Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

[jekoenig]

Hello all - I know it shows me as new, but I really am not. I was posting on here quite a bit a couple of years ago about my first boat with a 140 Chrysler (no mystery why I was posting a lot with that outboard, lol). Not sure of what email, ID or password I used so here I am with a new name and a different boat.


A little history. A friend of mine had this boat docked in Greenwood Lake. He did not cover it properly, went on a business trip, a storm hit and it basically sank. His wife noticed what had happened on the day of the storm and had the coast guard help her get the boat out of the water.

One day later I get a call from this guy wanting to get rid of the boat (he has a few bucks and did not want to mess with this thing). Nice boat, motor was absolutely full of water. Thinking I would take the boat and at the very least be able to EBay it for a few bucks (the boat itself is very nice), I brought it home. I decided to learn a little and try to get the motor working (talked to a few folks on how to do so).

Steps taken:

Drained the motor
added oil (and new filter)
removed the plugs (cleaned off the oily water crap)
peaked into the head through the oil filler (no rust)
removed the carb (and cleaned it out)
cranked by hand to get water out of cylinders
drained oil again
Fogged each cylinder
added oil
reinstalled the carb
started it up.

It runs great. Good compression. no noises or anything. Had it up to temperature in my driveway a few times now. It was fullof water for probably a total of 2 days. Once drained I immediately oiled her up (did not want any rust to form)

Here is my question - I like the boat configuration, and the motor seems to run well.

Should I keep this thing or do I have a time bomb on my hands? I was not expecting to be succesful (for about $22) in geting this thing running.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

It was in a Sweetwater Lake,...??.... Right....??....

Enjoy it............

If i had been Saltwater,..... Things might be different.........

Btw,...... Ya better Pull the Drive,.... The Bellows is probably Full of water too......

 

[jekoenig]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

Thanks for the response. If it was in saltwater, I would not have even tried to mess with it.

I still can't beleive I got a free boat out of this.

Looks like there is water in the power steering system. How do I get that out of there? Fluid is all white looking.

 

[jekoenig]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

What do you mean by pull the drive? Drain it?

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

What do you mean by pull the drive? Drain it?

He means remove the drive from the bell housing, grease the ujoints & gimbal bearing & remove any water that is in the bellows........
If you ran it with water in the bellows, you should drain & pressure test the drive.....
If it passes, refill with new gear oil & consider yourself very fortunate.....
Don't forget to use new seals/gaskets...........

 

[jekoenig]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

Better quesiton might be:

What are bellows? lol This is my first IO so I am not sure what you mean by bellows and how I can drain them.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

This is my first IO so I am not sure what you mean

Ayuh,........

Have a Look around Here,.........
You might learn something about Mercruisers,+ Outdrives........

 

[jekoenig]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

OK Thanks for the info. Interesting stuff.


Looks like I just have to removed the piston deals on the sides and then those 6 bolts holding it in.

Is it a 1 person job or should I be requestig a little assistnace from my neighbor. lol How easy is it to accomplish. Looks fairly simple.

I never put the thing in gear or anything, only ran it at a fast idle. Hopefully I did not do any damage.

 

[Don S]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

The upper shaft is attached to the engine, so any time the engine turns, so does the upper shaft on the drive. So you were running the ujoints and gimbal bearing in water.
Put the shifter into forward
Pull the trim cylinder pin at the back of the drive
Put some blocks under the drive to support it
Remove the 6 nuts
Pull the drive off.

You WILL need a new gasket and seal ring set before reinstalling the drive.

What year is this boat?

 

[jekoenig]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

Its an 88 4.3 Alpha 1 on a 20' SeaRay cuddy.

 

[Don S]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

Here is a link to the OEM service manual for the drive. It should help you understand the thing a little more.

http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/6/6covr3.pdf

Scroll to the last page (outline) and click on the LETTER of the section you want to view

 

[jekoenig]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

Great info. Thanks. I will probabl wait until tomorrow to tackle this. Have a couple other things to tackle today. Will it be OK to let it sit for a day?

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

It takes like 20 minutes to pull a drive with a 9/6 & 5/8 socket & a 9/16 box wrench.....
Don't forget to put the shifter in fwd....
If it were me I'd do it today & grease those ujoints & gimbal bearing asap......IMHO, I would not wait....​

 

[jekoenig]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

Well that was easy. lol Took it off and yes there was some water in there and the water grease pudding. Yum. Cleaned it all off.

Now to the good stuff. I see what looks like 2 different kinds of grease in there. The gimbal bearing had what looked like normal grease on there (lithium right??). I also saw some orange looking grease on the joints and closer to the seal. What type of grease should i use on the exterior and interior of the joints. How do I pack the Gimbal (or do I need to)?

Putting it back on looks a little tougher than taking it off. Probably good to have a second person on that one.

 

[jekoenig]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

Went down to a local marina and purchased the gasket kit. the guy there showed me what I needed to know about lubing everything. I lubed up the joints and gimbal using the appropriate fittings until the black grease I purchased starting comming out (and then some).

Now - How do i get that little rubber gasket for the water passage and the main gasket to stay on there when I attempt to reinstall this setup.

Thanks

 

[Don S]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

The gasket gets no sealant. The large (approx 4" dia) seal ring and the water passage oring are held in place with contact cement, rubber cement, personally, I have always used Mercs bellows adhesive because it was always handy.

 

[jekoenig]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

Contact cement it is then. I will pick some up tonight and put her back together tomorrow. Is leaving that nicely lubed gimbal bearing out in the open air for a day OK? Should I cover up the hole with something?

This has just been way too easy. Something has to go wrong somewhere. lol

 

[sea wolf]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

Boy, some guys have all the luck. A 20' Searay for 22 bucks. I wouldn't worry about the drive being off overnite, but I would cover it with a tarp in case it rains. Just shove a rag or something like u said into the bearing hole. By the way, got any more buddies with 20 dollar boats that they sank?

 

[jekoenig]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

Can anyone give e soe points on reinstalling the outdrive into the bell housing. I can't get this thing to slide in there. The ring seal keeps popping off and the whole thing does not seem to want to slide in there.

 

[jekoenig]

Re: Submerged 4.3L Alpha 1

I finally got it. Took a second person in the boat hand cranking slightly to get it al to line up. Seems to be OK. Hopefully all of the seals stayed in place. Ring seal went in OK. That little water jacket O ring (even though I tacked it in with contact cement) still wanted to get out of shape a little.

Seems to shift OK. In gear, hand cranking turns the prop. out of gear, it does not. Seems good to me.