Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

[500dollar744ti]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

If you refuse to pull the drive and drain the water, as you need to. The only way I can picture draining at least some of the water out of the bellows is to park the boat on a steep incline so the trailer is facing forward down the hill. If it's steep enough, it will cause most of the water to drain back into the bilge the same way it drained into the bellows. Honestly I think finding a hill, then parking and waiting is more of a pain than just removing the drive.

 

[TheRussian]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

So I misunderstood what people meant by dealing with the water in the bellows. I thought that I would have to remove the outdrive as you would with replacing the bellows. If I just have to take off the lower unit I don't expect it to be a huge job. However, what should I do when the unit is off? Trim all the way down? Push on the bellows? Is there a lubricant that I should use prior to reassembly?

 

[500dollar744ti]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

You don't have to replace the bellows, just dry it out. To remove the drive you need to lower it all the way down and place it in forward gear. Disconnect the trim rams from the drive and remove the 6 nuts holding it to the housing. After removing the drive, which may take some wiggling and maybe some smacks with a rubber mallet, most of the water will drain out.

Finish drying the rest of the bellows area with a towel or rag and inspect the gimbal bearing for roughness while turning.

Once you remove the drive, this is the area you need to clean. Yours shouldn't have any slime in it like this one but it illustrates the portion you need to clean and dry out.

 

[achris]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

....Will a Solec manual be helpful?...

NO!

Use that thing to kneel on, or start a fire, or as hand-wipes... Anything, but the one thing it's not is a service manual....

Ok.. You seem reluctant to pull the drive.. I have no idea why, it's a 3 minute job, and WILL save you several (many) hundred dollars in replacing parts damaged by sitting in water....

At risk... uni joints, gimbal bearing, 2 yokes, and the spider coupler (for the 2 unis), possibly the gimbal housing itself...

Pulling the drive is easy (no special tools required).... -> Removing Alpha drive

 

[TheRussian]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

Thanks for the pic and link to the video guys!

I feel confident in doing this procedure myself (will probably bribe a friend into helping me with beer).

Hopefully tomorrow I will have the time to take off the new starter and have it checked. If that still does not engage the flywheel I may have to take to boat into a marine mechanic. At $90/hour I would like to try to avoid that situation though!

Achris, I'm glad that I didn't spend the $30 on the Solec manual. I can probably find a cheaper kneel pad, wood kindling or paper towel!

 

[jimmy wise]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

You might want to check the battery. Maybe low voltage? Why would the drive not engage

 

[TheRussian]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

My battery is showing over 12V on the guage. It was a brand me battery that I bought 2 months ago and have minimal use on it. I will take it in for testing but I am certain that it is OK. Would I not hear at least some clicking when attempting to start? What I actually hear is a very "smooth" sound of an electrical motor spinning.

 

[slothman]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

My battery is showing over 12V on the guage. It was a brand me battery that I bought 2 months ago and have minimal use on it. I will take it in for testing but I am certain that it is OK. Would I not hear at least some clicking when attempting to start? What I actually hear is a very "smooth" sound of an electrical motor spinning.

starter is not engaging, that's why the engine isn't turning over ....

 

[TheRussian]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

Dear fellow boaters!

I AM GETTING FRUSTRATED AND DESPERATE AT THIS POINT!

I have taken the "old-new" starter back and had it bench tested, appeared to work but the guy gave me a new one anyway and tested it prior to me taking it home. Just installed it, cleaned up all the terminals again just in case... STILL NOTHING. The starter is spinning, I can hear the initial click of the pinion "shooting out" towards the flywheel but still not engaging! There is no turning over, nothing. If the flywheel was seized I would expect for the starter to engage and then just stop, but that does not happen. The flywheel does not appear to be damaged.

Does anyone know what to do at this point? I may just have to start saving for $90/hour mechanic charge and just forget about the rest of the season.

 

[slothman]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

Dear fellow boaters!

I AM GETTING FRUSTRATED AND DESPERATE AT THIS POINT!

I have taken the "old-new" starter back and had it bench tested, appeared to work but the guy gave me a new one anyway and tested it prior to me taking it home. Just installed it, cleaned up all the terminals again just in case... STILL NOTHING. The starter is spinning, I can hear the initial click of the pinion "shooting out" towards the flywheel but still not engaging! There is no turning over, nothing. If the flywheel was seized I would expect for the starter to engage and then just stop, but that does not happen. The flywheel does not appear to be damaged.

Does anyone know what to do at this point? I may just have to start saving for $90/hour mechanic charge and just forget about the rest of the season.

my bet is that you have the wrong starter. You need the mercruiser part number for a cross reference. go to a different parts store.

 

[TheRussian]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

SO I have double checked the part #'s. The engine serial# is 0D843414. When I pugged it in on the mercruiser website it came out with a diff. engine # 822454 92. I further found the # for the starter which happened to be 812604A2. The new starter is a WPS 6562N. I have found it online and it appears to be a match for the needed mercruiser part. Where do I go from here guys?

 

[slothman]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

12" starter: 12177A2 STARTER MOTOR ASSEMBLY
8" w/ 2 7/8 end cap: 806964A3 STARTER MOTOR ASSEMBLY
8" w/ 3-1/4 Diameter End Cap: 812604A2 STARTER MOTOR ASSEMBLY

That engine serial brings up 3 different starters lol. Are you SURE you got the right one? Measure the original one. I have a feeling you put the 8" in when you need the 12" .....to engage the flywheel ....

 

[TheRussian]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

Thanks for the info slothman.

I do not have the original any longer, as I said I unfortunately left it with the repair guy. How did you find all those part numbers? I only found one. My replacement part is for the last one that you provided, the 8". I don't recall the original being so much larger. In fact I don't think that a 12" would even fit in the tight space. The guy at the repair place keeps reassuring me that he gave me the exact replacement. On the positive note I am able to rotate the crankshaft in both directions with a wrench. This does not solve my problem but at least it does not appear that the engine is completely seized. I need to get it cranking though to start getting some of the water out.

 

[slothman]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

i went here: Parts Catalog | Mercury Marine and put in your engine serial.

I suggest you go back and get your original starter and measure it. And look for a part number stamp. Something tells me they gave you the wrong starter. If you installed it correctly it should be engaging correctly. did you goto an auto parts store for cars or a marine store ? maybe they gave you a car starter ...

 

[TheRussian]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

I had my starter rebuilt in the beginning of the summer. After I nearly sunk my boat I pulled the starter out and found a sticker of a shop that did the rebuild. I contacted that shop, the owner checked the old one and said that it was pretty much fried and sold me a new one. Now that I am think more about the problem I don't know if I have left out information or not (not sure if this is relevant).

After I drained all the water out of the bilge I attempted to turn the engine over. It didn't. But I was getting the same starter sound, just not as smooth. The flywheel was not engaging and so I thought that the starter is fried and that is why I replaced it first before going on to anything else. I can't imagine that something happened to the flywheel after submersion. The boat was not hit by anything. Can the flywheel shift somehow from its original place and now be too far from the starter pinion? Does any of this matter?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

I had my starter rebuilt in the beginning of the summer. After I nearly sunk my boat I pulled the starter out and found a sticker of a shop that did the rebuild. I contacted that shop, the owner checked the old one and said that it was pretty much fried and sold me a new one. Now that I am think more about the problem I don't know if I have left out information or not (not sure if this is relevant).

After I drained all the water out of the bilge I attempted to turn the engine over. It didn't. But I was getting the same starter sound, just not as smooth. The flywheel was not engaging and so I thought that the starter is fried and that is why I replaced it first before going on to anything else. I can't imagine that something happened to the flywheel after submersion. The boat was not hit by anything. Can the flywheel shift somehow from its original place and now be too far from the starter pinion? Does any of this matter?

Ayuh,.... Starters don't like goin' Swimmin',... even Once,....

Flywheels don't move, it should be firmly bolted to the crankshaft,...

There's really only 2 different Chevy starter bolt patterns,...
The odds of you boltin' in a staggered pattern starter insteada a straight pattern starter are Slim, but I guess possible,...
Vice-versa can't happen,...

What matters is you gotta go pull the starter, 'n See Why it ain't engagin' the flywheel,...
Check the teeth on the flywheel,...
Bench test the starter,...

 

[achris]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

SO I have double checked the part #'s. The engine serial# is 0D843414. When I pugged it in on the mercruiser website it came out with a diff. engine # 822454 92. ...

That engine number comes back as a 5 litre V8.... You said it's a V6... Please check the number and post again.

Chris......

 

[TheRussian]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

Achris, sorry, the number is 0D843814, it is a 1993 (maybe 1992) 4.3LX V6.

Bond-o, I have pulled the starter twice (two different new ones) and they were both bench tested and found to function properly. The battery is charged. The teeth on the flywheel are intact. The bolt pattern is staggered on the original and on the new one. It is still not engaging. I understand that the goal is to find out why it in not engaging, that is why I am here!

Thanks.

 

[slothman]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

Achris, sorry, the number is 0D843814, it is a 1993 (maybe 1992) 4.3LX V6.

Bond-o, I have pulled the starter twice (two different new ones) and they were both bench tested and found to function properly. The battery is charged. The teeth on the flywheel are intact. The bolt pattern is staggered on the original and on the new one. It is still not engaging. I understand that the goal is to find out why it in not engaging, that is why I am here!

Thanks.

correct part is 812604A 2. does yours look like this: http://www.iboats.com/Starter-Sierra/dm/*******.694656166--session_id.139697120--view_id.172192

again, maybe you got a automotive starter, instead of the marine

EDIT: I checked your part number WPS 6562N, and it DOES match with 812604A 2......

 

[achris]

Re: Water damage to 1993 4.3L Mercruiser engine after partial submersion

Have you looked at the flywheel ring gear to make sure it still has teeth on it?

Chris....