New to boats in general. Don't know where to start

[brokin18]

I recently purchased a 1968 Carina 20' pleasure boat with a Mercruiser 140 I/O. I wanted to try to fix her up and get her running, but she's been very stuborn so far. I honestly don't even know where to start with it. I bought a new battery in hopes that I would at least be able to get any readings from the gauges and so far there's nothing at all. If anyone has any ideas on what to do with her, I'd be more than appreciative. thanks.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: New to boats in general. Don't know where to start

Hi brokin, welcome to iboats! The first thing I would do is get the manual for your engine and perform the preventative maintenace items that it tells you to do. Go take a look at your boat, even if you're not real familiar with it, and make a list of things that you know are wrong or broken. You may also want to start a thread in the project boats section on this forum and start by asking specific questions about your list that you made. Before you know it, things will start to come together. Good luck with your boat and keep posting.

 

[Skipster1]

Re: New to boats in general. Don't know where to start

Your title is not going to get you much of a response. <br />All the people with expertise look for titles that relate to their area of expertise.<br />You should start over.... re-post your question with something like: "I want to fix my 140 Mercruiser I/O which is dead in the water".<br />Something like that will get the attention of those who have experience with your particular engine.<br />Be specific with your problem and you'll find folks who have expertise in that area.<br />These guys are real good, if you tell them exactly what you need.

 

[hoot]

Re: New to boats in general. Don't know where to start

get a volt/ohm meter. put the black wire to ground. set it on 20 volts dc. start touching terminals on the starter, solenoids, ignition coil, and key switch. keep up with the readings and post back. check simple things first like fuses, circuit breakers, and kill switch. look for inline fuses attached to wires and check them. you can jump a wire over from the + side of the battery to the start solenoid s terminal and see if the starter will turn over.

 

[Blk-n-Blu]

Re: New to boats in general. Don't know where to start

Broken18, Start with getting the "outdrive" into the Down position. Most motors won't run with the drive up, and never start/run the motor without supplying water to the outdrive (Muffs/Hose)<br />here is a article on troubleshooting starting systems hope it helps.<br /> http://www.boatered.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=51250