First time out and WTH happened!?

[mmwjr]

Could be old gasket material or a flatness issue.

[danimal260]

Doing some thinking today. Water follows the path of least resistance. Above the thermostat there is a plug that is screwed in. I've read any places where people have turned this into a tell-tale hole with a couple fittings and clear hose. Now that being said, do you think it's a safe bet that doing this on mine would eliminate the small leak I have in that area? I started the motor last night and she first right up. So I'm thinking my compression is now great. I've yet to check it for sure. Idle is a little high. Closer to 950 than 750. I really don't want to pull the head back off and risk damaging the head gasket. What do you think?

[CountryME]

Danimal,
Glad to hear she's running again! Not sure I can provide any input on your leak issue.

[mmwjr]

I just do know enough about this motor to comment.

[Kevlar7r]

I don't know that motor, but I will say, once a head gasket is torqued, it is trash. You cannot reuse a head gasket.



If its leaking from any part of the head gasket, the whole head seal is suspect. I would pull it and have a machine shop deck the heads. Sanding it yourself, you don't truly know how much metal you took off. If you took off too much, you could have a valve interference problem at high rpm.



A new head gasket and having a shop properly measure and prepare the head is a lot cheaper than a blown motor.

[danimal260]

While I agree with most of what you say, I don't have to worry about a valve clearance problem. 2 strokes don't have valves.

[Kevlar7r]

I thought about that after I posted it, wondering I it was 2 stroke. Thought about googling it, but decided to roll over and go to sleep instead.

[danimal260]

Nothing wrong with sleep.

[danimal260]

Not sure if I'll get the info I need but I'm looking for the shift rod seal or a repair kit for my lower unit. I'm pretty confused about what lower I have. Parts list for the code on my powerhead lists differing parts. I had to look up a 1989 125HP L-drive to get a picture that looks like what I have. I need some help. Can't seem to find the bellows available at all anywhere on earth but I have seen a few other ways to seal it up but not sure what I need. Any help?

[mmwjr]

To be honest I have not seen may folks post subjects on outboards on this site you may want to try iboats or another generic forum. Also my understanding is parts are getting rare for Force motors with them being out of production for so long.

Best of luck.