Replacing head gasket on my DF225

[tshocklee]

Having a lil trouble getting the port side head off. I was wondering if there is a manual out there that shows every detail to doing this. I know my dad always liked to have one for Every car he owned. Didn't know if you could
Buy them for boat motors like you can cars? The starboard side came off easy enough,there was one bolt we overlooked that was a little tricky to get a wrench on that came from the bottom up. It seems like we may have to
take the lower and mid unit off to see what other bolts are holding the port side head in place.

[artdf175]

YES there are complete service manuals
If you do some searches you should be able to find one for under $100
invaluable resource
it has step by step instructions on taking things apart and then putting parts back together in the right order..

Until you can get your hands on the "service manual" --an immediate idea would be to click on the folder at the top of this page "suzuki Parts" and look parts page for your motor
it may show you a bolt that you have overlooked

art

[tshocklee]

I talked to the people at Brownspoint Marine and he told me the only thing you can get on this motor is the regular service manual. He also said there were no hidden bolts and we should be able to get the head off just like we did the starboard head. I am not finding this to be true. I have called two suzuki dealerships and both assure me that you do not have to remove the mid unit or do anything special to get the head off. The guy at Brownspoint told me it should be just like the other side. The difference is the oil pump is on the port side. It is frustrating. The other dealership told me that it may just take some tapping around on it if it's stuck. I have done that with a rubber mallet but it seems that the top wants to come loose however there is no movement at the bottom of the head. Any ideas?

[artdf175]

sounds like the gasket sticking is holding it together
if there we any other bolts I doubt you would get any movement
would try a thin flat putty knife to carefully work down the gasket to brake it loose
and the "regular" service manual is correct.. it is about inch and half thick book

[tshocklee]

Job Done

I just want to let anyone interested know about how my situation turned out.
It turned out that in order to get the port side head off the motor had to be separated from that motor holder. It was different from the starboard head in that the oil pump is on that side. The bottom line was when we pulled the motor off there was a chain guard or guide that was held on by 2 bolts, 1 was in the block the other in the port side head. After finishing the job I realized that even if that bolt had not been there holding the head on we would have needed to set the motor off just to be able to properly reset the timing. Thanks for the help everyone provided. I just want to put closure on this so someone else can be a little more enlightened if this comes up again.

[artdf175]

Great feedback
Thanks

[artdf175]

It looks like I am in need to pull my 175 apart to work on valves
just how difficult was it to tear down yours?
I am a pretty good backyard mechanic
but interested from your perspective
Art

[tshocklee]

Just getting to the valves should be pretty straight forward if it is like the 225. Sorry it took so long to respond. What I mean is that is what you see is what you get just keep taking off parts til you get down to them. My problems were all because of having to pull off the heads.

[artdf175]

thanks for the reply
were you having any other problems?
you mention the head gasket... any problems with valves once you got all the pieces off?
I am having valve issues,, or at least it is highly pointing that way
I finally found a mechanic that seems to know what he is doing
but it is sounding like it could come to $3000 to rebuild the head /valves, if that is all that appears wrong..
I started looking for a new power head yesterday.. I look at it more like once you start having problems..they just seem to multiply and ultimately end up spending more fixing all the little stuff than if you start over new

Art