Looper Shutdown with a rattle noise

[THEFERMANATOR]

85 had ALOT of problems with the 140, and 86-early 87 did as well as far as carbs go. If you run the VRO they aren't too bad, but if you pre-mix it makes it worse MUCH WORSE! I spent several days re-jetting my carbs after I swapped from the early style 140 carbs used in 85 only to those that were used in 86 and the first of 87. The domes will be loose, but it's the skirt you have to worry about. If the piston skirts are loose the engine could have decent compression and still not idle. I was gonna mention that your pistons looked awfully loose from your pics, but it's hard to judge from pictures if they are too loose or not. OMC issued a bulletin though to jet up 2 sizes in the mains on the early loopers as the aggressive porting in them caused ALOT of lean out issues.

[Steplift 72']

Originally Posted by THEFERMANATOR

85 had ALOT of problems with the 140, and 86-early 87 did as well as far as carbs go. If you run the VRO they aren't too bad, but if you pre-mix it makes it worse MUCH WORSE! I spent several days re-jetting my carbs after I swapped from the early style 140 carbs used in 85 only to those that were used in 86 and the first of 87. The domes will be loose, but it's the skirt you have to worry about. If the piston skirts are loose the engine could have decent compression and still not idle. I was gonna mention that your pistons looked awfully loose from your pics, but it's hard to judge from pictures if they are too loose or not. OMC issued a bulletin though to jet up 2 sizes in the mains on the early loopers as the aggressive porting in them caused ALOT of lean out issues.

I tried to run the VRO, but while breaking in the new powerhead supplied by OMC, the oiling system on the other motor fouled up and quit working. Thankfully there was 50-1 in the tank for break in. I gave up on the VRO at that point, it alarmed when idling up to the dock after better than 6 hours running without consuming a drop of oil! I've used pre-mix on every motor since. Never another problem with those motors, I believe that aggressive porting must have been very efficient....they really performed and the pair used 15 gph at 4000 rpm with 17p SSTII's. Those 97' model loopers I had ran no where near the early model motors.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by Steplift 72'

I tried to run the VRO, but while breaking in the new powerhead supplied by OMC, the oiling system on the other motor fouled up and quit working. Thankfully there was 50-1 in the tank for break in. I gave up on the VRO at that point, it alarmed when idling up to the dock after better than 6 hours running without consuming a drop of oil! I've used pre-mix on every motor since. Never another problem with those motors, I believe that aggressive porting must have been very efficient....they really performed and the pair used 15 gph at 4000 rpm with 17p SSTII's. Those 97' model loopers I had ran no where near the early model motors.

Yep, the 85-87 had the small 3.5" bore in them and the porting was pretty aggressive in the intake, but they had a BIG exhaust that was VERY efficient at cruise and up. The early motors were a bit doggy off idle and the 85 was pretty dead until 3600, but once the R's were up they would RUN. Another BIG issue with the early engines was the carbs and the fact that it was a completely new design for outboards, let alone new for OMC in general. The plastic carbs with aluminum bases became standard after that on loopers, but up until 85 it was brand new and not really tested much. Once you get the jetting down though they are GOOD on fuel and perform pretty good. And it seems like ALL of these loopers like a little different jetting once broke in.

[nymack66]

The lower connecting rod number 4 cylinder was almost completely loose on the crank, it spun the bearing 1/2 inch off and froze to the crank, melted the bearings and was at the point to break free!
At this point I will swap in a re-build power head, the previous owner of this engine was one loose cannon base on issues I had with this engine, wrong lower unit now this.
I will post the pictures tonight.

[Steplift 72']

Originally Posted by nymack66

The lower connecting rod number 4 cylinder was almost completely loose on the crank, it spun the bearing 1/2 inch off and froze to the crank, melted the bearings and was at the point to break free!
At this point I will swap in a re-build power head, the previous owner of this engine was one loose cannon base on issues I had with this engine, wrong lower unit now this.
I will post the pictures tonight.

I don't guess you can blame everything on VRO......but were you running the injection or pre-mix? Wrong lower unit??

[nymack66]

Yes wrong lower unit from a previous post.

[shaneburris74]

NYMack,
Sorry about all your troubles. I haven't been on in a while so I thought I would check in with yall. I don't see that anyone answered you on your compression check question.
You should have all the plug wires removed and be at WOT. Everything I read said to make sure the wires don't arc back to the engine, so I put electrical tape on mine. There is a ton of info. on it if you google it. Looks like you found your problem though.
As for me..my transom repair is still in the works..lol..I spent all the money I had saved up on dirt bikes for me and my kids because I didn't think the state of Georgia was gonna register the boat. Well, ..they registered it..now I gotta save some money back up and re-do the transom amongst other things. I'll be checking in on the site though.
I missed the t-shirt sales again this year..thats crappy. Be good.