Found some nasty surprises after pulling engine - repair or REPLACE?

[murinsky]

Firstly thanks very much to the knowledgeable regulars here who helped me get my engine pulled on my way to repalcing my holed oil pan and some other rusty components. Well, that's the good news.... <br /><br />Long story short, I think this is not worth my time, and I might do better to find a complete reman on ebay and just drop it in, while parting out whats salvageable of the 1988 7.4L that I have.<br /><br />Here is the situation, what I would like feedback on mostly is if this is worth my time as a beginner mechanic who can't afford to just take it down to the local shady guy and say "fix whatever needs fixin'!" when it IS within my means to spend 2500-3000 to start fresh and drop in a complete moderately used engine from a repower or something of the like and just be done with it. (sorry that was a damn long sentence). <br /><br />THis is what I have found to lead me to my current discouraged state: <br /><br />1. Removed exhuast manifolds and risers, found water passages to be about 50% clogged and everything past the elbow to be covered in a rusty coating, however, it looked like there was plenty of metal, ie, the rust deposits were coming from somplace else. It was so bad I initially thought I spaced somewhere when winterizing and everything was filled with ICE.... but it didn't melt when I took it inside.<br /><br />2. Removed thermostat assembly and the inside of the intake manifold is NASTY rusty...this is the first one I've seen so I have nothing to compare to, but I can't think this is normal rusty. <br /><br />3. Moved some bolts around on the intake to relocate the lifting eye and they came out WET and smelling like sulphur (like MUD I think....?). I assume not good. <br /><br />4. Finally got at oil pan but at least 4 of the bolt's heads disintegrated when I tried to unscrew them. They did not crumble completely but rounded off with very little effort. I stopped. <br /><br />5. And the thing that drove me to start drinking: One bolt on each front engine mount I thought was "missing" and needed to be replaced, in fact was broken off by the previous owner (apparently) and I couldn't tell until I lifted the motor off the mounts and got a light in there. <br /><br />SO - s*** can the whole thing and start over? Or risk taking it in to the "pro's", to piece it back to health, who around here I am not trusting of. <br /><br />One last thing, this engine ran last summer, and really pretty well at that. I wanted only to fix the leaking oil pan to get rid of the oil waste/pollution and replace a few of the rustiest looking parts. Instead, it looks (to me) like I have uncovered a time bomb. Is it as bad I think? <br /><br />Thanks for reading this far,<br />Mike.<br /><br />BTW, you guys see the new iboats homepage? slick!

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Found some nasty surprises after pulling engine - repair or REPLACE?

your exhasut system is telling you its gonna fail. replace the manifolds and risesr while its out, rusty oil pan bolts are normal. cut off whats left of the heads with a goos chiesel or dremel and continue. the intake water passages corrode in salt water, the smell on the bolts is normal, its combustion byproduct. your block and heads are made of the same materiel the intake is.<br />on the broken mount bolts, you can put it back like it was, not real good, drill or cut out the section with the broken lag bolt and fill it, better option. a small drill bit run the length of the lag all the way around it(20-30 holes) will aid in its removal. then drill it out 3/4 or so and fill it with a dowl rod,oak or other hardwood, and epoxy.<br /> its a saltwater cooled piece of cast iron, 6-8 years is about average.

 

[Lou C]

Re: Found some nasty surprises after pulling engine - repair or REPLACE?

Salt water cooled motor? Did the boat have a transom leak and get saltwater in the bilge? Kinda sounds like that. What kind of shape is the rest of the boat in, and how is the outdrive? If it is otherwise in good shape, and you like the boat, the repower would be worth it. Now about fixing that engine, many mechanics would not rebuild a raw water cooled engine used in salt of that age, too much of a chance for a head or block to rust through after all that work. What did the engine oil look like? Milkshake like? Water in the oil?? My salt water cooled motor has way less rust than what you are describing. I'd start with a new or rebuild long block, to avoid throwing good money after bad.

 

[ron7000]

Re: Found some nasty surprises after pulling engine - repair or REPLACE?

i inherited a '76 formula with a 233 mercruiser (351w ford 233hp) from my old man back in 1990. He/we were the original owner so I have a different persective on what I went thru with that vs what you might have with an unknown previous owner history.<br />From '90-'93 it was constant fixing and tickering on the motor, not so much money on parts as it was downtime. When the engine was in the mood to run, it ran smooth and had power. Compression was good and heads had been redone a few years earlier. So more or less it was a good engine. When we finally had to cut both exhaust manifolds off with a torch because of overheating, I finally said f it. I didn't want to mess with the heads getting the old studs out, not to mention having a 1976 2b rochester carb and a '76 prestolite points distributor.<br />Bought a new 351w 285hp motor with 4b holley carb, new prestolite distributor (points), I got just about everything and what I didn't I bought as an accessory for a fair price, things like oil dipstick, thermostat housing and flame arrestor. I transferred from old motor the motor mounts, alternator, mechanical fuel pump which had been rebuilt a year or two earlier, and the merc bellhousing, flywheel and starter. I got it shipped for under $3k at the time. Also had to spend ~$600 for new osco manifolds and risers, which took up less room in the engine bay than the suck merc logs. Also only have 2 coolant hoses vs. 6. Not couting incidentals, probably a few hundred bucks and $120 the following year when I replaced the original set of points that came with the motor with a pertronix electronic ignition, I could not have fixed the original motor for less money including my time and gotten the performance of the new motor. I was able to take my time on the new engine in the garage, priming and painting it, swapping over components and inspecting everything. I had the new engine in the boat and running in a weekend, have over 600 hrs on it now and only problems I've ever really had were replace the starter & alternator which were 1976, one carb rebuild in 2001, and a set of risers back around 2000. Never had any real downtime.

 

[Buttanic]

Re: Found some nasty surprises after pulling engine - repair or REPLACE?

An engine can run well right up to the time it turns into a hand grenade. Unless you are willing to spend a lot of your time fixing all the issues and have enough knowledge to know what is worth fixing, what you can fix, what will need to be sent to a pro and what is junk and needs to be replaced, repower with a new or rebuilt engine.

 

[murinsky]

Re: Found some nasty surprises after pulling engine - repair or REPLACE?

Thanks for your input everyone, see my new post if you want to follow my thinking as I undertake this project........Evaluating Replacement Engines.....<br /><br />Mike.

 

[man-of-war]

Re: Found some nasty surprises after pulling engine - repair or REPLACE?

I found a remanufactured 454 gen 4 long block located in Washington 1800-942-7800 .the engine is a standard /LH rotation.7 year warranty $2,251.00<br /><br />OR 1-800-786-7639 ''marine engine inc''ask for dave