Robin's Reports

ENGINE OFF & STRIPPED
by Robin

Many times, my blog is found via googling so I'm going to throw out some basic facts first. This is our 225 hp Mercury Opti-Max Outboard engine that we have takien the cowling and harness off of.

Rear view. (We take pictures of all our disassembling so we can use them for referencing upon reassembling.) For the non-mechanic, those 6 round holes are the 6 piston openings.


Left view. Taking pic of the oil casing, etc.


Label, label, label. Make painter's tape your best friend. Here Jack is examining the front side. The big silver thing is the air intake compartment.


Here is a view from the top. These are flywheels, belts and compressors. Even engines accessorize, ladies.


The next night, we found a friend with an engine hoist and pulled the engine off the boat. The guys are looking at what is are the reeds comparment, which were under that air intake case. (If I have my bearings right.)


What they were trying to do when I got home from church last Wed was to remove that section and expose the crankshaft and pistons (& housing). Like always, we had one stinkin' bolt that was stripped and so Jack drilled down the center of it, increasing bit size until it was finally able to be worked out of the hole.



Here, the engine is on it's side (if you're a boat). This is the more appropriate sitting for an engine when it is in a car. Can you visualize it??


My guys have popped off the upper case and are looking down into the crankshaft area. Pistons are still attached at this point in the picture, but not any more. As it turned out, the 6th piston had its needle bearing at the crank side shaved down and they were most likely pooped out the exhaust. We couldn't find them anywhere. The piston-side needle bearing were still intact.



This same night, Jack's car had a burning smell and it was parked until the weekend. The air on my tire was leaking. I was hitting my breaking point of things breaking down on us. God kept giving me the same Scripture over and over and comfort us that we were in the midst of a trial. When God disciplines you like that, the best place to be is in His Word and on your knees in prayer.

Sunday morning, I received Heb 12: 1-11 again. Sunday afternoon, I worked with Jack on fixing his car and got all greasy. (His AC compressor is shot and so we put on a belt that by-passed the compressor, for the meantime. A 2nd belt was in the process of shredding, so God was good in getting Jack home before it all let loose.)

As part of my Project 365, I thought it poignant to take a picture of the grease under my fingernails as I put my finger on Heb 12:11. "Now no chastising for the present seems joyous but grievous; nevertheless, afterwards, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."


No, I don't love working on engines any more than Jack does. Yes, I know a lot more about engines than I should; but, I'm raising boys with excellent mechanical abilities. Being disciplined by God and with God by my side, standing through this trial with my hubby..... priceless.

And, God has provided the sacrificial 'lamb' during this trial. Yesterday, we bought another used powerhead off of somebody else to use as spare parts for rebuilding one good powerhead. Yeah! God is good, don't ever doubt that. He's good ALL THE TIME. This one has a good crank shaft that we can replace our bad one with.

Happy Fishing!
Robin