Beware 115hp dfi owners!

[missive]

here was a major problem I had with my 2003 115hp 4stroke.
on the rectifier( the outside of it) are two diamond shaped metal housing covers, which hold two (one each) sacrificial zinc anodes, which are round in shape. I didn't know they were there, and , after hard running in heavy salt water out of chincoteague, va., the engine holder below the rectifier was eaten all the way thru the metal, causing a hole in engine holder the size of a quarter, and burning up seven wires in the wiring harness that is routed below the engine holder. luckily , this happened in Chincoteague bay, after a day of fishing 7 miles out in the ocean at some wrecks.
I lucked out, in that I fixed it myself, and have not had a problem with it until a few weeks ago, when one of the wires I butt connected together , coming undone. my fault on that.
this is a 15 minute job to replace the anodes, and only cost 5 bucks apiece from boats.net.if you would like to know how I fixed the engine holder hole, just ask on here or by email.
ps I did NO welding!

[straycatboat]

How did you fix it??

[noelm007]

not exactly a new problem, and it is in a dry section of the exhaust, no amount of anode changing or flushing will prevent this issue. Any repair other than engine holder replacement or welding is a temporary fix, patches and putties will fail.....

[Moonlighter]

And it was resolved with a change in the engine holder casting back in, I think, 2008. So no models after then are affected.

[missive]

rectifier

How did you fix it??

well... if my fix did not work, I must go out and tell my 115hpdfi that it didn't work.! going on 5 years since the fix , and no issues at all with the fix.
how I did it:hole in engine holder was approx. 1 inch in diameter. reamed it out to scale off detrimental metal. went to lowes and bought 2 sticks of 1/8 flat aluminum stock, 3 inches wide. cut two pieces of aluminum stock off approx. 4 inches long, and glued these two pieces to each other with 5200 caulk, and let sit and cure overnight. next morning, drilled 4 holes on 4 corners of the now sandwiched aluminum stock, with I/8 inch drill bit that came in a tapping kit, also bought at lowes for about 6 bucks. put this 4x4 inch square of stock over the hole, and marked the 4 corner holes onto the engine holder. tapped these 4 holes with tapping tool , (can't remember the size of tap, but it came in a small kit from lowes). bought 4 stainless steel screws to match tap diameter and thread, . applied 5200 on entire 4x4 inch plate I had made up, on the inside of plate , to a depth of around 1/4 inch. screwed on the plate with the 4 stainless screws, til tight, then applied 5200 around the outside edge of plate, tapering the depth of the 5200 outwardly. applied the 5200 to entire surface of plate , making sure that the 4 screws were well covered . done!!! let it dry overnight, and have not had a problem with it since!!!figure I saved about 4.000 dollars with this fix, and I run the engine hard, fishing the inshore wrecks out of Chincoteague, va. and don't tell me that this area is dry...water spewed out of this hole like a fountain!!! you must have another engine in mind!!! I now change the two zinc anodes yearly, and they are both well eaten up by electrolysis