Having pottered around with engines for years there are still things I come accross and find I get a huge lesson in what not to do by the experience of doing it first.... Thought I'd share my lesson and welcome others to contribute the lessons you've learnt even though to others they might appear as obvious.
Big goof #1..... DON'T USE SILICONE ON PARTS IN TOUCH WITH FUEL!!!
I thought I'd be smart and use silicone instead of a gasket on my fuel pump, the fuel pump comes after the fuel filter on my yammie and the problems I had took me days to figure out as the silicone breaks down and ends up in the carbies!
Big goof #2
TURN THE FLIPPIN WATER ON TO FLUSH THE ENGINE!!
Ok this might be obvious.... I thought the water was there to cool the engine so a few seconds without water was not going to be a drama... The issue is here that the impeller needs the cooling way before the engine does or it will be damaged! Might be obvious to some but I learnt the hard way. This is immediate damage in a matter of a few seconds.
Bits of impeller caught in the cooling system can be a bugger to remove. It took me 1 day after shearing 4 bolts on the engine trying to get all the crap out!
I was removing the lower leg assy (ie where the impellor and gearbox are) and couldn't seperate it till i notice the gearshift link.
just as well i didn't start belting the lower half to get it off. would have done some damage to the plastic cams on the gear selector.
Sheering engine/leg bolts can mean several things 1) that the engine has never been pulled down - some times a good thing sometimes not 2) the engine has been poorly serviced and maintained.
Really before an outboard ever hits the water the engine/leg bolts should be removed one by one and treated with anti-sieze as at least then when the day comes when one has to remove these it won't take 2 days a bolt, won't have to drill out bolts, won't have to heat the crap out things to make em move.
Cheers, Kerry.
Silicone is definately a no-no where fuel is involved, even if it you are using it where fuel moght be spilled. From memory I used to use Selleys All Clear around things that needed sealing (not on fuel lines or motors) as it is fuel resistant. Bostick also make one now that is similar to SAC but haven't tried it near fuel. These days I make the extra effort to use gaskets, gasket goo (locktite make a speacial fuel resistant gasket goo) etc to make a seal - definately easier if you have to pull anything apart later on.
One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce and canonized those who complain.
Thomas Sowell
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