Never allow a used boat motor purchase to turn into an Outboard Motor Repair
. Read on for some basic checks you can perform yourself. Here are a couple steps you could take to prevent getting ripped off and lessen the chances of buying someone else's problems.
When looking for second hand motors it's important to get them inspected before you purchase them. It's not a large cost to get an outboard repair shop to check them over. The money saved in the future is well worth it. I have seen time and time again people purchase second hand outboards on good faith. The prior owner swears that they are in first-rate condition and running order. As soon as the new owner brings the motor in for a tune up or service, more often than not there is something wrong with it. I have witnessed lots of outboards bought in good faith that are in fact very badly damaged and require an expensive rebuild. An outboard motor repair may be very costly.
A workshop will inspect the outboard from top to bottom. They should test the engine mounts and bushings, the propeller and gearbox condition. They should also run the motor and inspect the tuning, gear shift operation, charging and have a close listen to the sound of the motor, listening for some inner bearing racket or unwarranted piston slap etc that could call for an outboard motor repair.
A compression test should be performed on the motor and nearly all shops possess the capacity to check in the motor with a tiny flashlight or bore scope. The state of the cylinder bores or liners will be noted, and this offers a very good indication of piston and ring condition. The time required to carry out an inspection is about 1-2 hours. With service shops charging just about $75 bucks an hour, it's a incredibly cheap and prudent move to take to safeguard yourself against possible unexpected expenses.
However please keep in mind there is no assurance that your repair technician can see everything that could possibly be wrong with the engine. There is only so much they can check to prevent an outboard motor repair.