Agreed @Lou C - I have pictured that motor in my head, hovering in the air next to me while I'm in that confined space... gives me the willies! I don't plan on keeping the boat a long time - it is old and I bough it as a cheap way to get on the water and experience boating / get my feet wet. I...
Update: Poked around trying to find the leak - the key was the amount of water flowing into the boat: similar to a drinking fountain, maybe more, and it got through quick, not like it was seeping through rotted wood. It would have to be a decent sized hole for that to happen. After removing the...
Also ran across this interesting video of the same general problem - how to find a water leak in/through the transom area: fill the boat with water and see where it comes out:
I don't fancy getting my new starters wet though, even though they are supposed to be marine grade (sealed?). Maybe...
Looks like the two bolts either side of the hydraulic block are NOT anodes on my boat, they are actually plastic waterproof seals over the bolt heads. Instead, I have the integral Mercathode style that has an electrode assy mounted to the outside (underneath) of the hydraulic block. There is an...
Ah, yes, good point. Didn't think about it because on the outside those bolts have some sort of plastic cap and appear completely sealed. But maybe they're just faking it and are in fact loose. Will report back!
Not much room under motors but was able to shine phone light upward and use mirror to see at least one corroded bolt at bottom of transom - it had that greenish/whitish corrosion on it. Will check for looseness if able...
There's gotta be a good size hole somewhere though given how much water...
Will pull back shifter boot. I changed the flappers a couple years ago and the old ones were intact. Given the amount of water I'm seeing, it's likely coming in at the exhaust.
I should add another question: With the outdrive off, can I use a hose to squirt water up the exhaust and see if any ends up in the bilge? I assume there's not much concern with getting water all the way back up to the cylinders... This would be an alternative to running some sort of exhaust...
I've had issues with the splines on the outdrive shaft not being lined up with those on the motor. You can turn the propeller by hand (counter-clockwise assuming you have the drive in FWD) with some effort. If you have a second person, one can do this while both are lifting and pushing the drive...
Situation: Old boat that now has a leak at the transom assy/exhaust.
I replaced the starboard impeller pump a while ago after some engine overheating issues (see last post: https://forums.iboats.com/threads/1989-mercruiser-4-3-lx-alpha-1-gen-1-overheating.767141/). On the previous cruise (a...
Just wanted to close this issue out - my last post was incorrect. I was relaying what a friend told me he had done at the boat and I misunderstood him - in fact, he had NOT yet replaced the impeller pump and the boat was still overheating, he had just wanted to confirm for himself as he had not...
Update: Finally got back to boat and swapped out starboard impeller pump. Does not seem to make a difference - engine still overheats on muffs as described earlier, OK for 10-15mins at idle and higher RPM but overheats when throttle is pulled back to idle. I'm now pretty confident that this is...
Hi Scott - here's a rundown on this motor and drive:
Motor: Recently replaced exhaust risers, flappers, thermostat. Removed, cleaned and repainted exhaust manifolds. It does have check-balls and I re-installed those after cleaning and re-painting thermostat housing - they seemed ok but I wasn't...
