I have a 1992 Evinrude 115 that has had both head gaskets replaced a couple of times however they still leak around the water jacket. Engine runs fine but worry this will eventually start leaking into the cylinders.

Couple of questions:

How severe of a problem is this, and since its been done a few times but still leaks does this need to have the head planned or is it more likely the cylinder plate is the problem. The leak is just small droplets forming at the gasket but eventually becomes small pools of water sitting on the head.

I live in the north Dallas area Aubrey Tx and looking for a reputable repair facility to go to. Lookin for recommendation on whether or not this needs immediate attention or only if the engine start running rough if water starts getting into cylinders?

you can pull the heads and use a framing square or other reliable straight edge and carefully run it across the heads, do vertical/horizontal and diagonal to be sure to cover all possibilites (hope that made sense, you want to cover all 3 directions to catch even minute warpage).

even if you don't find a gap between the straight edge and head you can have them milled a couple of thousandeths to be sure they are right, check block at head area the same way to be sure.

when you mill the heads your compression will raise some, mill about .06 or more and you will need to go to premium, 1-3 thousandeths and regular will still work.

Having not done the milling before, should this be left to the pros or easy enough for average Joe? Worried about causing more damage than fixing if done incorrectly.


Is that .06 of an inch or mm? How likely is it the block versus the head? Dont recall ever having the horn run more than a few seconds ever before shutting down engine. And that was always due to low oil in reservoir.

Double that gasket for a easy fix.

I can fix your head issue .will need to check block also.

PM me

Is this a project to take on yourself or does it need to be done with a technician? If i take the head off and can confirm with a straight edge the block is not warped and the head is can i sand on a glass surface ( would a granite countertop be flat enough)? Is there any youtube tutorials on how best to accomplish this? This appears to be an example that makes sense, but if anyone has other would be great. How low of a grit would you want to go down to to call it good?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDPsEwXXbMg

When you indicate about .06 ( assume this is inches) mm would be incredibly small amount. Best i can find the head specs indicating that anything over .004 would be out of spec so maximum amount of material to remove would be .004 This was from an image of a 1987 V4 and newer evinrude manual. Is there a good source for manuals that would include this level of detail including torque specs? I see the Seloc manual http://www.marineengine.com/manuals/seloc/johnson-evinrude-outboard/seloc-marine-manual-1311.html but thought some reviews indicated they did not include torque specs.

This is all of course if I cannot find a machine shop to do it locally.

Here are some pics with the head removed, will be measuring with better straight edge but with what i have currently it does not look like anything is out of true.

Open to any discussion on the carbon on the pistons. Both look exactly the same pattern of build up. Cannot speak to how many hours on the engine but it is a 1992 and i would estimate no more than 400-500

Here is a picture of the removed gasket. Leaking was at top of gasket

doubling up the head gaskets will not fix the problem. check the operating engine temp on both sides of the block should be hot but you should be able to keep your hand on the top of the head for a couple oof seconds before you have to pull it off if all is well start running sea foam in the fuel to help elimininate carbon buildup have the head milled and reinstall the head

Update on the head gasket, it appears the head was the culprit. Once they were milled and reinstalled to torque specs the water leak appears to be fixed.

Great.

glad it was only the head