Tohatsu 6hp Briefly Submerged

**RMGeorge** · 06-18-2016, 08:46 AM

Yesterday, in an unplanned experiment to test how sharply a flat bottomed 1436 jon boat can be turned while accelerating from a standing start, my son rolled the boat over and submerged the 2014 four stroke Tohatsu 6 hp motor. It stayed underwater, upside down, for maybe ten minutes.
We have drained and replaced the oil and gas, drained carb and fuel lines, removed and cleaned spark plug, and purged out the cylinder and sprayed with WD-40. Cylinder was never full of water, but moisture was apparent on the plug.
Motor still won't start, but has tried to fire a few times. What am I missing? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

The experiment also revealed the negative bouyancy of my son's two rods and reels.

**"G"** · 06-18-2016, 10:19 AM

Might still be some moisture up under the flywheel ....Blow up under there good with air hose and let it dry out some more and give it a try.

**SeaRay** · 06-18-2016, 10:55 AM

Glad your son is OK. Maybe learned a cheap and valuable lesson too.

**RMGeorge** · 06-18-2016, 11:32 AM

Originally Posted by SeaRay

Glad your son is OK. Maybe learned a cheap and valuable lesson too.

Yeah, he's smarter today than he was yesterday! His biggest concern was getting boat back on trailer before anybody saw what he had done!

**cevans** · 06-18-2016, 02:43 PM

You might pull the plug. Mix alittle gas and oil additive 50/50 and just squirt a small amount inside cylinder and with spark pug still out, turn flywheel with spark plug out till it sprays out. Keep your face out of the way and that will lube the inside of cylinder as well as maybe get any moisture out, then try and fire it up,with it all back together. Sorry, retread,post and I,see you,purged the cylinder.

**"G"** · 06-18-2016, 06:33 PM

Another little trick you might try....do not use either or starting fluid.....but you could screw the spark plug out and squirt a little cigarette lighter fluid in the cylinder....then screw the plug back in and try to start it.

**RMGeorge** · 06-18-2016, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by "G"

Another little trick you might try....do not use either or starting fluid.....but you could screw the spark plug out and squirt a little cigarette lighter fluid in the cylinder....then screw the plug back in and try to start it.

Thanks, I'll give that a try next.

**Shellback** · 06-19-2016, 06:47 AM

If you haven't gotten it running yet, do a compression check. If the engine was still running when it submerged, it could have ingested water into a cylinder and damaged the internals. Water doesn't compress, and could have done major damage.

**RMGeorge** · 06-19-2016, 07:25 AM

Originally Posted by Shellback

If you haven't gotten it running yet, do a compression check. If the engine was still running when it submerged, it could have ingested water into a cylinder and damaged the internals. Water doesn't compress, and could have done major damage.

The motor was running when it submerged. Thanks for the suggestion. I think that it likely does have internal damage.

**RMGeorge** · 06-19-2016, 08:21 AM

The motor seems to have decent compression as judged by placing my finger tip over spark plug hole and pulling starter rope. When I try starting it now it occasionally gives a strong backfire.

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