1986 Sea Ray Mercruiser 140 3.0 Oil Pan Gasket

[Goldie627]

140 GM 181 I/L4 1982-1986 - 6229718 THRU 0B450800

I cant find a one piece oil pan gasket. OEM part number is 27-14901A1 and is advertised as a set so im assuming its four pieces, i cant tell by the picture. I have a two piece rear main seal and the 1 piece oil pan gaskets may not have started till 1990? Im not sure...

Most of what i'm finding is 4 piece sets and the side pieces are usually kork. im trying to stay away from kork if at all possible. Can anybody recommend a good gasket to use? would i be ok with a non kork four piece?

 

[Rick Stephens]

Felpro main website has a part number lookup specific to engine. They list the 3.0L for Mercruiser applications. You get your part number, then you can search for it wherever. iBoats will carry the Sierra gasket set for the pan which is 4 piece with cork rail gaskets.

 

[Goldie627]

Felpro main website has a part number lookup specific to engine. They list the 3.0L for Mercruiser applications. You get your part number, then you can search for it wherever. iBoats will carry the Sierra gasket set for the pan which is 4 piece with cork rail gaskets.

Thanks Rick

 

[Scott Danforth]

correct, 1-piece RMS on the 3.0 came out in 1991. the 2-piece RMS pan gaskets are same between the 2.5 and 3.0 going back to 1963

 

[Goldie627]

correct, 1-piece RMS on the 3.0 came out in 1991. the 2-piece RMS pan gaskets are same between the 2.5 and 3.0 going back to 1963

Thanks Scott, that's what I thought, unfortunately I have no choice, I gotta go 4 piece. So far everybody has kork rails, fellpro, Sierra, glm, I even think mercury is kork rail as well

I guess I'll eeny meeny minee moe

 

[Goldie627]

As far as quality I'm guessing fellpro over the rest or oem if i can find one

 

[Goldie627]

Felpro 17950

 

[kenny nunez]

To ensure a good seal mount a length of steel flat stock in a vice and use it to buck up against bottom of this pan rail and tap the mounting hole areas flat with a ball peen hammer. Torque to 75-80 in.lbs.
Also a good time to pull the harmonic balancer to inspect the timing cover, sometimes they are rusted really bad where they were never painted under the balancer spokes.

 

[Goldie627]

To ensure a good seal mount a length of steel flat stock in a vice and use it to buck up against bottom of this pan rail and tap the mounting hole areas flat with a ball peen hammer. Torque to 75-80 in.lbs.
Also a good time to pull the harmonic balancer to inspect the timing cover, sometimes they are rusted really bad where they were never painted under the balancer spokes.

Thanks Kenny, that timing cover gasket is on my list. When I have the motor out I wanna look at my timing gears and ill check the condition of the cover

I also read that the timing gears have marks that should line up when at TDC, gonna check it out

 

[Rick Stephens]

Good post from Kenny. And yes, all timing gear sets have marks for TDC. You should have fun going over your motor. With compression numbers like you have, no need to go deep. But a once over would be a nice topper for your rebuild of the whole boat.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Thanks Kenny, that timing cover gasket is on my list. When I have the motor out I wanna look at my timing gears and ill check the condition of the cover

I also read that the timing gears have marks that should line up when at TDC, gonna check it out

fiber cam gear and the crank gear both have a dot you line up. they cant slip unless something breaks or someone assembled something wrong. pretty much nearly bullet proof (and idiot proof)

same timing gears as the 196/230/250/292 inline 6 motors.

 

[Goldie627]

Good post from Kenny. And yes, all timing gear sets have marks for TDC. You should have fun going over your motor. With compression numbers like you have, no need to go deep. But a once over would be a nice topper for your rebuild of the whole boat.

Yeah Rick I'm excited! after chasing that ghost of a lean condition. I'm so happy to finally have an answer. I am disappointed in myself, that i missed it so many times. But on a bright note, everything in the bilge area is now new except the motor! I had to cut myself some slack and think about all the major wins in comparison to my intake fiasco. All of the composite work 100% success, new transom, new stringers, new bulk heads, new floor, custom rear deck, custom bow, electronics 100% success, all new lights, new gauges, new switch panel, new leds, new stereo, new fishfinder/plotter, new fuse panel, new batteries, new Automatic Charge Relay and switch, Geez i could go on and on, I've had so many successes to be thankful for.
This engine work is the last hurdle, then i can truly say my restoration is done.:fish2::first::eyebrows::bounce:

Early on while trouble shooting the lean condition i kept second guessing myself if i really had TDC when i installed the new dizzy. I kept thinking i was a tooth off or out 180. I also thought maybe the timing gears jumped a tooth, or maybe somebody installed the wrong timing gears, all kinds of weird stuff i was thinking trying to figure out my lean condition. So now its going to be pretty cool to actually see the timing gears and how they relate to TDC.

I'm definitely gonna enjoy giving the motor a once over and a nice paint job. And looking forward to getting my bilge nice and neat again too:yo:

 

[Goldie627]

fiber cam gear and the crank gear both have a dot you line up. they cant slip unless something breaks or someone assembled something wrong. pretty much nearly bullet proof (and idiot proof)

same timing gears as the 196/230/250/292 inline 6 motors.

thanks scott, that's good info, i'm confident my gears are ok, when i get to that point ill post a few pics, gonna remove the timing cover and inspect it for rust, inspect the gears, paint the cover if good, install the cover with new gasket

im quite fond of idiot proof parts!!

 

[kenny nunez]

Just a bit of trivia on cam gears and timing marks. Auto engines usually have aluminum cam gears, it was told to me that fiber gears on marine engines are used because they are quieter.
When the timing marks are lined up @ tdc it is not always the #1 firing position, so you have to check the #1
for the compression stroke. This goes for V6 or V8 with timing chains.

 

[Rick Stephens]

Gonna be REALLY easy to see everything line up at #1 TDC since you'll have the valve cover off.

Goldie, you going to pull the head and re-gasket that as well? If so, you might borrow/rent a valve compressor and install new valve seals.

 

[Goldie627]

Just a bit of trivia on cam gears and timing marks. Auto engines usually have aluminum cam gears, it was told to me that fiber gears on marine engines are used because they are quieter.
When the timing marks are lined up @ tdc it is not always the #1 firing position, so you have to check the #1
for the compression stroke. This goes for V6 or V8 with timing chains.

I accidentally double posted

 

[Goldie627]

Just a bit of trivia on cam gears and timing marks. Auto engines usually have aluminum cam gears, it was told to me that fiber gears on marine engines are used because they are quieter.
When the timing marks are lined up @ tdc it is not always the #1 firing position, so you have to check the #1
for the compression stroke. This goes for V6 or V8 with timing chains.

Thanks for the info kenny, I thought if the marks on the timing gears lined up, that would be TDC and inherintly the Rotar would be pointed at #1, with that said, i have no chain just gear to gear, makes since to check #1 compression stroke to be extra sure though.

rick mentioned, if i take the valve cover off real TDC should be a snap, see this is why I'm so excited to learn about my engine and kinda see how this stuff works first hand

all of you mechanics out there please forgive my ignorance I am by no means a wrench, just a guy who's passionate about his restoration and too cheap to pay for something I can do myself

 

[Goldie627]

Gonna be REALLY easy to see everything line up at #1 TDC since you'll have the valve cover off.

Goldie, you going to pull the head and re-gasket that as well? If so, you might borrow/rent a valve compressor and install new valve seals.

Hey rick, I have mercuiser 4cylinder service manual, I have to check to see if there are detailed instructions on how to do all these things I have planned.

should I pull the head?

 

[Rick Stephens]

Only reason to pull the head, that I can think of, would be to have the valves done or if a head gasket was problematical. It gets a lot more involved if you pull the head. So probably not unless you need to fix something. Just thinking ahead, wondered how deep you were going. If you pull the head, then you need to take it by a machinist and let them check it and tell you what it needs. If you don't pull the head, then you can check out your manifold and do the pan and front cover and put er back together in short order.

Note, the rotor doesn't inherently point at anything. You can stab a distributor in any place at all, and then turn your motor to TDC #1, and wherever the rotor is pointing is where the #1 plug wire goes. Where the distributor points for #1 TDC is totally a matter of convenience, mostly for the easiest and neatest wire paths to each cylinder. Only reason you need to know TDC is for a starting place for your timing.

The reason you carefully mark where the rotor is pointing when you pull a distributor out is so you don't have to rewire the distributor cap. That's it. And in all cases, you still need to reset the timing with a light.