Force 120 Reed Valve R&R

[2DEUCE2]

Hi all! I just finished taking care of some routine maintenance on my 1998 1900XR with a Force 120 outboard motor but I also had a couple actual squwaks…

1) My tachometer was acting up… wouldn’t read correctly. Usually waayyy too high and jumpy altogether. For that I replaced my voltage regulator as mine was bad. (Apparently the grey wire is the tach wire in case you experience a similar issue, check the grey wire condition and connection first).

New regulator from reputable manufacturer is approx $300-400 with 1 year warranty. I bought one made of Chinesium from EBay for $40. Keeping my old one in the glove box for now to see if this cheap one leaves me stranded, but for 10% of the cost, I’m willing to take the risk. It’s an easy swap anyways.

2) Engine (Force 120 2 stroke) would run okay at power but man did it hate to idle! When it did idle good, it would die anytime you went from neutral, to either forward or reverse and vice versa.

I decided to check my reed valves. Long story short, I found two busted reed valves and the rest were deformed to the point where their clearance was too much.

I changed them out for a set of performance reed valves and man… I gotta say that starting it up in the driveway was noticeably better! I also changed spark plugs and my fuel filter.

Gonna put her in the water tomorrow to give it the real test! Motors always run easier in the driveway with the hose attached so gonna put her through her paces for real tomorrow!

I’ll attach some pics of reed valves before and after. FYI… after pics are the clear / composite style. Not the metal ones.

The reed valves job took me about three hours. It’s definitely something anyone could do. Hopefully I can chime in tomorrow and give an update as to how she ran on the lake.

[mmwjr]

Looking forward to how the sea trail goes.

[2DEUCE2]

Well, had a good day on the water. After getting her in the water, the engine was still stalling a little bit so I put the idle mixture screws back in 1/2 turn each and that seemed to help.

As soon as I hit the end of the no wake zone I hit it to full throttle and it just barely went to 2000 RPM. Not gonna lie, my heart sank a little when that happened. I selected the throttle only button and gunned the engine in neutral and it coughed once and then wound up to 6000 RPM. Put her back in gear and she took off!

To say I was relieved is an understatement! Ran it out at full throttle about four times at about 2 minutes each. First run I got to 38MPH. Then 41 and finally hit 43 MPH on the third and fourth runs. I had about 550 pounds of passengers on board so I was happy with that. It felt like it needed to settle in a little bit and once it did, it ran really well and it is definitely running smoother.

Parked it in a cove for a few hours while we relaxed and swam in the lake. Then when I pulled up anchor to head back, it didn’t want to start. Took me about three minutes of trying to get it to fire up. It was acting as if it were flooded. I had to put it at full throttle to get it to show any sign of life. I’ll have to keep an eye out on that but once again, once it fired up it was smooth and happy!

No more dying at idle when switching from neutral to drive or reverse.

I’m going to go back out in the lake over Labor Day so I’ll see how she does again in a couple weeks.

[mmwjr]

That’s good progress. Seems like the carbs need some more adjusting.

[2DEUCE2]

I agree. I’m going to figure out how to dial them in and then hopefully it will run solid.