ive owned the boat for 2 months now. im redoing the floor, and the transom. the boat is a 84 malibu. the hourmeter says 320 hrs, but the guy that i bought it from had the lower rebuilt. the engine runs good, have not been able to get it into gear yet and make it steer.Why no steer? What seems to be amiss? i found a wrong wrapped cable and the shift interrupter not mounted. so i pulled the engine to do the floor and transom, now almost done i just want to get all the parts that i need to run it right and try to avoid any later problems. do you think that i should change the impeller or put it together and see how it goes? Hard call to make at arms lenth. Do you have it apart? If there is any doubt as to it's age or condition I would do it. Then you'll have a start point. If you don't run it thru the sand or run it without water I'd give it a good 10 years before you should change it again. also can i run synthetic oil in the outdrive, like amsoil 70-90. Absolutely, probably the best! thanks for any help.