15 year old boat with 4.3L mercruiser- never serviced beyond oil/winterization.

[bumblebeeamigo]

My parents bought a new tracker/tahoe in 2001 with the 4.3L 190HP Mercruiser. It witnessed approximately 15-25 hours of use per year . It received oil changes and winterizations every year and stored in a heated marina storage. It sat in the water through summer, pulled skiiers on average 3-5 hours a year and the rest was fishing on a small private lake. It spent two years stored up after my parents got very sick, and I have now adopted it.

Trailering it home I blew both tires (original rubber- 15 years old, I know that's dangerous). The original aluminum prop had a few dings so I replaced it. I replaced the blower. I just replaced the original batteries. The marina that serviced it last said the belts and hoses look perfect. I know cars very well and everything seems to run perfectly and look fine... however, I know its probably due for a whole bunch of service. If I do the math, its probably got 250-300 hours on it, but that might be high because it was only used about 5 weeks a year and my parents were in their 70s so "using it" may have been more like a few hours a week (My dad said he went through about 2 tanks of gas a year)

Doing some googling, it looks like it may be worth doing plugs, bellows, and cables, maybe the water pump. I may try to do it myself, or I may just have the shop that does the winterizing do it... depending on the cost. The Marina suggested it doesn't need anything, but nothing has been done but oil changes for 15 years...

Sorry I haven't been real active on here. AS you can see I joined 5 years ago but this is my first post. This website is incredibly helpful, and I just placed an order through iboats. Before adopting this, I had a big slow fiberglass 40 HP evinrude from 1972, but recently moved close to a lake.

 

[poconojoe]

Yep, check those bellows. Leaky bellows can sink your boat or at the very least, damage drive train components.
And you stated "water pump". I guess you meant impeller... who knows when it was changed last? Definitely change it. It's the rubber impeller in the outdrive that sucks water up from the lake. If it fails, you can cause serious overheating damage to your engine and other components.
Change outdrive lube.
Change engine oil, filter.
Change fuel filters/water separators.
Directions to do all this are here on this site.
Sounds like a lot, but don't get discouraged. Once it's done, you can go boating and have a blast.

 

[stonyloam]

Change the outdrive waterpump impeller. A great place to start DIY. Pull the entire outdrive, grease the driveshaft u-joints. An impeller kit will cost you about $30, and a outdrive service kit another $10, a Tube of bellows adhesive $10 and you should be good to go. Get an estimate from the marine, an I think you will want to DIY. Good luck.

 

[Rick Stephens]

Mercruiser has a replacement schedule for your motor and drive. Impeller every three years. There are some run them longer, but 15 is not reliable.
Around here most say you will get around 6 years useful life from your bellows. I'd agree with that.

Make you a nice boat. Some great videos on maintenance in the adults only section. Be good experience to go through it yourself.

Rick

 

[Scott Danforth]

welcome aboard. I agree. change all fluid, impeller, bellows, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, then go boating.

 

[wahlejim]

A good cleaning of the carb probably wouldn't hurt either and rebuild if necessary. My only concern would be fuel sitting in it for an extended period of time and varnishing. Change out the fuel from the tank if it has been sitting for 2 years as well.

 

[bumblebeeamigo]

Change the outdrive waterpump impeller. A great place to start DIY. Pull the entire outdrive, grease the driveshaft u-joints. An impeller kit will cost you about $30, and a outdrive service kit another $10, a Tube of bellows adhesive $10 and you should be good to go. Get an estimate from the marine, an I think you will want to DIY. Good luck.

I might give that a shot. Thanks for suggesting it as a good DIY.

 

[bumblebeeamigo]

Mercruiser has a replacement schedule for your motor and drive. Impeller every three years. There are some run them longer, but 15 is not reliable.
Around here most say you will get around 6 years useful life from your bellows. I'd agree with that.

Make you a nice boat. Some great videos on maintenance in the adults only section. Be good experience to go through it yourself.

Rick

Thanks for the recommendations. I have the manual and the replacement schedule, but i'm 100% sure the impeller is original (15) and same with the bellows. That's why I felt pretty confident in those, but I didn't know what else should be addressed since the service schedule has NOT been followed!

Thanks!

 

[Rick Stephens]

poconojoe gave a pretty good list.

Change all fluids - that means all the oil - engine, outdrive, hydraulics. Fuel drained and all filters replaced.

Change the impeller and the bellows.

Check the lower shift cable while the drive is off. Lube the ujoints, inspect the gimbal bearing.

Check the battery and connections to same.


Reassemble and test it all by running on muffs. Safety is the primary responsibility here. Learning your boat systems will help you know when your boat is unsafe to take family and friends out. And the best part is - saves a lot of dough and keeps you from walking back when it quits running.

Rick

 

[stonyloam]

Locate the gimbal ring clamping screws and retorque to 55 ft lb. 21 here https://www.mercruiserparts.com/Sho...&bnbr=90&bdesc=GIMBAL+RING+AND+STEERING+LEVER

 

[bumblebeeamigo]

I hate to admit this, but I bit the bullet and dropped it off at the dealership. While I'm all for "Doing the work myself" I decided to have them do all the things mentioned above and also inspect it. I know that's silly from most people's perspectives, but as I started getting ready to order the parts and researching some of them I felt a little overwhelmed. I figure it will be easier to get everything in great shape THEN maintain it myself because I'll have a "baseline" to work with, as opposed to trying to figure out if everything's good or not. I mean when we talk about "inspecting" items, if I don't know what its supposed to look like, how will I recognize a problem?

Thanks for all the recommendations though, because I used them to tell them what I wanted them to do, and They are charging me less for all of it than my parents used to pay just for winterization + Winter storage, so I'm good with it. I'll do future service myself, and hope I didn't let anyone down

I've got some less serious concerns I'm going to work on myself, like the prop selection, trailer, and lighting wiring hiccup.

 

[wahlejim]

Not silly at all! It is amazing what happens when someone's ego gets in the way. If you are not comfortable with the repairs yourself, I think it is a great idea to have someone reliable work on it. The key word there is reliable. There are a lot of threads on here that pop up regarding sketchy work from "professionals". I hope the repairs go well and you got on the water ok! If you need any help in the future, that is what the forum is for!