Question About Craigslist Motors that "Need Work"

I really like buying cheap boats from Craigslist, cleaning them up, and re-selling them for a small profit. Its a little hobby of mine.

I'm pretty good at judging the condition of the boat itself from pictures and talking to the owner, but the motor is a bit harder.

I've come across a number of boats that have lots of potential, are really cheap, but the add says the motor "needs work" or "won't start" etc. These motors are usually 20 to 30 years old and between 20-40HP.

So my question is how bad can the motor really be? Would a good cleaning, new plugs and a DIY re-build usually get the motor running well again? Or are these things more often than not just useless?

I bought my 1958 Evinrude on Craiglist for $150 "as is". The guy who sold it to me said it just needed a $5 gasket on the powerhead and it would be ready to run. Well, I ended up invested another $900 into it to get it running. Of course, it now runs beautifully and I love the motor. But I definitely learned something about buying used outboards.

You just never know. Half of these guys dont even know that you need to hook a motor up to muffs to run it. :roll:

When I look at a motor the biggest concern of mine is compression,the second is spark.If both are good & the price is right the money comes out. [-o<

Am a firm believer in the notion that most people selling boats/engines on Craigslist know pretty much nothing about an outboard. Have bought many outboards so far and in most cases the engines have been incorrectly diagnosed by the previous owner. Very often they have a buddy that sort of knows a little about vehicles take a guess at what the issue is. That's usually strike two on the "getting it right" scale. Only advice I can give you is that, unless you know what you are doing on outboards or plan on learning as you go, plan on whatever the owner says is probably wrong and you better start by doing compression, spark, gearcase oil check, a good visual, etc. before dropping the money on a rig. If the deal is a hard to pass up on then see if you can take it to a dealer and have the dealer spend a half hour diagnostic time on the engine for you.

crazymanme2 said:

When I look at a motor the biggest concern of mine is compression,the second is spark.If both are good & the price is right the money comes out. [-o<

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Ditto that. If you have compression and you can get spark, then figuring out the fuel problem is easy.

Assuming you have a compression tester....why not bid low and buy the cheapest, old outboard motor that you can find? Use it to experiment and mess around with. If it works someday, and you haven't had to put a lot of money into it, you can use it for a trolling or backup motor.

I wouldn't buy some off-the-wall brand...but..find a major brand that looks bad on the outside and somebody just wants to get it out of their house. If you bid low and miss a number of motors, so what? You didn't really need any of them.

Garage sales might be an even cheaper place to find one, if you've got the time to go looking. Church thrift sales can be a source, since people donate things that they have no real need for at all.

Rich

Great comments guys, thanks!

I think I'll hunting for a project motor and do some tinkering .... worst case scenario, I lose a couple hundred bucks, but I learn something. Thats not bad.

Best case, like you said, I end up with a good running motor that I got cheap and fixed up myself. That would be really cool.

I just took on a project motor. I am trying to do all the work on it myself.

My dad normally helps me out because he has been working on outboards for 30+ years (not a mechanic but he loves to work on them).

My motor is a 1975 Mercury 20hp that was given to me by my uncle after it had set for 15+ years. I have set myself a budget of $150. So far I am $55 in and I think the only thing left is to get the tiller arm.

The best advice I can give you is whatever motor you get...find a repair manual for it. Those things are worth their weight in gold!

Pappy said:

Am a firm believer in the notion that most people selling boats/engines on Craigslist know pretty much nothing about an outboard. Have bought many outboards so far and in most cases the engines have been incorrectly diagnosed by the previous owner. Very often they have a buddy that sort of knows a little about vehicles take a guess at what the issue is. That's usually strike two on the "getting it right" scale. Only advice I can give you is that, unless you know what you are doing on outboards or plan on learning as you go, plan on whatever the owner says is probably wrong and you better start by doing compression, spark, gearcase oil check, a good visual, etc. before dropping the money on a rig. If the deal is a hard to pass up on then see if you can take it to a dealer and have the dealer spend a half hour diagnostic time on the engine for you.

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Ain't that the truth! And to top it off, they come up with an off the wall quote for how much its going to cost to get it fixed :roll:

The only suggestion I'd have is start with something small and a name brand. That usually means you CAN get parts and that your costs are usually lower. A big plus one on buying a manual right from the start. I'd probably also lean towards one of the "better" brands like 'rude so that once I got it right, I'd have something to use or sell.

From my own experience I took a chance on an old non-running old Merc 4HP for $100. I quickly realized the limit of my mechanical ability and paid the local outboard mechanic to evaluate it. It was January and he took about 30 minutes to check it out. He gave me a range of $100-150 to get it back in shape...rebuild carb, new plug and points, change lower gear lube and adjust everything to spec. So in the end I have a little less than $250 in the motor and it runs good. I'm confident I could get my money back if I decide to sell it.

I read up on how to test for compression, check lower unit oil, and some of the other basic stuff.

What happens is the compression is low? From what I read, it could be an easy fix all the way up to a complete re-build. Honestly, I would enjoy working over a motor.

I guess you just have to roll the dice sometimes and see what happens. Its all part of the adventure!!!

MrSimon said:

I read up on how to test for compression, check lower unit oil, and some of the other basic stuff.

What happens is the compression is low? From what I read, it could be an easy fix all the way up to a complete re-build. Honestly, I would enjoy working over a motor.

I guess you just have to roll the dice sometimes and see what happens. Its all part of the adventure!!!

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Low compression could be a number of issues. bad/peeled rings, reed valves stuck open, crack in the water jacket/block or bad head gasket. Just to name a few off the top of my head.

I don't know much....but....my one experience with low compression on just ONE cylinder lead my mechanic to put his extended mirror device into the cylinder. He discovered a scored cylinder wall. Said it would be 500/ 600 to do it.

I did NOT buy that motor!

Now, his company charges $90.00 per hour and he is an expert. Obviously, we could do it for our labor costs ( nothing) and save some money....but...if it were I ....I'd find a beginning motor without a compression problem. Rich

Short of running the motor on a boat on the lake you really can only do so much when buying an outboard. Usually as in most things if the owner has taken care of it and it's clean and everything is in good working order it's easier to make a decision if your on the fence. I like to putz with older outboards and just last month I went and looked at a 1957 10HP seahorse....by reading the add you would think it was straight off the show room floor. I was skeptical going in but thought I'd take a look...no pics were posted but it was close to home so I took a run over to look at it...turns out the motor hadn't seen the inside of a building in years it was sitting behind a shed when I got there and hadn't been moved...the owner assured me it ran the last time he used it. Sitting next to it was the pressurized tank which was way rusty and about done for. I knew right away I wasn't buying this motor at least for the asking price. It did turn over but was scratched/dinged all up and the shift lever was broken off....he was asking $200 I counter offered with $50 and he declined so I moved on. Every motor I've bought that turned out good came from a good clean garage and you could tell the guy took care of it.

MrSimon said:

I read up on how to test for compression, check lower unit oil, and some of the other basic stuff.

What happens is the compression is low? From what I read, it could be an easy fix all the way up to a complete re-build. Honestly, I would enjoy working over a motor.

I guess you just have to roll the dice sometimes and see what happens. Its all part of the adventure!!!

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Matching compression in the cylinders is more important than them being high or low numbers. They should be within 5 to 10% of each other.

Stick with the older OMC motors from the early 50's up into the late 60's and some into the early 70's. Ive just recently started tinkering with these motors and its quite a bit of fun. Parts are readily available and inexpensive. You can even get paint and decals and make them look brand new again. They are very simple to work on also. Do a little research on your search engine of choice, there is alot of info out there about these old motors. I agree with getting a manual, they are priceless. Look around online, they are free for download on many sites. I was sent several from someone on this site.

Check out my motor project in my sig. Getting ready to start shopping around for my next project!!