Hi guys,
My engine is a Merc 5.7 V8, not sure of the age but I think it is from about 2002. Yesterday it went very wrong. I had been tubing and skiing without any problems, everything worked as it should. After a 20 minute run at 3000 rpm we went into a cove and ran at idle speed for 10 minutes. We powered up and got on plane then it all went bad. The engind suddenly became noisy, like a bad deisel.
I powered down and switched off the engine. When I opened the engine cover to inspect, everything seemed OK. The engine was not overheating, it was touchable by hand. I tried a restart with the cover off and it sounded horrible so I switched off again.
I got a tow back to the marina where the mechanic inspected the engine and declared that the crankshaft was the problem. I was going to need a bottom end rebuild.
One experienced boater told me that he wouldn't rebuild the engine as it would throw the crankshaft again. He said once an engine does it, it will do it again. He said he would go for a short block as the cost of the short block would be about the same as the rebuild. I'm waiting for the estimate from the mechanic to do the comparison. If it's the same I would go for the short block, but I think it will be a bit cheaper to rebuild.
Can you advise me please? Any previous experiences I can draw on?
Cheers
Steve.
My engine is a Merc 5.7 V8, not sure of the age but I think it is from about 2002. Yesterday it went very wrong. I had been tubing and skiing without any problems, everything worked as it should. After a 20 minute run at 3000 rpm we went into a cove and ran at idle speed for 10 minutes. We powered up and got on plane then it all went bad. The engind suddenly became noisy, like a bad deisel.
I powered down and switched off the engine. When I opened the engine cover to inspect, everything seemed OK. The engine was not overheating, it was touchable by hand. I tried a restart with the cover off and it sounded horrible so I switched off again.
I got a tow back to the marina where the mechanic inspected the engine and declared that the crankshaft was the problem. I was going to need a bottom end rebuild.
One experienced boater told me that he wouldn't rebuild the engine as it would throw the crankshaft again. He said once an engine does it, it will do it again. He said he would go for a short block as the cost of the short block would be about the same as the rebuild. I'm waiting for the estimate from the mechanic to do the comparison. If it's the same I would go for the short block, but I think it will be a bit cheaper to rebuild.
Can you advise me please? Any previous experiences I can draw on?
Cheers
Steve.
