In a pickle with a motor!

2001 40HP 4stroke Bigfoot Merc.

It’s on my pontoon that I bought used last fall. Ran great in the fall, did all the maintenance (plugs, oils, fuel lines, fuel filter) this spring. Ran great for a few months in spring. For the last couple months its only been hitting about 4700 RPM. It ended up shutting off the other day and stranding me on the river.

I took it into Roberts Marine in Roberts WI. Which was recommended to me by a few IDOers. Two old timer merc mechanics run it. They got me in quick and called my quick….BUTTTT the news sucked. Before even working on it they took the spark plugs out and found one piston blown up in the engine. Described to me as the likely scenario from the metal shavings they could see in the block after removing plugs.

They said more than likely I am better off replacing it with a used motor. The bill would be 2-3k to replace/fix whatever is ruined inside the powerhead. They wouldn’t know the exact number till they dug around for 3 or so hours.

So I am in a pickle. I would love opinions, and also would love if there is anything I can better ask the mechanic to understand what happened. But from the sounds of it, it probably doesn’t matter.

I am leaning towards a newish 2008-newer used 40-60HP 4 stroke. Which I’ll probably have to shop around a while to find one between 2500-3k. Other options are possibly buying a new powerhead IDK, or paying them to fix it.

Thoughts? thanks all!

Bummer!

Hope it works itself out for ya. Motor issues suck balls

Unless they can tell you exactly what happened and how that will be fixed with a rebuild I wouldn’t fix it. Go pick it up, part it out. Save your money and buy a new motor during the Sportshow in March. The new motor will provide a warranty.

Any chance you pushed the pontoon to hard with the motor? Were you over weight or was the motor undersized for a pontoon that size?

It sucks but stuff happens. Time to move forward and make the best of a crappy situation.

For 3k? I’d personally go buy a newer 40hp for that price. You should have no issue buying a newer, maybe larger, and a 4 stroke for that price. Fortunately the summer boat sales are ending so better deals to be had. Craigslist has some decent deals now.

Bummer.

I wouldn’t drop that much on a 17-year old motor, either. Bite the bullet and find something newer.

It’s pretty fast to pull the heads and examine the cylinder walls for scoring. Maybe half hour to do this.
It all depends on what is found. I’ve overhauled a number of engines that were only holes in piston or rings replaced.
I have a hunch they don’t want to take the time to move boats through the shop. I say have heads pulled to look at extent of damage beforw you make a call on it.
Might be a good project for you to do?

Dutchboy wrote:

Any chance you pushed the pontoon to hard with the motor? Were you over weight or was the motor undersized for a pontoon that size?

I don’t think so. Its an 18′ Godfrey Sweetwater. Sized for max of 60Hp, 40HP powered it fine for up to about 16mph. We would run the river so 70% of the time we are full rpms. Usually just my wife, kid and I out. Sometimes had 6-7 people. Boat rated up to 10 and 1875lbs or something. I don’t think we ever over loaded it.

ClownColor wrote:

For 3k? I’d personally go buy a newer 40hp for that price. You should have no issue buying a newer, maybe larger, and a 4 stroke for that price. Fortunately the summer boat sales are ending so better deals to be had. Craigslist has some decent deals now.
Bummer

I have scoured everything pretty good and people want too much for a mid 2000s 4 stroke 40-60HP. IMO its going to be tough to find a good 4stroke (mainly looking for a 60hp) for under 3k. I will be scouring cranky ape and other auctions along with EBay, CL, and FB marketplace. I am open to other options. I like the security of buying from a dealer but they want too much too for their used motors.

Have you thought to buy a whole rig ,and get the motor and then slap another motor on boat? Then sell boat. Just an idea.

FB market place has a 2001 Bigfoot 60hp with all controls for $2800 in Comstock WI

Catmando has got good idea there

Wait just a bit more here, prices are gonna start dropping on rigs across the board imo. Used market is saturated, and people gonna start finding out they will need to store it long term or drop prices.

Redneck JR has a 2-stroke Johnson 40hp for sale…but it’s a tiller, not sure how much controls would run ya. VERY low hour motor.

bigcrappie wrote:

FB market place has a 2001 Bigfoot 60hp with all controls for $2800 in Comstock WI

Crappie, thanks I messaged on that, its a 2 stroke. I am nearly 100% set on a 4 stroke (mainly because the wife is set on it) and it was importance number 1 when we bought the toon last fall.

catmando wrote:

Have you thought to buy a whole rig ,and get the motor and then slap another motor on boat? Then sell boat. Just an idea.

Good idea, I am looking into that too.

Thanks dudes!

Evan Pheneger wrote:

I am nearly 100% set on a 4 stroke (mainly because the wife is set on it) and it was importance number 1 when we bought the toon last fall.

My MIL has been set on a 4-stroke for years (she had an early 2000s Merc 2-stroke). This spring, she sprung for a brand new ‘toon…it’s got an Etech on the back.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

it’s got an Etech on the back.

Did she think she was getting a 4 stroke? It is prob the quietest and least smokey 2 stroke….and I can’t even knock it for the perception of blowing up with what just happened to my merc….

Evan Pheneger wrote:

Did she think she was getting a 4 stroke? It is prob the quietest and least smokey 2 stroke

I’m not exactly sure what she thought. It is pretty quiet and smokeless for the most part. It’s been a great motor for the few months we’ve had it. I just had to chuckle. Good work by the sales and marketing team.

Evan, check with Halberg Marine. Years ago I bought a 25 hp Merc that had come off a resort boat. At that time they supplied resorts with Mercs and every few years the resorts turned them in for new ones. It was a flawless motor and only 3 years old when I bought it.

road trip,,,,,,

https://louisville.craigslist.org/bpo/d/2000-yamaha-40-hp-four-stroke/6672002078.html

HRG

Used Motors

They have quite the place out there. Wish I lived closer, lots of good parts and boating equipment. Got all my boat carpet there.

Very odd for a 4 stroke to have metal debris on the spark plug. Without knowing what caused it so that can also be fixed I would probably be looking for a different motor.

https://greenbay.craigslist.org/bpo/d/2007-mercury-60hp-bigfoot-4/6673168528.html

About what you are looking for

Find a motor yet? I might have something you would be interested in.

It’s like anything else on Craigslist, nothing out there for months and then 3 get posted at once.

I’d be calling around to dealers to find out who actually has one in STOCK, new or used. Then go back in September or October and negotiate.

If the dealer knows he’s going to get the installation, he may give you a good price on the motor if you negotiate hard. The alternative is to sit with that motor in stock for another 6 months and if you make it clear he’ll get the installation, at least he’s making something on that end.

Otherwise, have you thought about scoring a cheap 2 stroke and then selling the whole rig in the spring?

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Otherwise, have you thought about scoring a cheap 2 stroke and then selling the whole rig in the spring?

Grouse that isn’t a bad idea at all and I had not thought about that.

I ended up pulling an all night that weekend and driving to the motor city (Detroit, MI) to get ….a motor It felt fitting.

I ended up with a 60 HP Suzi 4 stroke for 3k. It was low hours and in great shape and I got to it after a older gentleman posted it a couple mins eariler. He was nice enough to hold it for me for 12 hrs till I got there.

It was a wild trip and I have been picking away at mounting it. Its on the toon and I have the wiring and steering/shifting cables to finish now. I wanted a suzi bad, but in retro spect the mounting of the motor would have been much much easier if I stuck with a similar merc.

Thanks for everyones help. Fall boating season here we come!

Nice!

Good for you EP. Git er done! Fall is just around the corner!

Good job Evan ! wish I lived closer,I would take your motor and tear it down to see what happened to it.
if salvageable I would go through it with new parts and resell it,plenty of demand for a motor that size.
you can part it out,you would be surprised at what you could get out of lower unit,starter,stator,prop,etc.

There is a lot to be said for a new motor and warranty. I blew my 05 225 Etec last fall and rebuilt it with help from a buddy. Put $2,500 into it. Runs great. But every time I start it up, I wonder if it will fail again. If it blows again, I’m thinking of buying new.