96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

kbmeds

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Jul 23, 2012
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Hello all!

So as the title says I'm new to boating as in first boat & never driven one other than a sea nymph with 55 lb thrust bow fishing lol...so I bought this boat from my buddy for 850$ the hull and deck and vinyl seats are in great condition..its a 96' bayliner Capri 1850 ss with a 4.3 mercruiser and I belive the block had been replaced a few years back..

I have a good deal of auto and deisel engine knowledge and am a big DIY-er but nothing with boats. So here's my dilemma..

Last year my buddy took the boat out and had it idle for about 4 hours while he tied on one..he drove the boat in and it was idleing rough..after that he left it at a freinds dock and it flooded the bilge from the rain almost til sunk..he drained it and started it up ran rough again..he took it in and left the drain plug in and it filled again at his home...after that he had it winterized and stored..I have the paperwork for all of this..he took it out of storage and there's chocolate milk in the pan and he smoked the starter tryn to start it not knowing about the milk.

Thinking the motor was blown he sold it to me cheap for cash for a mud truck he's building..I've since then taken the Carb off and cleaned it ..no rust what so ever on Carb or block..I drained the oil pan via plug and had about a gallon of strait water come out first then milk total of about 4.5 gallons..tore starter off and took it apart and found the nylon ring that the orbital gears run on is stripped out but wasn't full of water or rust..

My question being what else should I check w a limited budget..I plan to flush the oil until its clear and get a starter rebuild kit or just the nylon ring if possible.

reading on this site for a while before becoming a member is where I got most the info and I'm hoping I'm one of the lucky few that didn't end up with a cracked block or blown heads/valves ect. What's a good test I can run to figure this out?

I don't know how to pressure or do leak down just cuz I haven't done them before but I'm sure I can Google that or search the forums

Thx fellas and Sry bout the long read but figured more info the better
 

NHGuy

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Re: 96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

Before you even try to get the motor turning look into threads on checking the transom & stringers. I'd check the transom by getting some 3M 5100 and doing a few drilled cores from the inside to see if there's soggy wood in there. Don't drill all the way through, just go into the core. If the wood is dry put some 5200 in the resulting holes, it hardens permanently.
The stringers are usually wood encased in glass, they run fore & aft through the boat and the front engine mounts will sit on two of them. You might be able to just pull the motor mount bolts out and check for soggy there, or do a drill & fill check.
Ask the company who winterized it if they ran the motor to put it up for the winter. If they did, that's a good sign.
Is your sequence of events correct? If the motor was winterized after the bilge fill at home and it has milky oil now there could be a motor problem.
You ought to go to the top of the Merc forum and get the stickies open, there are some good posts about how to check when there is water in the motor oil. Here ya go...http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=369864
Then get whatever minimal starter parts are needed to be able to crank over the motor to check for problems.
I probably missed something. but that's the short version.
 

kbmeds

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Re: 96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

Thanks a bunch...

Yes I belive timeline is correct I belive it was almost sunk from the rain while at dock and then drained and ran... then filled again on shore and same thing drained ran and then winterized

It was just pulled from storage last weekend and then sold to me rather than fixed..the winterization tags are still all over it along with one that says "bad starter water in oil" Wilson marine, mi
 

kbmeds

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Re: 96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

Bump

Anyone else got any good info for.me?
 

kbmeds

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Re: 96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

Also does anyone know where I can find the nylon ring from the inside of a starter to rebuild it myself..its the ring inside the starter that the orbital gears run on to actually spin the bendix

Its the old 9 part from the schematic drawing from the dealership on a GM starter for the 96' 4.3 merc.. Wilson marine says it can't be sold seperatly..
Any advice on where to find that part or maybe a junk starter to get it from will the vortec motor of a truck have the same type of starter?
 

Bondo

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Re: 96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

Also does anyone know where I can find the nylon ring from the inside of a starter to rebuild it myself..its the ring inside the starter that the orbital gears run on to actually spin the bendix

Its the old 9 part from the schematic drawing from the dealership on a GM starter for the 96' 4.3 merc.. Wilson marine says it can't be sold seperatly..
Any advice on where to find that part or maybe a junk starter to get it from will the vortec motor of a truck have the same type of starter?

Ayuh,.... An ole junk starter is yer best bet for the starter piece,...
I doubt you can buy it, without the starter included...

For the motor, change the oil, 'n Run it....

If the oil level Climbs,... yer block is cracked...
 

kbmeds

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Re: 96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

Found that the head was cracked and gasket blown ..fixed.. now I'm having trouble getting her to actually run in gear here's what I've done so far..

New gaskets head, intake, e intake
New cylinder head GM reman cast 181
New plugs
Flushed oil 5x all new filters each time oil checks good no more milk!!
brought no.1 cyl to TDC torqued rockers to 20lbs
Reset timing 8-10? BTDC
New fuel filter
Pump seems to be working

Has a 4 barrel w suction choke which doesn't seem to work properly when it sucks in doesn't move butterfly valve should it?

I can get it running and its rough idle at 6-700 rpm oil and temp are good it'll rev in nuetral but a soon as I'm in gear it'll start to backfire out the Carb and want to quit can go more than qtr throttle or it'll die seems like its getting to much or too little gas also has white smoke coming.from exhaust constantly..

Gonna mess w the timing again tomar as it is dark now any suggestions would be great somthing I'm over looking?

Also after taking it.to the lake for a test drive and not getting far I tried to start at home holding choke open it fired first try and died a few seconds after then wouldn't restart and would shoot a puff of white smoke out Carb

Tdc on number one is just before the exhaust valve begins to move correct? Could I have set this on the exhaust stroke instead of compression by mistake?
 

thumpar

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Re: 96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

TDC is after the intake valve closes and the piston reaches the top of the cylinder. The exhaust valve starts to open at the bottom of the exhaust stroke.
 

Howard Sterndrive

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Re: 96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

Tdc on number one is just before the exhaust valve begins to move correct? Could I have set this on the exhaust stroke instead of compression by mistake?
sounds like your distributor is 180 degrees out.

a finger over the spark plug hole is a good way to see if the piston is coming up on compression
 

kbmeds

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Re: 96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

Thanks fellas I know my d cap is in the right spot had it "marked" before diss. And it when right back in place tooth wise and the cap was about 20-30? off when I started screwing w the timing now its 6-8? BTDC as for the rockers being set right I could be wrong there would this create the problems I'm seeing? Backfire and loss of power in gear and rough idle? Thanks guys this forum has been a life saver
 

thumpar

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Re: 96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

If the valve are not fully closing you will get the backfiring. I had a van with a 4.3l in it. After redoing the headgasket I set the valves. I guess I didn't get it right because it was doing exactly what you are describing. In the end I set them while it was running by sound. Don't think that is recommended but the engine made it to 200k until the rod bearing went and never had a valve issue.
 

kbmeds

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Re: 96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

I found that my Carb choke was nonworking it was stuck closed I ran seafoam thru gas and adjusted the suction choke..she ran good for about 20-30 min on the water yesterday and I thought I had her..then she quit..ugggh..****ed w the choke and it started again after a min or two..hadn't over heated seemed like it didn't get gas..the fuel pump is good pumps like crazy found out by it spraying me..

Its a carsons? 4barrel Carb tuning instruction for that I'm ideling high at like 900-1000rpm any lower the idle is pretty rough

Also did a vac test w starting fluid around all the sealed spots on intake and Carb no issues
 

kbmeds

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Re: 96' bayliner capri 1850ss..new to boating

I also noticed that when driving the motor will seem like its under a lot of stress and won't be running speed as tho I am caught on somthing if I throttle up it'll "break loose" and continue to pick up speed normally...only does this every so often I pulled sterndrive yesterday and replaced the gasketsand o-rings gimbal bearing and universals seemed in good condition and had good grease on them needless to say I wiped them clean and re greased

Its also hard to shift into reverse and sometimes sticks in forward coming to the dock..only a low speeds I can pull out of drive any other time
 
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