Mariner 6 outboard starter cord jammed

[steve yates]

Not sure if there is a connection here, went to chack my engine today and discovered the outboard bracket in the down position. As it was high tide no problem but I have no idea how long its been like this, last checked it and ran it about 3 months ago. Not even sure how it happened, guessing a big wake slammed her off the pilings and the clips sflipped off and the bracket dropped into the lowered position.
So, its a half tide mud bankside mooring, the prop and base of the shaft is covered in clumped mud. When I tried to start it up the pull ord is jammed solid and will not budge. Ob is definitely in neutral, not fwd or rev.
So, main question is, how doI sort this? Secondary question is, would having the prop and some of the shaft buried in mud cause thos? Ifso how?

 

[steve yates]

Sorry, dunno why that lot typed in bold.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

There's what looks like a pawl that pushes up on a lever that disengages the pull cord when in neutral so you can pull it. Check this isn't stuck or blocked. Accessed by removing the cowl.


PS: Don't try and take it apart where bits can fall in the water

 

[Davy_S]

If you take it apart, wear some safety goggles, there is a coiled return spring inside.

 

[penfold]

There's what looks like a pawl that pushes up on a lever that disengages the pull cord when in neutral so you can pull it. Check this isn't stuck or blocked. Accessed by removing the cowl.

View attachment 166905
PS: Don't try and take it apart where bits can fall in the water

What he said; most engines built in the last 40 years have interlocks that prevent starting in gear and they don't have to be very far out of whack to cause a problem.

 

[QBhoy]

Has it perhaps been submerged or low enough to be exposed to enough salt water swamping, that it’s locked up ? Either by hydro-locking or by corrosion to the starting components? I’d take the cover off it and pull the plug(s) out her..see if she pulls over..or perhaps at least give indication otherwise and obviously, the nature of the issue.

 

[steve yates]

Has it perhaps been submerged or low enough to be exposed to enough salt water swamping, that it’s locked up ? Either by hydro-locking or by corrosion to the starting components? I’d take the cover off it and pull the plug(s) out her..see if she pulls over..or perhaps at least give indication otherwise and obviously, the nature of the issue.

I wouldnt have thought so, the bracket was just in the usual down position for driving the boat. Will check those anyway too.

 

[fisherman]

Mine did this several times. I swore blind I had changed the gearbox oils in all the engines, but missed this one. The shaft was seized in the gearbox bush. It would free up enough to use after attacking the flywheel rim with a screwdriver lever (it's an old crap engine). When I drained it there was a thimbleful of grey sludge. So try to turn the flywheel independent of the starter cord. If it won't turn it has seized either the piston or gearbox...
...or, someone told me, the water pump, but I didn't think that possible.

 

[penfold]

Not likely in 3 months; the pump might be filled with mud though so worth checking and cleaning anyway.

 

[QBhoy]

I wouldnt have thought so, the bracket was just in the usual down position for driving the boat. Will check those anyway too.

No worries. Yeah. Take the cover off it…plugs out and see if you can turn it over. Even by using the flywheel if you like. Will tell a story. Should turn very easily without the plugs in…just taking the plugs out for a look, will relieve any worry about hydro locking at least.

 

[fisherman]

The starter gear is independent of the flywheel, only engages when the ratchets drop as the cord is pulled. If the flywheel won't move even a mm, as mine didn't, it's engine or gearbox. If the piston was seized in the bore, then at tdc or bdc it would be possible to move the flywheel a little, but not with the crank half way up or down.
The shaft in the leg is permanently connected to the power head. If you want to make a real job out of it take the head off the leg, and see if the motor head or the leg is seized. Much easier to start with a lever round the edge of the flywheel. I assumed my piston was seized, and expended a lot of WD40 in the plughole to no avail.