Mercruiser I/O wont start...

[vitalxs]

Hi!

My Bennington pontoon boat took some water in a rough water with the engine running. The engine is a 4.3l V6 Mercury I/O. At first I did not realize that water was coming the engine compartment and continued going at full throttle. At some point I started to notice that I am loosing power, but I wanted to make it to shoreline before checking anything. Finally when we got there I switched off the engine and opened the engine compartment. I saw 1/3 of it been filled up with water. Thats when I noticed that my bilge pump was off, so I turned it on. We got the water all drained out, but now the engine will not start. I am suspecting that the battery got shorted and plan to recharge it and try again later today. Any other possibilities or things to consider?

Thanks!

 

[lakegeorge]

Re: Mercruiser I/O wont start...

Check the distributor cap, if it gets wet the motor won't start. Take it off and dry it off on the inside.

 

[QC]

Re: Mercruiser I/O wont start...

Moved this to Mercruiser repair.

You need to tell us exactly how high the water got. And will it crank (turn over), but not start? Or does it do nothing when you turn the key?

 

[vitalxs]

Re: Mercruiser I/O wont start...

Moved this to Mercruiser repair.

You need to tell us exactly how high the water got. And will it crank (turn over), but not start? Or does it do nothing when you turn the key?

Ok, an update. First of all - thank you for your replies. On those engines the starter is 'conveniently' located right at the bottom of the engine, so you can hardly get to it. The recharged battery next morning did not do anything - it would click but the starter would not turn. Once we visually found where the starter is, it became apparent that it was flooded. The water only covered 1/4 to 1/3 of the engine, so it was unlikely that something else would get damaged as a result. I tried "knocking" on the starter but the location was so inconvenient that it was hard to hit it and it was not visible. Finally, we found a long meal rod and tried hitting it from the front. Amazingly this did the trick and the engine started. I then had it idle for about 5 hours hoping it would warm up enough to dry whatever got wet, then switched the engine off and back on again, it started without a problem.

I read somewhere, that if water gets into the starter then it would work for a short while and cease. It is 11 years old, anyway, so I would most likely need to start thinking about replacing it...

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mercruiser I/O wont start...

Ok, an update. First of all - thank you for your replies. On those engines the starter is 'conveniently' located right at the bottom of the engine, so you can hardly get to it. The recharged battery next morning did not do anything - it would click but the starter would not turn. Once we visually found where the starter is, it became apparent that it was flooded. The water only covered 1/4 to 1/3 of the engine, so it was unlikely that something else would get damaged as a result. I tried "knocking" on the starter but the location was so inconvenient that it was hard to hit it and it was not visible. Finally, we found a long meal rod and tried hitting it from the front. Amazingly this did the trick and the engine started. I then had it idle for about 5 hours hoping it would warm up enough to dry whatever got wet, then switched the engine off and back on again, it started without a problem.

I read somewhere, that if water gets into the starter then it would work for a short while and cease. It is 11 years old, anyway, so I would most likely need to start thinking about replacing it...

Ayuh,.... Yer Right,... Starters don't like goin' Swimmin',...

Change it Now, as it's gonna die,...

Btw,.... 99.9% of the starters out there are in the same Location,....
Only right-handed motors use a hi-mount, forward facin' starters,...