New To I/O- Need Advice

[fishfetchr]

Hello- I am looking at buying a boat, 25' engine is an I/O. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of an I/O,as I've never had one. Always owned boats with outboards. My questions are like: What to look for when looking at an outdrive to determine "pass or fail"? What can I figure on having to do as yearly or every other year type preventive maintenance ( oil, seals,"boots", water pump impeller, etc etc. ) and the approx. cost? What usually happens when these go bad? Are they to be scraped and painted each year? Life span of outdrives? Boat has a Mercruiser motor and outdrive.

I Know Nothing about them as you can tell.

Thanks In Advance For Any Help.



Mario

 

[zeezer]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

As with anything you purchase, an informed consumer is a smart consumer. I typically do a few simple tests. The boat needs to be out of the water of course. I put the drive half way up & pull up on the drive from the bottom. This gives you an idea whether you have gimbal issues. It should feel solid when you lift, little to no play. Any significant movement & you may have issues later. Have someone hold the steering wheel, & pull the drive side to side. Once again it should feel solid. If not you will have sloppy steering. Check for excessive pitting, or corrosion. This may indicate that the owner didn't maintain the sacrificial zincs. They should NOT be painted! They are meant to corrode so the drive won't. Raise the drive all the way up & check the 3 rubber boots. The large one is the Drive shaft boot. The smaller one is the exhaust boot & the smallest one is the shift boot. They should all be in good condition. No holes, cracks or tears! If so they should be replaced. If you do, soak the 2 bigger ones in hot water to make them more flexible, makes it easier to install.
The drive oil is usually changed in the fall. You do this to find any seal leaks or other possibe problems. If the oil is foamy, or significanly discolored, there is a leak or excessive mechanical wear. My oil usually comes out as clean as it went in. The drive has 2 plugs. The bottom plug has a magnet to collect any metal shavings. A lot of shavings means trouble. Remove the top plug, then the bottom to drain the oil. I use a compressor to blow some air in the top plug hole to speed up the draining. WORD OF WARNING!!!!!! I only do this with low pressure. Could be messy without a tarp. Plus, too much pressure & you will blow out the seal between the upper & lower unit. It is only a small O ring, mayby 3/8 of an inch.
Buy an outdrive repair manual, you can find them on ebay. You don't need to be a mechanic to know how the drive works, plus it never hurts to be informed. If you do need service, It will be difficult for a shop to BS you if you know what you are talking about.
Don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions. People on this site are great. Don't be afraid to share your successes either. You may help someone else!

 

[95yj]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

As far as I'm concerned, the biggest pro to a sterndrive is that you have a "car" engine instead of an outboard motor. That said, you can't put a car engine into a boat as a lot of things have been changed for a marine application, but it's still basically a car engine. People down here like outboards because they are single "disposable" drives. A lot of them have one engine on the boat and the other in the shop at all times. That way when it's time for maintenance, they just swap them.

On an I/O, yearly maintenance mostly involves inspection of steering, drive u-joints, splines, bellows, engine coupler and alignment, electrical, belts, cooling system. In addition, change engine oil and outdrive oil, lubricate gimbal bearing and engine coupler, retouque engine mounts, checkk and adjust ignition system. Disassemble and inspect and/or replace seawater pump.

That will give you a head start on what needs to be done yearly. Being in NY, you will want to do all this when the boat comes out of the water in the fall, not a few weeks before you're ready to put the boat in in the spring. A Mercruiser manual will tell you exactly what needs to be done. Buy two, one for the motor and one for the drive even if you plan to have a shop do all your maintenance.

Most importantly, if you are in saltwater or the boat was in saltwater, the exhaust will need to be replaced every few years. If you wait too long, you will total your motor.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

Also telling us the year,engine and drive make would help.. OMC,Merc,Volvo??

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

All of the above is good advice, but I would avoid OMC if you are a "Newbie"......
Mainly because they don't make them anymore......

 

[mike176]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

i just got my fist I/O a few months ago and i don't think i will be going back to outboards any time soon if ever.

 

[fishfetchr]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

Thanks For All the helpful notes!!! The motor is an 8 cylinder Merc. 305 hp.(top of motor reads-) and the drive I'm not sure about. I'll try to enclose a couple of pics. Seller said he did the following this past season: Risers , Manifolds , Y- Pipe , Oil Pan , Shutters ,Gimbal Berrring , Shift rod seal bushing kit , out drive serviced for a cost of ovver 2K. The engine itself looks very clean. Trying to decide on taking the boat or not.

 

[fishfetchr]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

Thanks 4 the help folks!!! The motor is a mercruiser 305 hp 8 cyl. (reads 230 Mercruiser) I'm not sure about the drive. I'll try attaching some pics. Is this considered too muuch corrosion? The engine sure is clean. Sller said he did the following this past season: New risers , Manifolds , Y- Pipe , Oil Pan , Shutters ,Gimbal Berrring , Shift rod seal bushing kit ,and the outdrive was serviced for a cost of over 2K.
Trying to decide on taking this boat or not, the price is just under 7K on a 25 ft cuddy boat in pretty nice shape.
Still looking for input here. Thanks Again.
Mario

 

[fishfetchr]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

some pics

 

[fishfetchr]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

I guess my pics aren't showing up? Too big?? I'll try again smaller. Can't get them to post- any help?

 

[fishfetchr]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

Trying to post pics

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

Upload your photos at photobucket.com.Then copy the image code and paste in your post.
Sounds like a good boat.The owner has put a lot of money into it..

 

[fishfetchr]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

Pictures

IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w181/fishfetchr/RegalDrive2.jpg[/IMG]

 

[bruceb58]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

Didn't know why you asked about scraped and painted until I saw your pictures!

Unfortunately or fortunately, the phrase "you can't tell a book by its cover" also applies to sterndrives. Even though that drive looks pretty nasty from the outside, it could be fine.

Since you know nothing about sterndrives, i would suggest having someone knowledgable look it over for you. Easly worth spending a little money on a mechanic than many dollars of repairs down the road.

If you are mecahnically inclined, the basic maintenance on these are not that bad.

 

[louc]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

It looks like it was left in the water for a season at a time. And all those replacements sound like salt water use, Y pipe, manifolds, etc. So be careful
Even more important, at that price this must be an older boat. Make sure you check it carefully for rot, in the floors and transom. Replacing those will make replacing a sterndrive look like a fun weekend project!

 

[ParallaxBill]

Re: New To I/O- Need Advice

I'm a huge fan now of the I/O set up. I've had my Mercruiser 165 L6 driven Glassmaster since last summer and even though it is pretty old (built in 72) it runs like a charm, is quiet and pretty darn fuel efficient in my opinion. Plus I know the GMC/Chevy 250 cube L6 well, it's as reliable as anything I know of and cheap to maintain even at 35 years of age.

It's the best $500 I ever spent!d

Just make sure you learn how to check one out or it could get expensive. If you have experience with automotive engines similar to a marine application you are interested in you will be halfway home or better. Most outboards are a little strange to us automotive guys and can be intimidating and very expensive to fix if not maintained properly...just like anything else.

Follow the advice you've been getting here and you will have less chance of losing money by buying a lemon.