 
Captains Cat":auostozv said:
Noticed you have a 16. Bet that thing will fly with a Honda 90 on it!! :shock:

Please tell us you meant Honda 50 or that you have another boat.... :lol:

Charlie
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Charlie, he has another boat that he uses for his flounder fishing business. (Click on his business web address in his post). (You can see the Honda on the transom of his flounder vessel). I viewed it several years ago and found it interesting. With those hours, I'm guessing his business is successful and not "floundering"...... :roll:
 
[/quote] With those hours, I'm guessing his business is successful and not "floundering"...... :roll:[/quote]

:lol:

The honda 90 is on my flounder gigging boat a/k/a the Flounder Barge. I do not own a C-dory now but have owned four of them in the past: 2-CD 16 Anglers, and 2-CD 22 Cruisers, so I am still a big C-Dory fan.

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I just use the honda 90 to get to and from the gigging grounds from the boat boat ramp and use the air motor about 80% of the time (while the honda 90 is trimmed up) to skim along the mud banks and oyster shell beds where the flounder are found. Economically this is nice because the honda is a lot more expensive to maintain including gas expense.

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I can' talk Honda with any authority, but we have a 140 Suzuki in our shop right now (2004) with 2800 hours on it.

I would think running it regularly, and with the maintennace you're doing on it that 2-3000 hours will be very doable.
 
Matt i had a Suzuki 90 (on Blue Manatee which was a 22 Cruiser, not the 16 Angler shown in my album), it was fuel injected and ran extremely well but I didn't use the boat enough hrs to know about it well. Below is a pic of that boat and I would like to have another 22 like it:
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The Honda 90 seems to be very reliable but all my charters are at night and I don't want to be stuck up the creek without a running outboard one night but if you and JennyKatz feel like I can maybe get 1k more hrs that would be great.
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Pics from last night, 8/27/10, Friday

I did 44 charters in one just month (june) this year including several nights with three charters a night seeing the sunset and the sunrise the next am so I use the motor a lot so I am glad to know that it can get a lot more hrs if properly maintained.
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I am now in the Broughton Island area in BC Cananda. In talking to a commercial user, they say that 2 to 4 thousand hours on the older Honda 90 is common.

The new fuel injected Honda 90 however, is not in favor with these commercial users. The new motor has a timing chain in the upper part of the motor and it can break and ruin the entire engine. This is happening at 500, to 1,000 hours.

The trend here is to go to the Yamaha 90 or 115 to replace the Honda 90's.
 
Mac , how do you repair the holes in those fish ?
I have a Honda 90 on my rental boat , they are tough . You should be good for many more thousands of hours . The biggest problem with those motors is the current state of fuel and the carbs.They also tend to corrode , especially the mid section and steering . If you are on top of those things , its a killer motor .
I need to come over and put some holes in some fish with you...........
Marc
 
Wefings":jwqueujg said:
Mac , how do you repair the holes in those fish?
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Marc nice to hear from you again. Repairing the holes in the flounder is easy - its called a fry-daddy. Seriously, if I tell a client to gig for the head, they oftentimes miss the whole flounder by inches so its best to have a flounder with holes than a perfect fish missed.

Glad to hear good reviews about the carb'd 90, larry h, and that other commercial users found problems with the fuel-inj'd motors cause its easy to think a newer model must be better but obviously not.

>>> The biggest problem with those motors is the current state of fuel and the carbs.<<<

Marc i have been running starbright fuel treatment to counter the ethanol found in fuel nowdays. Is this the best additive? Thanks for your input.

>>> I need to come over and put some holes in some fish with you...........<<<

Come on over anytime and I'll show you how skinny water fishing compares to offshore fishing which although is fun can include getting sea sick and sunburn.

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Sunset means it's time to go Flounder Gigging!
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Capt Mac with a nice July, 2010 Flounder
 
'....The new motor has a timing chain in the upper part of the motor and it can break and ruin the entire engine. This is happening at 500, to 1,000 hours. "
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WOW, That seems like really few hours, maybe 3-5 years for average users? Scarey.

Seems like a Timing chain change-out early would be good PM.

Harvey
SleepyC
:moon
 
Interesting comments about the EFI Honda 90 timing chain issue. A quick search of Google didn't turn up anything of interest regarding timing chain issues. I also looked for the Honda Fit automobile, since the BF90D apparently uses the same engine, and I didn't see any problems with that either. That's not to say problems don't happen, but from my brief search it doesn't seem like they are unusually common, either. I'll ask my mechanic about it next time I talk with him.

As a side note, I remember reading a review of the Honda Pilot before we bought one. One of the testers had taken the nearly new Pilot on a road trip and the timing belt had snapped, ruining the engine and stranding him and his family in the desert. Despite his unfortunate experience, he recommended the vehicle highly and I haven't heard of any major problems with Pilot timing belts since.
 
I have a question for anyone regarding the operation of the honda 90: I was told by the mechanic at the honda dealer when I took it in for service that he recommended running it "wide open" as much as and whenever possible. He also stated that was the advice offered by the manufacturer and that these motors are set up to "run that way."

I hardly ever run the motor wide open instead run it at what I feel is 75 - 90% of WOT. I don't really pay attention to the rpm needle either as I don't feel like the reading is quite right.

I feel like running the motor continuously at WOT is only going to run me back to the Dealer soon for some expensive repairs. How does anyone else run their motors?
 
Interesting about running 'styles'.

The local Honda 'doc told me to run mine more often at high RPMs because I do so much hull speed traveling in the 1800rpm range. The reason was more to keep the carb bowls and jets clear due to the "new" gas we are stuck with.

My 2004 90s went into service Sept 2005 and late last year I had the carbs reworked; i. e., cleaned after 300hrs. I am now awaiting the completion of the 400hr service and all is looking very good. I have followed his suggestions, including to continue with the addition of fuel conditioner and stailizer to each filling. I often will go 2-3 weeks between runs, but far more on the work rack to trickle charge the batteries and do general cleaningand waxing.

I'm told I should see >1000hrs before any major issue. I do run Salt Away after each outing and we now have fresh water at the marinia for all our work... no more well water!

Guess I wasted a lot of space on this one... :roll:

Art
 
"It was a bad gasket"

Did they replace or reuse it?

I replace them and also have electric oil extraction pump that attaches to oil level port
 
CaptMac,
Gypsy is still for sale as of today she has 2145 hours and like Jim said the compression is 110 psi all four cylinders. Been a great Yamaha 90, 2004 model! I also have a Honda 50 on the pontoon boat Brenda and I did the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers on. It is a 1990 model, carburated, and I know the motor has well over 3000 hours on it. We do regular maintenence on both motors. Les Lapman re-built the carbs on the Honda on a visit here in Tennessee a couple years back. Just what my expiereince has been! Good luck fishing and I think you will get a lot more hours out of your Honda.
Mike
 
B²":26fho99s said:
"It was a bad gasket"

Did they replace or reuse it?

I replace them and also have electric oil extraction pump that attaches to oil level port
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B², they replaced it thanks for asking. It was the gasket that goes around the diameter of the motor when you drop down the foot. Then they put in the new foot oil from a port at the bottom until it oozed out from the port above.

The carbs were causing the motor to run rough especially at idle but I bought some Startron ethanol treatment and now it runs smooth and even.
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We get lots of nice Sheepshead, too. Many believe they are as good eating as Flounder.
 
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