I maintained a fleet-worth of Honda 2s and 2.3s when I ran Sage. I had no issues with the motors. Each had a bit of its own personality and preferred slightly different throttle settings and choak for starting and warmup. IMO two BIG things to keep these motors running well - #1 is using only fresh gas. NOTHING older than a few months. All 'old' gas is used in the tow vehicle assuming a gas motor not diesel ;-) (As a side note the Honda 2/2.3 can run ethanol gas, E10 only!, just fine.) #2 is running the motor at least MONTHLY! For a short time these motors can be run out of the water as they are air cooled. Every month start are let idle for 10 minutes. Sitting unused really messes up these motors. More discussion here - https://sagemarineblog.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/outboard-motors-fuel-issues/ :: Dave Scobie :: SV SWALLOW - https://sv-swallow.com :: Montgomery 6'8" #650 :: Truck camper - https://truckpopupcamper.wordpress.com/ :: Ramblings - https://scoobsramblings.wordpress.com/ :: former M17 owner #375 SWEET PEA - https://m17-375.com/ <http://www.m17-375.webs.com/> :: former M15 owner #288 - http://www.freewebs.com/m15-name-scred On Sun, Feb 6, 2022 at 7:57 AM David Grah via montgomery_boats < montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
Our Montgomery 15 came with a 2 horsepower or so Tohatsu 2 stroke. Once I replaced the plugged fuel filter on that motor, it ran well but was sort of messy with oil. I was pleased to find a used 4 stroke Honda to replace it and have used the Honda ever since. The one thing about the Honda I didn't expect is it is almost as oily as the Tohatsu. After running it for a while, the bottom of the plastic motor shroud gets coated in motor oil. Perhaps worse, I see occasional drops of oil dripping into the water. The motor doesn't hold much oil to begin with and I am happy I don't see the level of oil in the crankcase dropping much as a result of this leaking oil. For a long time I thought this was just how these motors are but I have come to believe ours is special in this way and most motors don't leak oil. I have never figured out exactly where the oil comes from. With the discussion about little Hondas in the group I thought this might be a good time to pose these questions. Does anyone else's motor leak oil like ours? Is the source of the oil likely to be some easily replaced seal? If so, is this replacement easy to do one's self? There really aren't any places to take the motor to have it looked at within a few hours of driving of me, so just having someone look at it isn't easy to do. I suppose I could take it with me some time when I am out of town but I bet it is likely they would take some time to look at it, get parts, if necessary, and fix it. Probably longer than I would be hanging around. As always, thoughts and insights are appreciated.
David GrahMontgomery 15Bishop California