Did my mechanic mess up?

[keithbrown]

At the end of last season I took my 1992 Celebrity 230BR with a 454 engine in for winterization. I informed my mechanic, who I have had GREAT experiences over the last 6 years, that it felt sluggish reaching top speed. I felt like it struggled to get on plane and then maintain the power. He inspected and informed me I had a blown head gasket and that the heads needed planed. After giving the go ahead I told him no big rush since not using it for 6 months any way. I finally got my boat back after 8 months. I continually called on status the whole time. I was told that it had a sticking carbureator and he traded for a used one from another local boat mechanic, he installed new plugs and wires, new distributor and a sticking starter. He started on muffs and it ran great. I picked it up and took it to the river and it misfired immediately. I dropped it back off and he looked at again. He stated he was given the wrong distributor and he then went and picked up the correct one and installed the correct one. He started it on muffs and said it was ready. I took to river again the next day. I drove it about four miles, parked it on the beach for 3 hours, drove back 3 miles and it misfired again. This time it wasn't as bad but still did it and then it backfired and stalled. I got it to start but then the motor was ticking/knocking. Reminded me of loud lifters ticking. I floated to in front of the marina and started it and drove it the approximately 3 blocks at idle. I loaded it and dropped it back off at the mechanic. BTW he has not charged me anything. I kept trying to pay and he kept saying that he hadn't had time to figure a bill. After another week of not getting looked at, I decided to take to another marina. They inspected the next day and called me to say that it idled fine but when throttled up it they heard the knocking. They are suspecting a bad main bearing. They are checking to replace/rebuild the motor.

Ok here is the question I have....did my mechanic not winterize my motor properly? I think he waited too long to get to my boat and I think it froze. We are in the midwest. He is notorious for procrastination. Did he then ruin the motor and was trying to stall me out? Was he trying to figure out a way to fix situation? Does any of this make sense? I am looking at a $3000 to $5000 bill according to what I can find out. Am I bitter that my boat broke or did he do something wrong?
Thanks for the help.

 

[bonzoscott]

Re: Did my mechanic mess up?

Welcome to iboats! I think your mechanic did mess up. Some of the things you describe the tech did doesn't play into the mix of the symptoms you provided to them. Your original symptoms sound carb related and a good tech would not simply swap the carb. Same goes for the distributor. If it's knocking and ticking, something has went terribly wrong within this work. If you think it froze would tend to be water in your oil which after a bit of use has smoked your bearings, lifters, etc. The forums are more or less a DIY sorta thing cause you can't depend on all the shops out there. Even though you had good service for 6 years, there may have been a new employee or just something beyond his experience. It is tough to find a good shop. Best of luck!

 

[Bondo]

Re: Did my mechanic mess up?

At the end of last season I took my 1992 Celebrity 230BR with a 454 engine in for winterization. I informed my mechanic, who I have had GREAT experiences over the last 6 years, that it felt sluggish reaching top speed. I felt like it struggled to get on plane and then maintain the power. He inspected and informed me I had a blown head gasket and that the heads needed planed. After giving the go ahead I told him no big rush since not using it for 6 months any way. I finally got my boat back after 8 months. I continually called on status the whole time. I was told that it had a sticking carbureator and he traded for a used one from another local boat mechanic, he installed new plugs and wires, new distributor and a sticking starter. He started on muffs and it ran great. I picked it up and took it to the river and it misfired immediately. I dropped it back off and he looked at again. He stated he was given the wrong distributor and he then went and picked up the correct one and installed the correct one. He started it on muffs and said it was ready. I took to river again the next day. I drove it about four miles, parked it on the beach for 3 hours, drove back 3 miles and it misfired again. This time it wasn't as bad but still did it and then it backfired and stalled. I got it to start but then the motor was ticking/knocking. Reminded me of loud lifters ticking. I floated to in front of the marina and started it and drove it the approximately 3 blocks at idle. I loaded it and dropped it back off at the mechanic. BTW he has not charged me anything. I kept trying to pay and he kept saying that he hadn't had time to figure a bill. After another week of not getting looked at, I decided to take to another marina. They inspected the next day and called me to say that it idled fine but when throttled up it they heard the knocking. They are suspecting a bad main bearing. They are checking to replace/rebuild the motor.

Ok here is the question I have....did my mechanic not winterize my motor properly? I think he waited too long to get to my boat and I think it froze. We are in the midwest. He is notorious for procrastination. Did he then ruin the motor and was trying to stall me out? Was he trying to figure out a way to fix situation? Does any of this make sense? I am looking at a $3000 to $5000 bill according to what I can find out. Am I bitter that my boat broke or did he do something wrong?
Thanks for the help.

Ayuh,... Welcome Aboard,... Yer symptoms don't indicate it's been frozen,....

Yer Mechanic has some odds ways of doin' things though,....

 

[alldodge]

Re: Did my mechanic mess up?

:welcome: to iboats

A engine missing is one thing and is usually electrical. It could be a wrong distributor causing a miss but would need to know more of what is going on. An engine tick like a lifter is much different then a knock. If it is a knock from a rod bearing it will be fairley loud, kind of sounds like a hammer banging against the block.

Ok here is the question I have....did my mechanic not winterize my motor properly? I think he waited too long to get to my boat and I think it froze. We are in the midwest. He is notorious for procrastination. Did he then ruin the motor and was trying to stall me out? Was he trying to figure out a way to fix situation? Does any of this make sense?

If the engine froze this would not cause a rod knock of lifter tick. If your block froze you would have water leaking into the bildge, or water getting into your oil.

I am looking at a $3000 to $5000 bill according to what I can find out. Am I bitter that my boat broke or did he do something wrong?

From my back seat perspective, the guy may not have know all he needed to know to fix your issue, but I don't see where he did anything which could have caused a rod bearing knock.

 

[Grub54891]

Re: Did my mechanic mess up?

If the carb is bad,I rebuild it,if the dizzy is shot,I get new. I would never just swap stuff from another motor trying to fix it,usually that makes it worse. Sounds like he's not to instructed on marine repair,of motors in general
Grub.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Did my mechanic mess up?

Hate to tell you, but these motors seldom ever wear out--especially in fresh water normal hour usage. fMost of the blocks sold by Mercruiser go into boats that were not winterized--frozen. I always drained the block on my I/O's because I've never seen air freeze.

I'm sorry for your dilemma. FYI: Last time I pulled the motor out of my 4 cylinder I/O, it didn't take 1/2 hour. Removing engines is no big job in an I/O.

Marine mechanics are notoriously expensive. I would get a good independent auto engine builder to disassemble the engine to see what problems there are. A new long block is often the best way to go. It all depends on how good the boat is, and is it worth re-powering?
Auto engine builders can be less than half the hourly rate of a marine mechanic, and they're just about always better equipped to deal with Chevy based marine engines.

 

[keithbrown]

Re: Did my mechanic mess up?

Thanks for the posts. Just trying to figure out what happened and what to do next. The mechanic did replace a needle on the original carb but it kept staying open, according to him. Another mechanic that works on big blocks more than he does swapped the carbs. It was the same carb just from his supply on hand. I now think my mechanic is more outboard experienced and also the superficial type items e.g. installing switches, bilge pumps, electrical shorts etc... I think he was in over his head on this job. According to the new marina mechanic my engine is a car block since it sounds like it has a different cam. He surprisingly told me he has installed car blocks in boats before and doesnt have any problems. He said it sounded modified. Not sure if that is the problem. The old mechanic said he found the block listed as a 2002 engine. I never replaced so I am sure the previous owner did this and never told me. The boat had it's interior replaced last year and is in good shape. I always get compliments and people are surprised when I tell it is a 1992. I have looked at a different boat but what I find is that I will spend another $10,000 additional to get what is comparable to what I have now. This is why rebuild/replace seems a possiblity.

 

[alldodge]

Re: Did my mechanic mess up?

Thanks for the posts. Just trying to figure out what happened and what to do next. The mechanic did replace a needle on the original carb but it kept staying open, according to him. Another mechanic that works on big blocks more than he does swapped the carbs. It was the same carb just from his supply on hand. I now think my mechanic is more outboard experienced and also the superficial type items e.g. installing switches, bilge pumps, electrical shorts etc... I think he was in over his head on this job. According to the new marina mechanic my engine is a car block since it sounds like it has a different cam. He surprisingly told me he has installed car blocks in boats before and doesnt have any problems. He said it sounded modified. Not sure if that is the problem. The old mechanic said he found the block listed as a 2002 engine. I never replaced so I am sure the previous owner did this and never told me. The boat had it's interior replaced last year and is in good shape. I always get compliments and people are surprised when I tell it is a 1992. I have looked at a different boat but what I find is that I will spend another $10,000 additional to get what is comparable to what I have now. This is why rebuild/replace seems a possiblity.

I don't have a good feeling about either one of your mechanics. There is nothing wrong with modifing an engine but being able to tell by the sound normally is a bit of a stretch. Your engine is also knocking so that puts another against him in my opinion only. If your going to rebuild/replace I would recommend a new base long block.

 

[Volphin]

Re: Did my mechanic mess up?

I agree. Order a new long block and have it installed. Or install it yourself! We can give you a hand.

 

[Outsider]

Re: Did my mechanic mess up?

Never, ever, tell a mechanic 'no hurry, whenever you get to it' ... :facepalm:

 

[Fastatv]

Re: Did my mechanic mess up?

Well, I agree with several of the folks on here in regards to your mechanic swapping out parts...as some have said, it would have been better to rebuild the existing carb, and same for distributor. As far as an engine knock. If you have developed a bad bearing, when the engine is warmed up ( or cold ), you should see a drop in oil pressure....comparing now to before. If your oil pressure is good, and hasn't changed, then more than likely the bearings are good. Do you have water in the oil? I would recommend you taking the boat to a "known" very good I/O mechanic, maybe tell him about the "missing", and nothing else, might not mention any knock.....and see what he tells you. Good luck and keep us posted, and hopefully nothing major is wrong.