Hello, my first post here so I'll introduce myself. I am an auto tech in Richmond VA. My shop specialises in Euro cars, but my expertise is with Honda products. So if anyone has any car questions, especially BMW, or Honda related then shoot em my way. I'll be happy to help if I can. I have never worked on marine apps before, so I'm not sure about the big differences if any.
Ok, on to my questions. I'm working with a 5.7 Mercruiser Alpha 1. I'm not sure if its a 1980 or 1994 model engine. The story is the boat is a 80, but the engine was "re-powered" in 94. Not sure if the guy means rebuilt or replaced. I'm hoping y'all can help me out with that, the serial # is: 0F120436. The drive # is: 0F100097 and the transom # is: 0F189990. All of this was relayed to me over the phone and having never worked with boats before I'm not sure witch one or if any/all of these numbers I need. I'm gonna give this a shot for my father-in-law.
I have not gotten my hands on the boat yet so see if I can even duplicate this problem at all, or if I'll be able to do it with out putting it in the water. According to the guy he picked this thing up from, the boat will run strong and hard for as long as you like. If you cut it off it will not restart until it cools down. Sounds to me like a vapor lock issue, and I've done a bit of research in the forums here that tell me I'm on the right track with that. Is there something I could be overlooking? Are there ignitors, condensers, and/or coils that tend to overheat on these things?
The guy says that he and his mechanic have replaced "just about everything" and they seem to think its a wire harness problem. Not having had a chance to see this happen for myself I disagree with that. If there were some high heat caused resistance in a sensor or wires in the harness I would think that the problem would happen as soon as it got hot, not only after it has been shut down. Is that wrong because were talking about a marine engine here?
Last thing... What are some common problems and areas of concern I need to keep an eye out for with this engine? Standard troubleshooting issues like no spark, fluid leaks, compression, head and block problems I'm sure are the same as any other internal combustion engine. So what are some marine engine specific problems I may run across on this application? Let me say now, that I know absolutely nothing about the drive or prop. That includes correct terminology...
Thanks in advance for any help. I'm sure I'll be lingering around here on a regular basis as problems arise.
Ok, on to my questions. I'm working with a 5.7 Mercruiser Alpha 1. I'm not sure if its a 1980 or 1994 model engine. The story is the boat is a 80, but the engine was "re-powered" in 94. Not sure if the guy means rebuilt or replaced. I'm hoping y'all can help me out with that, the serial # is: 0F120436. The drive # is: 0F100097 and the transom # is: 0F189990. All of this was relayed to me over the phone and having never worked with boats before I'm not sure witch one or if any/all of these numbers I need. I'm gonna give this a shot for my father-in-law.
I have not gotten my hands on the boat yet so see if I can even duplicate this problem at all, or if I'll be able to do it with out putting it in the water. According to the guy he picked this thing up from, the boat will run strong and hard for as long as you like. If you cut it off it will not restart until it cools down. Sounds to me like a vapor lock issue, and I've done a bit of research in the forums here that tell me I'm on the right track with that. Is there something I could be overlooking? Are there ignitors, condensers, and/or coils that tend to overheat on these things?
The guy says that he and his mechanic have replaced "just about everything" and they seem to think its a wire harness problem. Not having had a chance to see this happen for myself I disagree with that. If there were some high heat caused resistance in a sensor or wires in the harness I would think that the problem would happen as soon as it got hot, not only after it has been shut down. Is that wrong because were talking about a marine engine here?
Last thing... What are some common problems and areas of concern I need to keep an eye out for with this engine? Standard troubleshooting issues like no spark, fluid leaks, compression, head and block problems I'm sure are the same as any other internal combustion engine. So what are some marine engine specific problems I may run across on this application? Let me say now, that I know absolutely nothing about the drive or prop. That includes correct terminology...
Thanks in advance for any help. I'm sure I'll be lingering around here on a regular basis as problems arise.
