TOPIC: boat repair,punxy pa

i talked to this guy when i got my old motor,and he said he can fix any motor.
well my father in laws 1995 evinrude,9.9 hp quit working,so he took it to him.
the fella said it wasnt getting spark,but would only take 1 hour and a half to fix it.and it would be 2 days.
so my father in law left his pontoon boat there,he just got it back,he took it there at the begining of july!
the guy also told him the bill would be around 150 bucks,well it was $611.52,he couldnt figure out what was wrong so he replaced the stator,rectifier,ignition switch,and whatever is a cd2.
now my question is,isnt there ways to check these parts to see if they are bad before you replace them all?
the motor was turning over but just wouldnt start.

I believe the correct "short" answer is yes, all those items can be diagnosed before replacement John, pretty sure on most of them anyway. Very sorry to hear about your F.I.L.'s bad experience, it seems that happens a lot these days. It sounds like they replaced about everything electrical except the starter! (By cd2 I assume they're talking about the electronic ignition control box.)

yes,yes,yes.....in hindsight it would of been worth a trip to tim's. what makes that rip-off more ugly is that it took over 2 months!

Ouch! Guess he had no recourse but to pay. Sorry to hear.
But I too wish there was a reputable place to get a vintage motor, or a repair shop, that knows what they are doing, without charging an arm and a leg.
Actually, I guess I wish I had the ability to work on mechanical stuff, myself. ...

jimmy sgrig in pennsy and tim in silver lake are great merc mechanics.

John, This seems to be an all too familiar scenario. I've pretty much always given the benefit of the doubt on cost overuns because quite often you get into something and inevitably find other things that are wrong. Happens everyday. But what bothers me is the time frame. If you say you'll have done in 2 days then YOU DO IT IN 2 DAYS or at least have a good explanation why it will be 3 days and not 2. I'm having the same problem with the guy working on my motor. Late August then mid September now Late October which means no 2011 for me. It's damned frustrating. Good luck to you and your FIL.
Shipley

thanks guys thats what i thought too,my fil is pretty mad,i can see somethings get out of your control,i have taken alot longer painting steering wheels and horns but i dont do it for a living,the part that gets me is he should know how to test these parts,i can fix any motor too if i put everything in it brand new.it takes a good mechanic to figure out what to fix.at least imho

Unhooking the blk/yellow wire would remove the ign switch for troubleshooting.

Rectifier is for battery charging only.

CD2 is the CDI box, typically the culprit on OMC.

The stator can be tested with an ohm meter and on later ones (which 1995 should be) using a peak reading voltage adapter also. Stators rarely go bad on OMCs.

I would have started by ohming the stator & if good, plugged in a new CDI. Assuming spark, then its fixed. CDI box, p/n 584783 supercedes to 586798 price about $115. With labor about $150 if the CDI.

Taking the motor to a non OEM dealer increases the chances of trial & error. It also increases the lead time. I have the CDI on the shelf, this guy most likely didn't. I have the luxury of trying the part & putting it back on the shelf if wrong. He can't buy the part & return it after using it for trouble shooting.

I have fixed these in the parking lot on slow days for a drive in on here on vacation.

thank you jim,you helped us alot,its what i thought,that this stuff could have been checked 1st,before replacing all of it,john
p.s. i dont have the motor in front of me to look at but one of the parts,it plugs in under the bottom part of the cowl,2 screws to take that part of the cowl off,well instead of taking off the bottom cover he just cut the wires and taped them up.

John, I'm not at all trying to throw you under the bus schedule wise because I have seen you do favors for people here at FG more than once. The difference as you point out is that you are not doing it as a business but as a genuine nice guy. Sorry if I offended you in any way because that is certainly not my intent.
Shipley

shipley no,not at all,i was talking about myself,your comments didnt have a thing to do with my post,lol,your comment is very true,i was just feeling bad for taking so long on some stuff that i have done for folks.
i do it for my friends here on fg for free,because i like paying things forward and so many of you have been so good to me.
i absoulutly did not take offence to your comment,it didnt even cross my mind when i wrote that post,lol,i was just telling of my own downfalls,lol,your a good guy shipley,john

he should have called for an OK on going on a spending spree of such magnitude. That is so far out of line. This man to put it mildly could not find his ass with both hands at the same time and should be called on it. Now that he has the boat back and he got his ransom money he will do nothing but I sure would leave him know and maybe leave him sport a new look in the nose area. If he didn't know what to do all he did was go on a spending spree at other expense. He never should have spent money like that without an OK.

and we think the ignition is a used one,and it only had 1 key,john

well we took my fil's pontoon boat out to the lake today,the motor started right up,then we shut it off to attach it to a tank with more gas,then it wouldnt start,we had gas,but no spark again,what the heck?
can you guys give me a somewhat detailed discription of what to check and how to check it,and in what order,you can see above what all has been replaced,thanks in advance,john

john, i would immediately take the whole boat and block his garage entrance and demand he repair it while i stood there and watched,,,and at no cost, but thats the jersey boy in me. i once did something similar and had 3 cop cars dispatched to the scene. although they agreed with my actions, i eventually moved due to other customer's being inconvenienced. ron

yep ron in the old days ,i would have dealt with this a little differently,but im 50 now with the heart and knees of a 120 year old,lol,plus steve said his boy is a huge guy,lol.
im 230lb and hes bigger,lol,lol.
i think steve is willing to pay a lawyer more then he is this fella,just for the sake of things.
i once bought a truck from a local big dealer in my area,and the truck pretty much fell apart on me,in less then a week,they wouldnt do anything about it until i wrote all over the outside of it with shoe polish ,everything that was wrong with it,and where it came from,i then got as many quarters as i could and parked it right in front of the dealership,while they held a big sale.
i even brought magazines,i stayed there until they got me another truck.
i came to find out it was a gaswell truck,that was beat to death,it looked great and low miles,my 1st clue was as soon as i took it to the carwash the paint flew off,the thing had been rolled over and "fixed" back up and put on the lot,i was very young then,i learned alot.john

parkin in front of the dealership durin a sale was a great idea john. lmao

well my fil took the boat back to him today,he found out it was a broken wire in the plug that goes into the motor,the fellow spliced another plug on it and its running now.
the way he found out what it was ,is that he unpluged the original plug and put one of his plugs in and it started right up,he didnt charge anything to do it,he also said it was a very good running motor,which maks me feel good because steve got it from me,hopefully its good to go,john