If like most do-it-yourselfers you've relied on a sketchy owner's manual or one of those abstruse shop manuals written for professional mechanics to keep your onboard running, here's an end to your frustration. This abundantly illustrated nonthreatening guide is filled with effective maintenance, repair, and advanced troubleshooting advice for two-cycle and four-cycle engines from 2 to 250 horsepower. Although outboard engines have become more reliable, they're also more sophisticated and require more than a passing knowledge of mechanics to troubleshoot and repair. Outboard Engines covers recent developments such as electronic ignition, oil injection systems, and four-stroke powerheads. Your fears about the reliability of your finicky outboard are over!

Table of Contents:
Preface One The Basics: What Makes Your Engine Tick Your Engine's Four Basic Needs Inside Your Engine--The Basic Components Basic Two-Stroke and Four-Stroke Cycles The Four-Stroke The Two-Stroke The Basics of Troubleshooting Two Breaking in a New Engine General Break-in Guidelines Additives Oil Grades Mix Ratio Operating Procedure Three Routine Maintenance Daily Checks and Maintenance Monthly Checks and Maintenance Seasonal Checks and Maintenance Three-Month (or Seasonal) Service Checks Grease Points Propeller Inspection Gearcase-Oil Change Cooling System Impeller Replacement Cylinder Compression Fuel System Automatic Oiler Steering Battery Two Final Adjustments Special Considerations for Four-Stroke Engines Sump-Oil Change Timing-Belt Wear Valve Clearance Check Maintenance in a Nutshell Daily Checks Monthly Checks Seasonal Checks Additional Four-Stroke Annual Service Off-Season Storage and Spring Commissioning Winter Storage Spring Commissioning Four How to Find the Trouble Listen, Look, and Feel for Trouble A Troubleshooting Plan of Attack Ten Categories of Trouble Symptoms and Probable Causes Engine Will Not Start Engine Runs Irregularly or Stalls Rough Idle Engine Speed Will Not Increase Engine Overheats Engine Speed Higher than Normal Engine Speed Lower than Normal Boat Speed Low Steering Pulls to One Side Excessive Blue Smoke Five Isolating Ignition System Problems Ignition Components and What They Do Ignition Tests Testing for Spark Testing the Plugs Ignition Problems--Tests and Procedures Ignition Problems Checklist Testing Spark-Plug Wires Testing High-Tension Coils Testing Charge and Sensor Coils and Ignition Module Testing the Charge Coil Testing the Sensor Coil Testing Coil Voltages Charge-Coil Test Sensor-Coil Test Ignition-Module Test Under-the-Flywheel Systems Some Additional Checks Testing Your Stop Switch Testing a Mercury (Tilt) Stop Switch Final Checks and Ignition Timing Checking the Timing CDI Unit Problems Optical Timing Systems Summing It Up Six The Charging and Starting Systems Charging--The Key Components How It All Works Testing Your Battery Battery Capacity Test Battery Drain Test Charging System Problems and Possible Causes Verifying Charging-System Output Testing Your AC Voltage Rectifier Testing the Stator Windings The Sequence to Follow Troubleshooting Electric Starter Circuits Voltage-Drop Test Testing the Neutral Safety Switch Neutral Switch Misadjustment Testing an Ignition Switch Other Starter-Related Problems Manual Starters Winding On a New Pull Cord Replacing the Coil Spring Seven The Fuel and Lubrication Systems Fuel-Delivery Systems The Spin-On Fuel/Water Separator Fuel System Safety Considerations Fuel-System Basics and Common Problems Fuel-Tank Strainer Anti-Siphon Valve Flushing the Tank Portable-Tank Strainers The Fuel/Water Separator The Primer Bulb Fuel Pump Strainer Fuel Supply Problems The Fuel Pump Checking the Seal Fuel Pump Removal and Disassembly Fuel Delivery Step by Step Classic Symptoms of Carburetor Problems Mixing Air and Fuel How a Carburetor Works The Float Circuit The Idle Circuit The Intermediate Circuit The High-Speed Circuit The Choke Circuit Removing Your Carburetor Disassembling Your Carburetor Choke and Primer Systems Further Checks Manual Primers Electric Primers Electric Chokes Thermal Wax Valves Changing Technology Lubrication Systems The Pre-Mix Method OMC's VRO System Mechanical Oil-Pump Systems Oil Recirculation Systems Four-Stroke Engine Lubrication Eight Servicing the Steering and Trim Systems Tiller Steering Steering-Tension Adjustment Trim Tab Adjustment Cable-Controlled Steering Measuring for a New Steering Cable Hydraulic Steering Routine Servicing Symptoms of Problems Bleeding a Hydraulic System Trim and Tilt Systems Electrical Troubleshooting Nine The Cooling System, Lower Unit, and Propeller Air Cooling Air-and-Water Cooling Water Cooling Symptoms of Overheating Causes of Overheating Thermostat Removal and Testing Flushing Your Cooling System Servicing the Water Pump Reinstalling the Lower Unit Testing the Overheat Alarm The Shifting System Diagnosing Shifting Problems Lower-Unit Maintenance Choosing a Propeller Propeller Terms Ten Dealing with Corrosion Sacrificial Zincs The Galvanic Series Touching Up Paint Chips and Corrosion Dealing with Hardware Corrosion Releasing Fasteners and Preventing Corrosion Frozen Bolts Saving a Drowned Engine Eleven A Look at the Future An Era of Increased Reliability A Range of Choices The Mercury/Mariner DFI System The Johnson/Evinrude (OMC) Ficht System Yamaha's Answer Looking Ahead Index