Some might remember my thread regarding my nephew's 89 Evinrude that wont idle. Well he ended up taking it a local shop and he was told that the bottom cylinder has lost compression and the motor will have to be rebuilt.

Has anyone on here ever rebuilt there own motor? Are most machine shops set up to work on outboard motors? My nephew has expressed and interest in doing the rebuild his self to save money and that basically means he wants me to come over and guide him. I am no mechanic but when I was a young man and friend and I tore down a 350, he had the machine work done and we put it back together. I dont remember that being tooo difficult - is an outboard motor more complex to tear down and reassemble than a car motor? Beings its not my motor or my money it actually sounds like a fun project to work on.

The place to save money is in the power head R&R. You can clean up all of the accessories like the carbs. Take pictures of motor so you will know where everything goes, remove all down to power head, take to rebuilder. Replace water pump, thermostats & poppets, fuel pump diaphrams, fuel filters & fuel line. A 2 stroke outboard is not a good motor to learn how on.

I would be worried if it had to be taken to someone for that diagnosis then it may be too much for his skill set. The compression check should have been one of the very first things checked on that old of a motor. Also if something else caused this then you could damage a rebuilt motor before actually getting the problem fixed.

my suggestion Texas Machine Works in Grand Prairie

+1 for Texas Machine Works
Had them rebuild my 94 Evinrude 150.
Great guys and stand behind there work.

rebuilding the engine is not that difficult, but finding the reason the powerhead went down HAS to be done!

Just out od curiosity how much would it cost for a complete rebuild for that motor? Could you bore it?

I've seen guys try to get buy doing a cheap rebuild, just replacing the rotating assembly only to have it swarm again as soon as they hit the water and having to take it to a shop and have it done right. They spent twice as much.......its just cheaper to let someone do it that is experienced and know what they are looking for and at.........most of the time its a fuel system issue causing a lean condition, I've blown up 4 in my lifetime and everytime that was what caused the failure. 2 strokes are real susceptable to that......