Re: running it out of the water
One thing no one mentioned. I don't know what the optimum water pressure/volume you need in the garden hose but this happened to me....<br /><br />I went to put our 4.3l OMC in this season. I draged the boat to the house from storage, hooked up the muffs, cranked on the hose, fired up the OMC and everything ran fine. Kept an eye on the temp. Sweet sailing I thought! I shut off the engine, turned off the hose, grab the wife and headed to the lake. I was SO confident that when my wife asked if was gonna take some tools along I said "WHAT FOR!" "It runs GR-R-R-R-R-EAT!"<br /><br />We get to the marina's launch and the boat cranked real slow. I was a bit perplexed. The marina bought out a battery booster...same condition...it would barely turn over....<br /><br />The marina brought out a new battery....SAME THING! It would just barely turn over... Then the marina guy says, "Hmmm...sounds like you hydorlocked the motor." Being kinda new to boating I had no clue what he meant. <br /><br />Well it seems when I shut off the motor at home the water pressure from the hose filled up the cylinders in my 4.3 OMC. We took the boat back to the cottage, removed all the spark plugs and cranked it over and over. The water WAS flying everywhere!! Then oiled the cylinders down and ran the engine. O! Here is an important step...change the engine oil if this happens to you! There will be water in it.<br /><br />So next year I'll use the garden hose and muffs, but the hose only goe on 1/2-way and not full blast. I'll have someone turn the water off at the moment I shut the motor down.<br /><br />While at my local marina the other day I saw a mulated rod out of a Merc 4.3. I asked the Parts jocky what happend to it...his direct quote was "Thats what happens when you hydrolock a 4.3..." That brought the lesson home for me and I counted my blessings! Take your time and be careful.<br /><br />Good luck in the future,<br /><br />Geno
