Winterizing and a tune up

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
So I got on the complaining band wagon in sombodies earlier thread about the cost of winterizing my 4.3 this year since I needed the 100 hour service now that I broke 100 hours. It was less painfun than I thought but I ended up needing the 200 hour service to also have the impeller replaced since we had to also get in there to figure out what was happening to my gear lube. By the end of the season my 03 4.3 was using almost a full reservoir of lube each outing. The problem was the seal under the impeller was slightly misshapen causing the lube to circulate through the engine out into the water. It looks like a .50 cent part but now it is fixed. Basically then, I got a tune up, plugs, rotor, cap, (no wires), drive removal service, all fluids, oil, filter, water sep filter, winterization, impeller, seal under impeller and gas additive. The total with tax was $765 with the 10% early bird discount. I haven't looked yet but I am curious how the old plugs and parts look after 100hours of use since I requested to keep the old parts. The funny thing is the seal started leaking about a month after the extended, Mercruiser warranty expired. It took this many more years to finally make me get concerned.
Just wanted to mention what I dealt with this year since I had dreaded how much this would all cost. The Chap dealer would have been many hundred more dollars so I chose to roll the dice at Marine Max (because they scratched my boat last year during winterization). This is the first thing that has been done to the boat since new besides annual winterization.
 

Alpheus

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Aug 3, 2009
Messages
1,759
Re: Winterizing and a tune up

You are lucky. Should have done more homework on here about your drive fluid loss. Outdrives are not supposed to use any oil at all. It like the brakes on your car. Its a sealed system and if the fluid is low you have a problem. As soon as you noticed the reservoir was low on fluid you should have immediately stopped using it and had it pressure checked to find out where that fluid was going. That 50 cent part could have cost you over 1300 dollars for a new after market drive and allot more than that for an OEM.

You need to get yourself a Service manual and read it. Nowhere in the service manual or owners manual does it state that if your drive fluid is low to just keep adding more...
 

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
Re: Winterizing and a tune up

You are lucky. Should have done more homework on here about your drive fluid loss. Outdrives are not supposed to use any oil at all. It like the brakes on your car. Its a sealed system and if the fluid is low you have a problem. As soon as you noticed the reservoir was low on fluid you should have immediately stopped using it and had it pressure checked to find out where that fluid was going. That 50 cent part could have cost you over 1300 dollars for a new after market drive and allot more than that for an OEM.

You need to get yourself a Service manual and read it. Nowhere in the service manual or owners manual does it state that if your drive fluid is low to just keep adding more...

Yes you are correct. I deluded myself the first few years that it was an air bubble since the amount was so tiny. This year having finally used the boat a lot more on bigger bodies of water, I could no longer believe the improbable. I guess I am counting my blessings that it turned out the way it did. Quite frankly our last vacation of the year, I hoped the bottom wouldn't fall out and I could make it to get serviced. I have grown used to filling the oil in my 10 year old, daily driver, minivan and just took it too lightly. Crisis averted but only by dumb luck.
 
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