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  1. natemoore

    MCM 165 (470) cylinder head help

    I removed the cylinder head from my '87 MCM-165 in order to troubleshoot a vanishing coolant/steam at start-up problem. When I removed the cast iron coolant tank, I saw coolant down in the #3 and #4 areas of the exhaust manifold. That confirmed my suspicions. When I started cleaning up the...
  2. natemoore

    MCM 165 leak down and comp. test results

    MCM 165, 1987 engine witnessing white smoke (or steam) upon warm engine restart losing coolant somewhere getting whiffs of coolant here and there suspect that coolant is being burned up inside cylinders otherwise engine runs okay Leak down test results: test 1 test...
  3. natemoore

    U.S. General cylinder leakage gauge questions

    If anyone here is familiar with Harbor Freight's U.S. General cylinder leakage gauge set, I'm not understanding this thing. First, the left gauge has the regulated air and the right gauge has a percentage leakage scale, 0-100%, with 100% being at about 8 o'clock and 0 % being at about 4 o'clock...
  4. natemoore

    White smoke at start up, MCM 165

    If I got the white smoke at start up on a cold engine, I'd just say, "oh, that's just worn valve stem guides allowing oil to leak down into the combustion chamber" and dismissed it. But yesterday, while I was building up my trust on this new charging system and starter, I got a big puff of...
  5. natemoore

    Forum help leads to a happy ending (MCM 165)

    To review, I bought a boat with the MCM 165 Mercruiser engine that had a problem with a dead battery. Factory charging system seemed to output okay (although higher voltage than normal). Bought a new battery, went boating for a couple hours, back to the dock to do a test restart. Engine...
  6. natemoore

    WT over? Typical! I'm miffed (charging issues)

    MCM 165 engine. Spent yesterday afternoon and half of today installing my alternator conversion kit in the blazing 95 degree Florida sun. Got 'er up and running, measuring a cool 14.5 volts across the battery terminals like the instructions said I should. Got the dashboard voltmeter working...
  7. natemoore

    Two starter solenoids in an MCM 165?

    I just finished installing the alternator conversion kit from Breezeworks on my MCM 165. I haven't received my $85 manual from Mercury yet, so... The final step of the installation calls for connecting the charge lead from the alternator to the "positive post of the starter solenoid coming...
  8. natemoore

    17 volts okay for MCM 165?

    Mercruiser MCM 165, ser. no. B648337. I'm trying to troubleshoot dead battery problem. Seller said it happened to him a couple of times recently. I bought a brand new battery. It too went dead after a couple hours of motoring around the sound. I measured around 17 volts at the battery at...
  9. natemoore

    Mercruiser MCM 165 charging problems

    We just bought an '87 Four Winns Horizon 170 with a Mercruiser MCM 165, serial number B648337. The seller said the battery died on him earlier that day while demo-ing the boat with another potential buyer. He measured the battery voltage with the engine running and got about 13.5 volts, so we...
  10. natemoore

    Mercruiser MCM 165 reputation

    Greetings All, We're now the proud owner of an '87 Four Winns Horizon 170 with an MCM 165 engine. I got a German Shepard puppy, then only found out a year later about the dreadful shedding. I bought a 2000 Toyota Tundra, then later found out about its weak transmission and horrible brakes...
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