new carburetor needed for yamhah 20?????

B

bcarli

New member
Hi
My mechanic tells me I need a new carburetor for my 1997 Yamaha 20 outboard. Seems water sat in the carb while it was stored for 6 months even though I ran the fuel out before putting it away for the season. The quote for a new carb was over $500...any thoughts about where I might be able to buy a new one for less?
thanks
 
Why does he think you "need" a new one? They are rebuildable. However, I will concede that if rust has pitted many of the surfaces, they very well could be a complete lost cause. I have looked everywhere for used marine carbs and other parts to no end. I will watching this thread closely as I don't think they really exist.
 
Hi
My mechanic, who I think is a very honest person said that the parts to rebuild one and his time would be almost as much as just buying a new one...I am just wondering if there are better places to buy one then just leaving it up to him...I'm doing this homework trying to save some $
thanks
 
You really really should get out your tools and take the carb apart taking pictures at each step. Get some carb cleaner and go for it. 10 bucks for a carb cleaner jug, and you are good to gol. You have nothing to lose. You can definitely get a carb gasket kit from Yami. I've done about 25 carbs from four barrel and at least a dozen from 2 and 4 stroke outboards. It isn't rocket science to clean them up, blow out the ports and put on some new gaskets.

It would have to be in incredibly bad shape to not be good after a cleaning and new gaskets. But, maybe it is in that bad of condition. Any carb you can buy other than new will be a carb that...wait for it...is a rebuit, meaning cleaned, new gaskets and maybe a new float in the bowl or new jets, which you can buy.

I'll bet that 50 bucks in materials and a fun saturday morning will get your carb back on the road.

But, if you are unlike me and have the big bucks for a 500 dollar carb, then that is a reasonable route to go. However, after you get the new one, send the old one to me. I'd like to see what a really bad outboard carb looks like...I'm serious.


But I haven't seen the thing so my advice is probably poor.
 
The carbs used on the small outboards are very expensive (a 4 horse goes for almost $400) and if they develope bad corrosion issues they often aren't rebuildable.

We invested in a sonic cleaner a few years ago, and we are able to save some carbs, but often the labor cost coupled with parts gets close to the cost of a new carb, and sometimes we can rebuild a unit and not get much improvement. Our poor success rate with carb repair has led us to suggest replacement with new for best success.

Water in the carb, or ethanol and water is very destructive. We are seeing more carb problems these days then we ever saw before the days of ethanol. I would be hesitant to use a used carb for this engine, as you could save some money short term, and wind up needing a rebuild or replacement anyway.

The bottom line- If you're cabaple of doing the work yourself, you would have nothing to lose to try rebuilding it yourself, just the cost of parts. If you have a mechanic that you trust, I would follow his recomendation. This is why having a good relationship with a shop you respect and trust is so important. Most shops want to provide the best success for the customer.
 
An automotive dealership mechanic once explained the "make no mistakes" approach on repairs to me:

Replace any components that are or might be defective with new ones rather than repair them because: 1. it's simpler to do for the mechanic/dealer, 2. you'll have less problems with the "fix" now, while doing it, and down the road, and, 3. the dealer makes more money.

It would be my mode of operation, too, if I were a businessman/dealer.

However, being a cheapo myself, I might try the repair job scenario to see if I could entertain myself and save some money.

If it failed, I'd gladly pony up the $$$ for the sure thing cure at the dealer!

Win some, lose some!

Ca-ching!!!$$$ (Cash register sound from 1950's!) :lol:

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Agree with the tear down approach: photography each step, put the parts aside in a small clear tackle box. Even if pitted you may be able to clean it up--even use JB weld to repair some surfaces if necessary--put in new jets, or clean/blow out the old etc....The mechanic is looking at $100 an hour charge--you are looking at $000.

I was talking about the carbs on the EU 1000 Honda's where they say it was cheaper to put on a new carb than rebinding--yet I have rebuilt this type of carb (and on up to 4 Bbl trucks) easily.
 
OK. I'll bite. Looking at the boats.net link that Charlie provided, it looks like there are 2 ea carbs for that engine, each at ~$200. Is that correct? So which one is bad, upper, lower or both? Or am I wrong (again.)

BYW, boats.net is where I get my outboard parts, and they're good. With their prices, it look like rebuilding the carb(s) is a good way to go.

Also, the carb on the Honda 1000i is a servo driven carb. It's easy to rebuild the carb, but knowing if the servo is OK is tough. A new servo is $50, the whole carb is $75. I got the complete unit.

Boris
 
A long time ago in Spokane I used to rebuild carbs at a small business. In the few short weeks I was there, I rebuilt a number of carbs a day. With that said, most of them have a shot at being rebuilt. However, as noted by Matt, I found when I worked at a different facility, rebuilding them - even buying rebuilt ones that were supposed to be good, was dangerous territory. A LOT of them came back. They still had junk floating around in them causing all kinds of interesting problems, hidden o-rings that were not sealing right, warped parts that wouldn't seal correctly no matter what you did, and throttle bushings that were so loose that there was no way to adjust the idle. The marine environment only makes all this stuff worse. I can see your mechanic's point of view. Why pay good money for "maybe" when you can get a new one and "know" it is good. If the prices are anywhere close you'd be a fool to have him rebuild it. When I replied earlier I didn't realize you could even get a new set of carbs for anywhere that cheap as I remember them being $800 a piece.
 
I found a new carburetor online for $385 through boats.net. We use the dinghy and the outboard in our boating business so a future screw-up with a rebuild would cost us a lot more money and also create some angry customers.
Thank you everybody for your input...
bill
www.vidaysailing.com
 
bcarli":1ijmb9c1 said:
I found a new carburetor online for $385 through boats.net. We use the dinghy and the outboard in our boating business so a future screw-up with a rebuild would cost us a lot more money and also create some angry customers.
Thank you everybody for your input...
bill
www.vidaysailing.com
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What is
Captain Bill's famous virgin rum drink?

I do not drink alcohol often and always like new recipes (formulas for lab folks).
 
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