Where do I begin? Before listing problems I'm trying to fix, I'll tell you about the boat, and this past Saturday. As a birthday "present", my in-laws gave me their old '78 Marquis 16' bow rider with a Mercruiser 120 i/o. I use the term "present" loosely, as it's been following the saying of a boat being a hole in the water you throw money into! But after a couple of hundred dollars, I've got it running okay enough to tool around the lake from time to time, so it hasn't been too bad.<br />This past Saturday, we took the "S.S. Anxiety" out to the lake to try out a friends wake board. Well, I thought I got all the check-list items taken care of before we got to the ramp, except the main one, the plug! I got it in the water, had my wife start it, and she tells me it doesn't sound right. It's been a couple of weeks since I had ran it, so I thought maybe it was just some junk in the carb and would clean itself out once we got on the lake. After a couple of minutes trying to keep it running, it didn't get any better. I lifted the engine cover to see more water in the boat than in the lake! It's amazing how fast water can fill through such a small opening! So I pulled the boat out, let the water drain for about 5 minutes, with the line waiting to get in the water getting longer by the minute. So finally all the water drains, I put in the plug and back it back into the lake. Starts up, coughs, and dies. Wife again tells me it still doesn't sound right. This time I don't think it sounds right either, so I get in, look at the motor and think now there's water in the engine, which is a problem I'm currently trying to resolve. So I pulled off a spark plug wire to pull a plug, turn the motor over, let out the excess water in the engine, get it fixed and on the lake. No plug socket on hand, so I pulled the boat out of the ramp, past the growing line and to the parking lot. Just as we're driving by, I hear some dumb-*ss say "Oh, they were just baptizing it! as he's walking back to his truck. He continues to tell every truck he passes the same thing, which only adds to my frustration at this point. If I had only had a wrench big enough to smack him with, I would have felt much better. But I decided to try to fix the problem instead of make things worse.<br />Knowing there's water in the engine, my previously stated problem, I was able to drain a little oil and water out the drain plug. My wife turns the motor over and it turns over with no problem! So back into the 20 minute we go! I had her and my 2 year old son go swim for a while, so I wouldn't have to hear "wanna go on the boat, wanna go on the boat!!" over and over again while I waited in line. 2 year olds are great at stating the obvious...<br />I finally get back to the ramp, back it in, wife and son loaded and ready to go! She tries to start it, again with the "it doesn't sound right, let's just go home". I'm determined whatever it is, we can just fix it on the lake, since we drove 30 minutes to get here, and waiting 20 minutes in line, twice, to get to this point. Someone offers to push us off the trailer and into the lake, as I'm now in the boat, holding the butterfly open since my wife flooded the carb trying to start it. We finally get off the trailer, running like sh*t, then dies. My wife tells me we should just load it back up and go home, as she doesn't want to get stranded on the lake, with a 2 year old, and someone who won't listen to reason, that being me. So I get in the water, winch the boat back on the trailer and we head home, deciding to stop at the public pool on the way home. "Wanna go to the big pool!" So we get there and they just closed! Son of a b*tch! What a day. So we get home, apologize for being such a butt-head to the wife, apologize to the baby for not being able to go on the boat or the pool today, and finally get to start working on the boat, again. I hook up the hose, get the boat, and see the spark plug wire hanging loose from when I disconnected it earlier! Somebody shoot me. Reconnect it, drain more oil, and put in new, starts up and runs beautifully. Now do you see why it's called the S.S. Anxiety?<br />So on to the troubleshooting questions, first can anyone tell me if a cracked block would cause water to fill from the bottom up? I do know I'm getting water in the oil from normal running, but I only see it after the season is over and changing the oil prior to the new season. It pours out water for the first minute, then oil when changing the oil. Could it be a head gasket or warped head? I left the water running one day after the boat died, went inside, came back out and it wouldn't even turn over. I turned off the water, pulled a spark plug, turned the motor over and it shot water out like a cannon! I pulled all the plugs and turned it over for a couple of minutes, and it cleared out more water. Once it wasn't sputtering water out anymore, I put the plugs back in, and it started and ran fine.<br />Second question, when we are on the water and the boat actually is running, if I "floor it" from a standstill, it bogs way down. I have to let up on the throttle and ease into acceleration to get going. I did rebuilt the carb about 2 years ago when I got the boat, but could it be improper carb adjustments? Along this same line, when I get up to a certain speed, around 20 or 25 just cruising, the speed never stays the same. It could be like glass on the lake, but it usually will speed up or slow down on it's own, so it's hard to keep a constant speed. Could this also be a carb problem or a cable problem?<br />Thanks for letting me rant a little, I hope someone can help with my actually boat problems, instead of my mental problems! Tman
<br />Quoted from my post:<br />"can anyone tell me if a cracked block would cause water to fill from the bottom up? I do know I'm getting water in the oil from normal running, but I only see it after the season is over and changing the oil prior to the new season. It pours out water for the first minute, then oil when changing the oil. Could it be a head gasket or warped head? I left the water running one day after the boat died, went inside, came back out and it wouldn't even turn over. I turned off the water, pulled a spark plug, turned the motor over and it shot water out like a cannon! I pulled all the plugs and turned it over for a couple of minutes, and it cleared out more water. Once it wasn't sputtering water out anymore, I put the plugs back in, and it started and ran fine.<br /><br />Second question, when we are on the water and the boat actually is running, if I "floor it" from a standstill, it bogs way down. I have to let up on the throttle and ease into acceleration to get going. I did rebuilt the carb about 2 years ago when I got the boat, but could it be improper carb adjustments?<br />Along this same line, when I get up to a certain speed, around 20 or 25 just cruising, the speed never stays the same. It could be like glass on the lake, but it usually will speed up or slow down on it's own, so it's hard to keep a constant speed. Could this also be a carb problem or a cable problem?" Thanks again, Tman