Lower Unit Issue - 2 Stroke 115HP

[Jason2tpa]

1998 S115TLRW

Hey guys!! Been quite awhile since creating an issue thread....guess that's a good thing. But I've got one now. Dropped the boat in this morning and while attempting to reverse boat off trailer the throttle lever seemed a bit stiff going into reverse....resistance. Put a little more pressure on the lever to reverse and instead of getting gear, the throttle opened. I put gear in forward....same thing...feeling resistance while moving forward until throttle opened, but no gear. Pulled boat out and went back to storage. Put engine on muffs to take a closer look.

The forward throttle seemed to loosen up a little bit more, but not the reverse. As you'll see in the video, when I move binnacle throttle lever into forward or reverse gear the shift rod lever slides forward and reverse as it should, but gear does not engage. Prop freely spins by hand clockwise and counterclockwise when the binnacle throttle lever is in forward or reverse.

There has been no sign of lower unit issues....no crunching, vibration, etc. Last running of my rig was 2 weeks ago...no issue then nor any sign of LU issue in the 5 years I've owned the motor. My next troubleshooting step is to drop lower unit to inspect the joining of the LU/Mid section shift rod. Was thinking also trying to shift into gear by manually moving shift rod while hand turning the crankshaft. Probably a good idea to dump the LU hydro and check for shavings.

Your thoughts?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seoE...ature=youtu.be

[99yam40]

some of the older motors had a problem with shift shaft rusting to the point of twisting and breaking

[panasonic]

Well dropping the LU is pretty much the next step.. See what is happening with the shift shaft.

[Jason2tpa]

Good thing I checked the LU oil 1st before putting in the efforts to drop the LU then troubleshoot....cause there was no oil lol....only dark tinted water. The plug as you can see does have shavings. I filtered the water as it dumped out and no other shavings to note. So, looks like I'll be replacing the oil seals.

[99yam40]

bearings and gears do not do well with rust on them.
time to tear it apart to see what all is needed

[panasonic]

Jason you have hard luck with stuff!!! That is not good.

Here are what I found in a LU I took apart a few weeks ago. Older man said he had hit some rocks with it and it would not shift right anymore. He sure hit a lot of rocks. 20200828_171144.jpg

[panasonic]

The oil that came out was like grey watery toothpaste which was magnetic...ground up gear teeth. Pretty much everything was junk inside, prop shaft bent, drive shaft bearing journals torn up, all bearings shot. Not trying to be the bad news bear here, but if it was running any length of time without oil, it's probably not going to be good when you open it up.

Hope for the best.

[99yam40]

Good thing I checked the LU oil 1st before putting in the efforts to drop the LU then troubleshoot....cause there was no oil lol....only dark tinted water. The plug as you can see does have shavings. I filtered the water as it dumped out and no other shavings to note. So, looks like I'll be replacing the oil seals.

when was the last time you checked the lower gear lube?
seems to me that if there was no oil at all left in there it has had water in it for a very long time.
it is a good idea to check the lube at least once a year, preferably before putting away for any period of time.
check often if you have had leaks in the past until you prove everything is holding up after repairs


dark water with no oil means rust to me

[Jason2tpa]

Panasonic....did you use a bearing carrier puller to remove carrier? That’s the tool my service manual notes to use. Definitely not a tool I have.

[Jason2tpa]

when was the last time you checked the lower gear lube?
seems to me that if there was no oil at all left in there it has had water in it for a very long time.
it is a good idea to check the lube at least once a year, preferably before putting away for any period of time.
check often if you have had leaks in the past until you prove everything is holding up after repairs
dark water with no oil means rust to me

My maintenance records indicate hydro check 6 months ago and hydro change 10 months ago. The check/change fluid looked good...clear. So the leak occurred within past 6 months, but had no sign of this. Definitely needs a complete tear down to rule out rust.

[robert graham]

Maybe consider a good used lower unit that you could bolt right on....might be cheaper/better than parts and labor to repair your old one....something to consider....

[Jason2tpa]

Maybe consider a good used lower unit that you could bolt right on....might be cheaper/better than parts and labor to repair your old one....something to consider....

Definitely considering ^^^

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I'd pull it apart at least for a "look see"...

Carrier puller, if you bend up your own arms, a regular puller (likely with some heat) should open up the bottom end..

[99yam40]

has this rig sat up for the last 6 months?

the sooner you open it up to inspect the better.
longer you wait the more rust forms
if the nut does not move drill it and break, just buy a new one if you put it back together.
be careful not to mess up the threads.
one of my sons had a 115 I think, he had trouble pulling the propshaft and carrier.
went to a shop in La and they just flipped it over so the prop shaft was pointed down and dropped it against some wood.
not the shaft, but the case.
it all popped out from the weight of the shaft ,bearings, carrier, and gears
not sure how hard they had to drop it.

do not forger to remove the shift shaft before pulling the shaft and carrier

[panasonic]

As Scott said already, a regular steering wheel puller with some ready rod with hooks bent on the ends. Big problem is the spanner for the castle nut that holds the prop shaft bearing carrier in. As Yam said ..you are pretty much better off cutting that nut out rather trying to unscrew it. Motor of that age ran in salt water, it isn't coming out even with the proper spanner. That's the first step in disassembly.