New boat woes

[zif]

Bought an 83 searay 25" cabin crusier with an I/O engine (replaced in 2001) that has about 360hrs on it. V8, mercrusier alpha 350.

I had mechanic look at it, as seals are leaking oil from outdrive, he calls me back to say compression check on one cylinder is basically nothing, the rest of them are fine. asks me if I want to spend $700 to tear apart the engine and check out what the problem is, or do I want to just buy a new engine?!

He gave the impression that he is afraid the engine will turn out to be shot, and I'll be wasting money trying to fix it. He admitted the rest of it looked great, but I this is my first boat and I have no idea what to think lol.

Opinions?

 

[nocturnaloxygen]

Re: New boat woes

I am in the same boat as you are (no pun intended). I bought a 77 fiberform and from the day i bought it I've had nothing but problems, and I haven't even gotten out on the water yet..... Oh well I guess we have to live with out mistakes. I'm going to get that stupid boat in the water this summer I don't care what it takes. Good luck with your lemon.

 

[Don S]

Re: New boat woes

Do a leakdown test first to determine if it's a valve problem or not. Sounds like a tuleped valve is a possibilty, and does not requier a new engine.
Troubleshoot first, then repair.

 

[ziggy]

Re: New boat woes

I had mechanic look at it, as seals are leaking oil from outdrive, he calls me back to say compression check on one cylinder is basically nothing,

so did ya ask the mech to check the compression of your engine. it don't sound like it. i don't think i would think of checking engine compression if i thought i had leaky seals in the drive. maybe a pressure and vacume test of the drive. but not a compression test of the engine. i think do your own compression test and go from there......


edit. maybe i did mis read the original post. the mech was asked to check it out. so, if that's the case. a leakdown test to find out some facts first would be the next step....my bad....

 

[sabastianunf]

Re: New boat woes

Sound like he actually has 2 problems. 1) no compression in a cylinder and 2) bad seal in the outdrive. If you have a good set of tools and are mechanically inclined then Don's advice is a good place to start. There may not be any need to tear the engine apart - you may just need a new head. Anyway I would not replace anything until you are sure you have found the problem. By the way Don is almost always right. Where is the outdrive leaking from?

 

[180shabah]

Re: New boat woes

That was $700 to figure out what is wrong with the current engine

 

[sabastianunf]

Re: New boat woes

Yeah - I just caught that. Way too much to diagnose an engine problem.

 

[hullofalottatrouble]

Re: New boat woes

my advice is to buy some tools and do some test on your own.. you will soon find with the help of a manual and more importantly the help of people on this board you can definitely learn to trouble check and diagnose your own problems and even fix some of them yourself.. definitely dont pay someone $700 just to tell you something you or they could have figured out with about $60 worth of tools and an hour of their time..

 

[wcsparky05]

Re: New boat woes

AMEN! if you got more $$$ than you know what to do with, give it to that guy, or me. but if not, you need to get your hands dirty. these mechanics will SUCK YOU DRY! if you want to own a boat, you gotta want to learn engines or you're gonna go broke. this is the place to learn, and buy your manual. sorry about the tough love but you will prosper from it. good luck.

 

[zif]

Re: New boat woes

Thanks for all the replies guys!

Update - the valve was "mushroomed" in the cylinder with zero compression.

Here's what I recall of what he said (which is not much, I need to call him again and get a complete list):

replace spark plugs, wires (old)
send head to machine shop (for valve and i think gasket work?)
replace seals in lower unit
various seals / gaskets
replace water pump

He's estimating the total cost of everything to be $2300.

Advice / Thoughts ?

 

[zif]

Re: New boat woes

my advice is to buy some tools and do some test on your own.. you will soon find with the help of a manual and more importantly the help of people on this board you can definitely learn to trouble check and diagnose your own problems and even fix some of them yourself.. definitely dont pay someone $700 just to tell you something you or they could have figured out with about $60 worth of tools and an hour of their time..

Yeah, I hear you. I am definitely going to go that direction as much as my abilities allow - as soon as possible hah. Sort of stuck now, as I have Mr Happy Mechanic with everything torn down and a bunch of issues identified.

Mechanics here get $80 an hour. Is that usual for marine repair?

 

[I/O WALDO]

Re: New boat woes

Just fixed the same problen on a SBC and it was a broken exhaust spring on #5,put air in the cyl. and replaced the part,all betta!

 

[hullofalottatrouble]

Re: New boat woes

around here they are $100 an hour so $80 sounds good to me

 

[bjcsc]

Re: New boat woes

Mechanics here get $80 an hour. Is that usual for marine repair?

No, actually it's low...

 

[Don S]

Re: New boat woes

Update - the valve was "mushroomed" in the cylinder with zero compression.

Yep, that's what some call a tuleped valve.
The big problem with a tuleped valve is it sometimes destroys the seat in the head, and just replacing a seat in a marine head is not a good idea. They usually end up falling out and your back to the same problem and usually worse. So you only option would be to get a new head.

 

[zif]

Re: New boat woes

Yep, that's what some call a tuleped valve.
The big problem with a tuleped valve is it sometimes destroys the seat in the head, and just replacing a seat in a marine head is not a good idea. They usually end up falling out and your back to the same problem and usually worse. So you only option would be to get a new head.

So would this be why he sent it off to a machine shop? He said he didnt have the tools to fix it himself.

Sorry for silly questions, this is all new and mysterious to me!

 

[Don S]

Re: New boat woes

I can't say why he did anything.
If he says he can't fix it and doesn't have the tools, then it's time to find someone that does. At least he was being honest with you.