Re: boat not ran for a couple of years
GET THE ENGINE & STERN DRIVE MANUALS FROM HER, or buy them from an OMC dealer.<br /><br />Check battery fluid level. Charge or replace.<br /><br />Pull the plugs. Squirt a little good oil into each cylinder. I personally would do this each day for 2 or 3 days before I tried to start it.<br /><br />I would replace the plugs with new ones--the correct OMC part number, gapped correctly.<br /><br />If you are in a cold climate, hope her ex winterized the boat. Even if he did, in a cold climate the stern drive water pickup pump's impeller will probably have taken a set, and will need to be replaced. Do NOT run the engine without good water supply to the stern drive screens--not even for 10 seconds--you will destroy the impeller vanes. Pieces of the rubber vanes will spread throughout your cooling system, and you may end up tearing the whole thing down. Either do all running in the lake, or with ear muffs on the drive attached to a garden hose. Set the garden hose pressure per OMC instructions (for example, Merc does not want full pressure).<br /><br />Hope her ex used to stabilize his fuel. Remove old fuel. Replace with fresh, stabilized fuel of the correct octane.<br /><br />You will have to change the oil and filter. I would change it twice. I would change it up front before the engine is started. This is because there may be water condensation in the oil. Typically, it can be hard to get to the drain plug. If you can, great, let it drain into a pan for a day or two. If not, get a Jabsco pump and pump the oil out through the dip stick. This is very common (I do it), but it leaves some dirty oil behind. This change of cold oil will not drain the sludge out, but again, it is what I would do. Once the engine is running, run it per the manual for oil changes (perhaps idle at 3 minutes, but read your own manual), then shut it down and change the oil and filter again. If you go cheap on these early oil changes, don't be surprised when you ruin your engine. Also, use the oil recommended by the manufacturer. Many people are now using synthetics, but you have to decide--I'd stay with the manufacturer's recommendation. Your climate and boating habits also make a difference. Use the right filter! Not some cheap auto filter. Once the boat is running well, I personally would do a third oil and filter change after 5 to 10 hours or usage--oil is cheap, engines are expensive. Also, EVERY TIME you should look closely at the drain oil to check for water (milky, cloudy, light brown, and/or emulsified).<br /><br />Check the condition of the v-belt on the engine. If it looks at all brittle or old, replace it.<br /><br />If it has regular ignition, the points may be corroded and shot. If you are comfortable doing so, check the condition of the points and condenser (detach the battery first). I would just replace the points, condenser and rotor (very inexpensive). Once I had the boat running, I personally would replace the points and condenser with a Pertronix Ignitor electronic ignition module--it's inexpensive and fits inside the distributor cap. I would also consider replacing the distributor cap and plug wires, but only if the running engine exhibits ignition troubles.<br /><br />Pull the prop and grease up what you can. Use the recommended grease/lube! If you will be in the lake, put the prop back on. If using ear muffs, READ THE MANUAL and see if they recommend running on land without the prop. FOLLOW THE MANUAL.<br /><br />Is it a stainless steel (SS) or aluminum prop? If SS, then decide where you will be boating. If it is shallow, and it is likely you will hit the prop once in a while, I would change to an aluminum prop. SS performs better, but as they say "Hit with aluminum, buy new prop; hit with SS, buy new gears".<br /><br />You ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO change the stern drive gear lube. Use the right lube. I've only done my Merc, but assuming OMC's are the same, go to a dealer and buy the gear lube they recommend (by the quart) and buy the little hand pump that mounts on the quart bottle (about 10 bucks). My drive takes something like 28 oz, but you'll have to read your manual. Don't go cheap and use the 10 oz squeeze tubes--you'll get gear lube all over everything, and spill as much as you put in. Also, obviously you first have to drain the old gear lube (remove lower plug, then upper vent plug). Drain it into a pan. LOOK AT IT CLOSELY--compare it to new lube. If it looks milky or white, it has water in it--put the plugs back in and haul the boat to a pro. In this case, DO NOT RUN THE ENGINE--the stern drive gearing is probably rusted, and you can destroy it by running it. There are ways of "salvaging" the gears (may or may not work), but don't try it yourself; you will regret it.<br /><br />Be aware that you CANNOT just replace parts on an I/O engine with automotive parts. For example, marine starters and alternators are shielded to avoid blowing you up by igniting gas fumes in the bilge. Don't kill yourself or burn up the boat over 70 bucks.<br /><br />If it were me, the first time I started it, I would have the water feed hose (from the transom to the engine) off the engine, and ear muffs attached or the boat in the lake, so I could confirm good raw water flow from the stern drive pump (only run the engine for 10 or 20 seconds to confirm raw water pumping--then shut down and reattach the feed hose so the engine gets cooling water). But if it were me, I would drop the lower unit and replace the impeller ($25 maybe) and the plastic pickup pump housings and gaskets ($45 maybe) before I even tried to start it.<br /><br />I would also have a look inside the carburetor, if the ex wasn't stabilizing his fuel. If you don't know what you are doing, then don't mess around with gas. Pay a pro--you're getting the boat for free. Everything I've said here shouldn't cost that much (hundreds not thousands), and that's including dropping the lower unit, replacing the pump, plugs, new battery, and having the pro do a really good once over the whole thing.<br /><br />Be advised that there are more things to check--this is not an exhaustive list. I will let some others chime in here on what I've missed. But I guarantee I've missed things. GET A MANUAL AND FOLLOW IT. BETTER YET, LET A PRO GO OVER IT THE FIRST TIME. Ask if he'll let you "assist", just promise him you'll stay out of his way and then do so. You can learn a lot by assisting.<br /><br />If you "go lazy" on this initial work, you could end up overheating the engine (very common after a long lay-up) and warping the head, or worse. Then you will learn that "BOAT" truly does stand for "Bring Out Another Thousand". Except it could be multiple thousands.<br /><br />This really isn't as bad as it sounds. You just need to be careful not to rush into it and destroy something for no reason. Once you get it running, use it often and do the recommended maintenance, and most of these issues disappear.<br /><br />Good luck and have fun.
