natemoore
Master Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2009
- Messages
- 844
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 wouldn't turn over even one revolution.
Went back to Wal-Mart and got my old battery back (should have had it tested beforehand, but I was so hopeful that it was the problem that it clouded my judgement). Nothing wrong with having two good batteries, though.
The 17 volt output (and its bad reputation) prompted me to buy the alternator conversion kit from Breezeworks. Very easy to install kit.
Went out with the good batteries and new charging system. Killed the engine. Swam at the beach for a little while. Engine wouldn't turn over even one revolution, despite trying three different batteries (one was from a fellow boater).
Bought a new starter based on recommendations from forum members.
Went out yesterday with two good batteries, new charging system, and new starter. Did three or four "out and ins," each lasting about an hour. All attempts to restart the engine were successful.
So, we shot across the sound to the beach to anchor and swim. All four of us chickened out, not really fully trusting the engine yet. So, we headed back across the sound to the dock, tied off, and waited a half hour before attempting a restart, which was successful.
After swimming for an hour and enjoying a cold one or two, we attempted the most important restart of all. Success!!! It didn't leave us stranded!!!
We were going to name the boat "Jiggles and Giggles," but now I think a more appropriate name is "Nervous Laughter."
Did get a disconcerting puff of white smoke on some of the restarts, but I'll address that in another post.
Thanks for all the help.
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 wouldn't turn over even one revolution.
Went back to Wal-Mart and got my old battery back (should have had it tested beforehand, but I was so hopeful that it was the problem that it clouded my judgement). Nothing wrong with having two good batteries, though.
The 17 volt output (and its bad reputation) prompted me to buy the alternator conversion kit from Breezeworks. Very easy to install kit.
Went out with the good batteries and new charging system. Killed the engine. Swam at the beach for a little while. Engine wouldn't turn over even one revolution, despite trying three different batteries (one was from a fellow boater).
Bought a new starter based on recommendations from forum members.
Went out yesterday with two good batteries, new charging system, and new starter. Did three or four "out and ins," each lasting about an hour. All attempts to restart the engine were successful.
So, we shot across the sound to the beach to anchor and swim. All four of us chickened out, not really fully trusting the engine yet. So, we headed back across the sound to the dock, tied off, and waited a half hour before attempting a restart, which was successful.
After swimming for an hour and enjoying a cold one or two, we attempted the most important restart of all. Success!!! It didn't leave us stranded!!!
We were going to name the boat "Jiggles and Giggles," but now I think a more appropriate name is "Nervous Laughter."
Did get a disconcerting puff of white smoke on some of the restarts, but I'll address that in another post.
Thanks for all the help.