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Before I take my BF50A engine to a boat shop, I thought I would ask if anyone has had a similar situation to mine. The motor is connected to an angled piece of iron. The horizontal part of this iron angle connects to the steering rod with a pivot point bolt. The vertical part is hollow to accomodate the shift rod. The vertical part is enclosed in an aluminum housing with a grease fitting that lubricates up and down in the space between the iron post and the aluminum housing with grease squeezing out the top and bottom pivot points. Here is the problem. Rust is raining down from the hollow iron post and filling up the lower unit by dropping flakes into the hole where the shift rod goes into the lower unit. Since I don't have anything to lift up the engine to try to remove the rusting post, and that part does not show up in the shop manual at all, I am guessing that a Honda authorized boat shop will have to replace it. That is, unless a member here can give any advice on why it is rusting and what to do about it DIY-wise. Or do all BF50A engines rust there, and it is no big deal?
Thanks.

Hard to visualize - can you supply photos? (If you're unable to post them here, you can send them to me and I'll post them for you.)

As mentioned, a picture would be helpful. I have a Honda 50HP on my '96X and am not aware of any rust problems. I have done all the maintenance to this point and would say most of the parts are either aluminum, stainless, plastic or steel coated with significant rust inhibitor. The one part I noticed with some rust didn't seem to effect the operation of the motor or was structural in nature. Anyway, post that picture and I'll see if I can help at all....

Thanks for the offer to llok at pictures. Here they are:
HERE
I filled the cavity with grease by hand last season but the rust still has enough hold to cause more to develop. There is no grease fitting that adds grease to the hollow part. Since aluminum and iron make an effective electrolysis connection, what am I missing here as Honda must have thought of this possibility of a rust problem? One more thought is that the bottom of the iron hollow piece does not seem as important as the top where the engine has the primary mounts. (You can see the engine is still secure even when it is disconnected at the bottom mount.) So maybe the rusting hollow piece is not a danger. (haha - wishful thinking??)
Anyway, thanks for looking. Any advice welcome.

Out of curiousity, do you have a shore-power hookup on your boat?

I have a 1996 Honda BF50 and mine has rust in the same area. Clemore asks if your boat has shore-power hookup; the previous owner of my boat did have shore power. Currently, my boat is moored with no shore power. I haven't done anything about the rust since I bought the boat 3-years ago. The rust hasn't gotten worse as far as I can tell. If you learn anything interesting, or how to fix it I'll be interested.

kmclemore wrote:Out of curiousity, do you have a shore-power hookup on your boat?

Are you thinking what I am thinking . . .concerning the cause?
But I just replaced one of these on a 150 HP Johnson and it was a PITA
Biggest problem was with reinstall hummmmmmm

Sorry for delay in response, as I can not get to a computer as often as I would like.
No, no shore power connection and the X is on a trailer when not in the water and in two years I have owned it, I never even used an extension cord to the boat. But maybe the previous owner used an extension cord as he left it in a slip. I replaced all the anodes last year even though they were in pretty good shape. It is interesting that this main engine mount support is not shown or discussed in my shop manual. Disappointing. My car manuals show almost everything for repairs I do to them. Not even a sentence in my Honda manual.
Again, my thinking today is that the two bolts at the top seem to do all the support work and the iron is thicker up there. The two bolts at the bottom seem to be shock absorbers more than heavy supports since the rubber (not shown in my pictures) is three or four inches thick there.
Replace the mount (don't know the name for this part? or keep on trucking and packing the hole with grease?
I will call a Honda dealer soon and add his opinion to this thread.
Divecoz: would you replace yours again if you had to do it over again? How bad was yours? Were you worried about an engine failure?

I hate to miss an opportunity to kick a Honda so add me to the "me too" list.
Mine's been dropping rust chunks from there since I bought it but it hasn't fallen off my transom yet.. though I keep hoping it will.

I'd love a nice reliable EFI motor.
That is to say an evinrude, merc, or yammie...

Thanks for the heads up. I will look into it this weekend on my 97 BF50.
I for one would be shocked if they put any type of steel at this or any other location as these engines are suppose to be saltwater engines.
Dave

opie wrote:Before I take my BF50A engine to a boat shop, I thought I would ask if anyone has had a similar situation to mine. The motor is connected to an angled piece of iron. The horizontal part of this iron angle connects to the steering rod with a pivot point bolt. The vertical part is hollow to accomodate the shift rod. The vertical part is enclosed in an aluminum housing with a grease fitting that lubricates up and down in the space between the iron post and the aluminum housing with grease squeezing out the top and bottom pivot points. Here is the problem. Rust is raining down from the hollow iron post and filling up the lower unit by dropping flakes into the hole where the shift rod goes into the lower unit. Since I don't have anything to lift up the engine to try to remove the rusting post, and that part does not show up in the shop manual at all, I am guessing that a Honda authorized boat shop will have to replace it. That is, unless a member here can give any advice on why it is rusting and what to do about it DIY-wise. Or do all BF50A engines rust there, and it is no big deal?
Thanks.

My Honda dealer gave me the news today that my rusty pivot post should be left alone and I should try to stuff the hollow post with grease to prevent more rust deterioration. The alternative, they told me would be very costly, requiring many hours to take apart the whole motor. So, let this be a warning for BF50A engine owners: Grease your post or rust proof it somehow. There is no grease fitting, no protection, and no mention in any owner-or-shop manual of this VITAL maintenance need of this motor. So, Honda sticks regular iron in the form of the engine mount and pivot post into the water each time the motor is used (SALT water in my case.) .........And to make a point of his feelings, my dealer says his dealership was dropping Honda and going Yamaha in 45 days.

I was doing service and was shocked to find the main support post connected by two bolts that hold the engine is corroded and flacking rust.
Who in there right mind would put a steel support bracket to hold the intire engine?
Any fixes or how to change support bracket?
Dave

opie wrote:My Honda dealer gave me the news today that my rusty pivot post should be left alone and I should try to stuff the hollow post with grease to prevent more rust deterioration. The alternative, they told me would be very costly, requiring many hours to take apart the whole motor. So, let this be a warning for BF50A engine owners: Grease your post or rust proof it somehow. There is no grease fitting, no protection, and no mention in any owner-or-shop manual of this VITAL maintenance need of this motor. So, Honda sticks regular iron in the form of the engine mount and pivot post into the water each time the motor is used (SALT water in my case.) .........And to make a point of his feelings, my dealer says his dealership was dropping Honda and going Yamaha in 45 days.

It is part # 7 in this LINK.
$219 for the part. Actually called the swivel case.
I just packed with grease and will hope for the best. I had enough rust to fill up places on the lower unit as the rust falls freely through the hole below it onto the water impeller housing. Ugh. Don't know what else to do.

Thanks Opie, I can use the parts list but the part I am talking about is the Steel arm that holds to engine to the mount. It is held by 2 bolts and the steel support is flacking rust. Just 2 bolts holding the whole engine on a Steel mount thats so thin and flibsy that any further rust may cause engine to fall off!..Ya it's that bad.
It looks like a cast iron bracket but I can't belive Honda would do that.
dave

opie wrote:It is part # 7 in this LINK.
$219 for the part. Actually called the swivel case.
I just packed with grease and will hope for the best. I had enough rust to fill up places on the lower unit as the rust falls freely through the hole below it onto the water impeller housing. Ugh. Don't know what else to do.

I miswrote.... the part is the 'frame' item # 3 at $232. Is this the part that is rusting? It is the part on mine that is half gone. It has the two bolts at the top that hold it to the engine. Hard to believe that only the 2 of us have this problem. Do you think that everyone else wit a BF50A has aluminum frames? Poll?