Ok, had planned on pulling the engine in the fall, but personal crap got in the way. Still haven't had a bunch of time, but managed to get the engine out yesterday. Everything going fine until I ran into the starboard rear mount, which was completely seized. Took me a few hours to get out. Getting dark last night, and now pouring rain on my only day to get this done for a couple of weeks...
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The mount sleeve had frozen to the flywheel cover. I guess 24 hours of being pickled on brine didn't do it any favors either. Took a LOT of force to get it out of there. I was afraid of breaking something/rounding off the head. It laughed at the impact wrench (I can see why now). Was afraid of making things worse if I cut off the head/broke the bolt, but I think I'd just be in the same place. Tough to get heat/oil to the offending area. Now need to clean out the hole, hopefully that won't be another project. Not sure why it isn't recommended to coat that in grease before install (maybe it is?)
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Spacer for my O2 sensor. 2 seasons. The aluminum is not liking the salt/iron combo. I still haven't dialed in my carb, so want to keep it in there. Not sure how to make it behave.
Potential leak sources:
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Remote oil filter. The worm clamp on the left was loose, and there was some oil at the top. This looks like the most likely suspect. Would **** me off to have pulled the engine for this.
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Other end of the oil filter. Some oil around the plug as well. I paid attention to this when looking for the leak. Didn't seem like it at the time, but who knows. I'll remove it and refasten.
RMS: No pics, but didn't look like a ton of oil around there. Haven't removed the flywheel cover yet. If it's clean under there I'm questioning pulling the flywheel. But it would be ridiculous of my not to replace the RMS at this point.
Want to confirm that
this is the right part?
I can't find it on the mercruiser parts diagrams for some reason.
Oil pan looked OK, didn't see any specific leaking. This is all difficult since the oil has now been sitting since october and nothing looks fresh. In retrospect should have run it prior to pulling it.
Other "while I'm in there" items:
1. Bilge pump. Need to find a better way to fasten it so that it both works and is accessible/removable. Sheetmetal fastened on the side of the motor seems like the best solution, but open to others.
2. Clean off everything, repaint. I've got a soda blaster that I've been itching to use. There's a lot of rust on there.
3. Corrosion protect everything. Anybody have a favorite? Boeshield?
4. Replace spark plugs! Gotta remember that. Much easier with the engine out.
5. Steering cable. Got tight last year, again probably not helped by the dunking of the boat. I have a spare that seems ok. Wondering if I should just suck it up and buy a new one. It doesn't look impossible to get to with the engine it, but def easier with it out.
6. Flappers: These were wrong and needed modified when I put them in 5 years ago. They looked out of position, dunno if they were doing any good at best or restricting exhaust at worst.
Anything else?
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