1988 40 vro

[Br2710]

I bought a pontoon a couple months ago that had sat and not ran for 8 years. I got the motor running. I put down all new plywood, new carpet and new furniture.
I took the boat out today it ran great for about a mile away from the loading ramp. It then started shaking and sounded awful and then just quit. I got it back home if I pull out both spark plugs it will turn over with no problem. Once I put the plugs back in it won't turn over. Like the compression is too high. It has good spark and new gas. Before I took the boat out I cleaned the carbs, replaced the fuel pump(removed the oil injection), replaced the fuel lines, replaced the fuel filter, new primer bulb with new fuel line, and cleaned the gas tank and filled it with gas/oil mix.
Any help would be greatly apriciated. Thanks in advance.

[TheBearAK]

check compression. It almost sounds like a rod bearing issue.

Put one plug in at a time and see if it will turn over.

[Br2710]

I'll have to stop at autozone and rent a compression tester tomorrow. I tried to turn it over and it actually fired and started to run but I shut it off quickly. The few seconds it ran it did have a miss. What should the compression be?
Any other ideas? Thanks

[Br2710]

Can I change the rod bearing by removing the reed valves and going in that way or do I need to remove the motor from the housing? Any tips on how to get the 12 point bolts out of the rod end caps? Are they metric or standard?
Thanks for the information

[Joe Reeves]

Originally posted by Br2710 View Post

Can I change the rod bearing by removing the reed valves and going in that way or do I need to remove the motor from the housing? Any tips on how to get the 12 point bolts out of the rod end caps? Are they metric or standard? Thanks for the information

The powerhead needs to be removed and the crankcase split in order to get at the connecting rod bolts.

The connecting rod bolts are standard... 12 point deep socket is what we normally use.

Note that the rod caps are matched to the rod and go on only one way!

[Br2710]

Okay, so it ended up being the drive gear and the forward gear in the lower unit. I didn't tear the motor apart before I figured it was the lower unit. It looks like the gear set (the drive gear, forward gear, and reverse gear) are a little less than $300. Plus $50 for a gasket set. I saw some good working used other lower units for sale. What other sizes and year will fit my motor. It's a 1988 40 hp E40TLCCS. G1724325.
What are your ideas? rebuild mine with new parts(I have it completely torn apart)or try to find a good lower unit.
Thank you