I had it serviced by Aquatech Marine 5 May 2011. Roughly 400 hours on the meter, impeller shows no wear. Since I have it torn down this far anyway, what's another $45 to replace the impeller? Warm fuzzy feel good factor if nothing else.
Mostly just a clean and inspect of the internals. Taking care of exterior corrosion areas now, then prime and paint. Doing the same thing with the gimbal next week. Clean, inspect, replace seals, O-rings, gaskets, maybe the bearing? Prime, paint, reinstall. Then everything else goes back in.
Stay the fuck away from US Engines.... The company from Hell for sure. Buy me a six pack and I'll share the nightmare... otherwise I take extreme fucking pleasure in steering everyone I can away from those fucking evil pricks. On the other side of the issue, I'm 100% for buying from MichiganMotorz.
Thanks Scott, I ended up with a Mercruiser Re-Manufactured long block. Fortunately, I got that word early enough to avoid that hassle.
Found some corrosion beneith the waterpump housing that needed some attention. Made a plastic damn and backfilled it with JB Weld, let cure and filed smooth.
Y I forgot about Greg at Tacoma Marine Repair.... straight shooter and top quality work too... SAY NO TO EVIL US ENGINES....(Oh that feels good)
A little under the weather this weekend, missed a couple days of work. Managed to remove the trim/tilt cylinders and spray down the nuts and studs for the gimbal. Now the rains are here. Looks like the "Y" pipe will have to come out next.
Looking good. You have done everything else you should just bite the bullet and remove everything and inspect it all and get it cleaned and painted.
Got all the parts, O-rings, seals and gaskets together and replaced the water pump (impeller) tonight. Cleaned out the housing as best I could and bolted the halves back together. I didn't touch any of the gears or shims so no adjustments necessary. Besides, that would have taken quite a few more special tools that I don't have. Lower half Upper half Both halfs Just need to finish sanding out the rough spots and give it a coat of paint.
Took advantage of the awesome weather on Saturday to pull the exhaust "Y" pipe and gimbal off the boat. There were a few items of interference to be removed and/or disconnected as well. Removed the lift cylinders first. Removed the vent hoses, disconnected the steering, ground wires, trim hydraulics and wires. Pulled the "Y" pipe Disconnected the shift cable and speedo line, then broke loose the 8 nuts. Removed the inside plate and used a little added persuasion to push and pry out the gimbal assembly. Now there's a big hole. Time to refurbish and paint.
I would replace the top seal in your steering shaft while you have this off. Mine was leaking when I bought my boat and it had corroded so bad on the seal surface I had to buy a new transom shield for 3 grand installed. Harry at tanglewild told me the seal usually starts leaking in 7-10 years. It would be very easy to replace while you have it off.
There do not appear to be any issues with the transom itself, however I did notice some corrosion behind the retaining plate and some very slight leakage around the bolt holes. New transom gasket and caulk when I reassemble the gimbal should solve those issues.
Played a round of golf, drank some beer and scrubbed the bilge. Productive day. I'm thinking it needs a nice fresh coat of epoxy paint.
Perfect day to work in the bilge. Started with a light sanding, the a complete wipe down with acetone and finished with a coat of Navy Gray epoxy bilge paint. I should be able to start reinstalling stuff next week.
Sunshine and near 70 today. Installed new bilge pumps and tested SAT. The lower one is setup to run on auto when the float lifts or turn on manually from the helm switch. The 2 inch higher one has an internal float to automatically come on should the lower one fail or can't keep up. All connections waterproofed and dressed the wires, battery cables, rerouted the bilge pump hoses and nstalled new 4" ventilation hoses. Can't think of a much better motivator to get this project done than finding tuna or bait guts and scales in the recesses of the bilge. Gimbal should go in Sunday if the rain stays away.
