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  1. Lou C

    2004 Grand Cherokee stalling/shutting down

    Interesting I didn’t know that! Not sure if it’s the same on our older ‘98 but will have to remember that.
  2. Lou C

    Single point drain tech tip

    Yep that's the only way with bad access, closed cooling and a remote oil filter mount is how to make I/O ownership bearable as you get older.
  3. Lou C

    Bravo 3 overheating - oil expansion

    The Bravo series are known as stout drives, the main thing on the BIII is avoiding corrosion on the lower unit due to the large twin stainless props. With proper maintenance (drive pull each season, oil change each season, checking for water in the gear oil and fixing things as they come up) no...
  4. Lou C

    Correct outdrive for motor?

    That's correct as long as the gear ratio is right for the engine, it should be fine. One thing to keep in mind is that some SEI drives had issues with both noise and metal in the gear oil. I'd want to pull the bottom plug and check for wear particles and run it on the water to check for whine...
  5. Lou C

    Oil change could be easier...

    I’ve done it both ways, thin tube down the dipstick tube and garden hose adapter. Garden hose adapter much faster because it has a larger diameter hose. Easy to fab up yourself.
  6. Lou C

    Rebuilding or replacing Mercruiser 4.3 in 1996 caravelle 1950SE

    Could be, when I looked up a '96 4.3 on a Merc dealer parts website they do show the one piece manifolds, but its true that a '96 boat could have a '95 powertrain. Either way it will be interesting to see what it is and what's wrong.
  7. Lou C

    New to boating, first restoration

    Great job! Amazing that none of the wood structure had to be replaced, you must be in a pretty dry climate that would never happen here...
  8. Lou C

    Bravo 3 water pickup hose and engine run

    You're lucky the drive came off! I bet that was making a heck of a racket. Salt water? When you turn on the hose, water won't pass the impeller by much probably only a trickle till you start it, it depends on what position the blades of the impeller are in when it was last run. It won't flow...
  9. Lou C

    Rebuilding or replacing Mercruiser 4.3 in 1996 caravelle 1950SE

    Here's a pic of that extra drain. The Pre-Vortec engines don't have this. If I remember correctly the one piece exhaust manifolds were used from the start of the Vortec engines in '96 till '99 or so. So if its a freshwater boat it may still have them. The article I read said that Merc did this...
  10. Lou C

    Bravo 3 water pickup hose and engine run

    Yes you can just make sure to use clamps so it doesn’t pop out and starve the impeller for water. Looks like that bellows was leaking for a long time. You’re doing the gimble bearing or is a shop going to do it for you?
  11. Lou C

    Rebuilding or replacing Mercruiser 4.3 in 1996 caravelle 1950SE

    Just echoing what Scott said, while you'll find a lot of on line sellers of both remanufactured and new 4.3s, a local shop who can build you one might be easier to deal with, especially if they are familiar with marine builds. The 4.3, 5.0 and 5.7 are good, simple durable engines, built properly...
  12. Lou C

    2004 Grand Cherokee stalling/shutting down

    On the 4.0 six that is in a tough spot, right up on top of the bell housing. You're far better off with the Mopar sensor. On the older models like ours it can be reached with a combination of extensions and u joints. Glad that fixed it cheaper than the ECM which was about $600 if I recall.
  13. Lou C

    Oil change could be easier...

    Have you seen a schematic for even just raw water cooling on a late model Mercruiser? Its a rats nest of hoses going everywhere, fiendishly complex for what benefit? Compare this to older Mercs, or even an OMC Cobra or Volvo SX. They seem to get by just fine with 4 hoses up front, a raw water...
  14. Lou C

    Understanding how engine died - water on inlet and exhaust sides

    Your story is a little confusing. You say first that you had a vacuum leak, not a water leak, then replaced the intake gaskets then got water in the oil due to over torquing the intake bolts (Vortec is like 10 ft lbs, Pre Vortec is 30 ft lbs if I remember correctly). Then you say you are...
  15. Lou C

    1995 OMC 5.0L Electrical mishap

    Good for you glad there was no damage! Now get some duct tape and a sharpie and mark your + battery terminal!
  16. Lou C

    Oil change could be easier...

    Or that silly plastic door/flap you have to unscrew from the belly pan each time you do an oil change...yes the filter location is great on those we have a ‘17 Forester in addition to the 3 Jeeps...
  17. Lou C

    Volvo Penta 5L GXI Overheating

    If it overheated bad you may have blown the head gasket, or your exhaust manifold/elbow gaskets could have leaked water into the cyls. Sounds like you have some work ahead of you. Take off the thermostat housing and clean it out, look for impeller parts jammed in there, as well as in the hoses...
  18. Lou C

    Oil change could be easier...

    Agreed on making the designers do all the maintenance before releasing a design for sale! A few design changes could make a world of difference: Remote oil filters with the filter mounted the “right” way to avoid all that mess... Dipstick tube with the top high enough to get to it for pump hook...
  19. Lou C

    Removing impeller

    nice job you made your own tool! necessity is the mother of invention...
  20. Lou C

    1995 OMC 5.0L Electrical mishap

    Probably won't know for sure until you run it in the spring. I hope you didn't blow the module in the electronic distributor because those I don't think are still available (Prestolite BID system, same thing used on V/Ps of the same era). I guess you could replace that with a Petronix or the...
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