Reply To: Another new guy question

[fisherman6]

Tinkerman,

Any of us that have not worked on outboards for a very long time end up paying for our education early on in our involvement in the hobby, especially if we do not have someone as a mentor to keep us on track. Believe me, I certainly did when I got started. It does seem that the individual that sold you these motors could have been more forthcoming with information on what he sold you. I do not want to sound like I am defending him here either. I will say this, however, You said from talking to him and looking at his shop he has obviously been doing this for quite some time. Much of the other things that you say this individual said to you when asked about these motors sound very much like what someone who has been doing this for a long time would say. Ignition problems are typical and are something that usually needs to be addressed on many old outboards. Low compression is not unusual either, but very low or no compression means you’re buying parts. Not necessarily a deal breaker but definitely puts it into a lower price category.

When he said that every engine he had would run I would not consider this dishonest. Perhaps not forthcoming to a person new to the hobby and wanting to learn, but not dishonest. I have been doing this for a while now, but certainly not so long that I have forgotten what it was like being new in the hobby. I think the difference here is the understanding between “will it run” and “does it run”. I have LOTS of motors in my collection that “will” run but currently do not. Do I know what it will take for each of them to run? No, I do not. When I was just getting into this hobby I likely would not have considered this terminology to make a big difference. Several years and MANY motors later I can say it makes all the difference. This serves as a reminder to me and possibly others that have been doing this long enough to pretty well know what we are getting into when we buy a project motor. I need to be careful how I use my terminology around someone fresh into the hobby, especially if I am selling them something or giving advice on something they may wish to buy from someone else. I have probably around 70 motors that ‘do’ run and probably another 90 that ‘will’ run if I so “will” them to. I also have another batch or partial carcasses that have and do donate to the cause of getting those “will” runners back to “do” runners. Even the carcasses “will” run with enough parts and time. At this point for me in this hobby I would consider a motor that “will” run one that is 90%-100% complete, has fair to good and even compression. This would be a ‘will run’ motor for the purpose of sale as such to another person in the hobby. This motor may or may not run as-is. I’m just wondering if this may be a case of the seller unintentionally misleading you into thinking the 3 more questionable motors were something they are not? I can see where this could happen. Just trying to offer a perspective and not come off sounding like a jerk.

-Ben

OldJohnnyRude on YouTube