Mercruiser 3.0 hard start then stern drive clunks and kills

[Doug Spurling]

Mercruiser 3.0 cruising fine for about 2 minutes and then all of a sudden killed. Attempt to restart makes a metal grinding sound and turns over slow as if seized. Batteries fully charged and starter working perfect prior to this. Oil looks perfect. Motor did not overheat. Towed back to lift. Able to restart a couple times, ran for a few seconds then killed with a loud clunk coming from the sterndrive. NOTE: the bellows was recently replaced. Gimbal bearing was not.

 

[Lou C]

remove sterndrive and put water to thermostat housing, see if engine cranks and runs then. If so you have to get the drive gone through

 

[alldodge]

NOTE: the bellows was recently replaced. Gimbal bearing was not.

Howdy
I'm thinking the drive oil was also was changed, and the first thing I would do is pull the drive drain plug. I'm going to guess that they drained the lube but did not refill

 

[Doug Spurling]

Thank you for the advice. We removed the sterndrive and separated upper and lower unit. It's seized up. The lube was completely gone. The very bottom of the housing has a crack...perhaps the reason for the missing oil. Now, what to do? A re-manufactured is approx. $3,500. (less than I paid for the boat). A used one is less...but may be buying someone else's troubles? Thank you for any directive. The boat is an early 80's model Century Bronco in good condition, the 3.0 Alpha One motor is only a few years old.

 

[nola mike]

People have had good experiences with sei drives, which are around $1500 and have a warranty.