HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

[JP_R]

So this past Saturday I took the boat out and it ran fine ALL day up until 10 pm. I turned on the boat?. Put it in gear and was very slowly going forward while waiting for my buddy to get going on his boat. As he accelerated, I went to accelerate very smoothly (as I always do) and POP I hear this loud hissing noise. I shut down the motor and start inspecting the hoses thinking it could be one of them. NO problems found?.. while I dig more in to the problem I found that it was actually a broken spark plug.

I had my friend tow me to the marina and I went yesterday to try to tackle the problem. I had to remove some wood boards that cover the sides of the engine and crawl to the space. On my initial inspection I saw that there is a HUGE amount on rust surrounding all the lower components of the engine. Also, I saw a little of oil on the bilge area.

I am now looking at replacing the oil pan gasket which I understand but I do not know how to deal with all that rust. I actually scares me. The plugs look like solidified. Its like rust grew over them in this type of crust. Oil pan and surroundings looks the same too. Also when touching all these components its like rust breaks up in to pieces. I have no idea how that much rust was able to build up since the engine looks fine from above. I replaced the plugs about two years ago and the engine was fine. Everything looked OK with no major signs of rust.

In summary, I need a mechanic to take out engine and:
? Replace all gaskets (might as well)
? Repair broken plug (does not look too difficult to tackle) and replace the rest.
? CLEAN the engine free of rust.

Any advise?
What could have happened here?
Any recommendation that I can maybe do myself to lower the cost of the repairs?
Anyone has a mechanic to recommend? in Miami
My pockets are not deep right now.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Don S]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

No one can accurately ball park a job like that without seeing it. Your best bet is take it to a few dealers in your area and have them look at it and see what they say. But I can say it's going to cost a lot by your discription

Since this is a DIY forum and not so much a "how much will it cost" forum I think you should be looking at how much you can do yourself, and only you know your abilities.
Obviously a salt water boat with little PM done to be so rusty the spark plugs fall apart.
You should also consider finding a way to keep the compartment free of salt water.

 

[ricohman]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

Is the hiss he heard from a plug letting go? Like in a Ford 4.6/5.4/6.8? I've done a few of these and time sert seems to make kits for all motors.
I've never heard of a plug rusting to the point it shot out of the head. Wow.

 

[Don S]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

I've never heard of a plug rusting to the point it shot out of the head. Wow.

Usually the porcelain center is what blows out, the metal part stays in the head.

 

[frantically relaxing]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

Sounds like your exhaust manifold has been leaking down the side of your block, that would explain the rust. Don't take much water to cause a lot of rust either, my starboard 2.5 Merc in the SkipperLiner is dripping water out of the riser drain, and while it's not dripping much (maybe a teaspoon every 3 or 4 hours while underway) the rust it's causing on the engine where it's dripping is surprising. A leaking exhaust could also cause water to leak into the cylinders, which could explain the plug blowout, too much compression. That much compression can also dish the valves in the head...

Just my opinions, wish I could come up with a nicer troubleshoot...

 

[JP_R]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

I would love to do as much as I can possibly can but the main problem is that I do not have the tools or space to actually get something done. I know that some of the rust I could probably be remove with a wire brush and chemical processes.

I am uploading several pictures (not my boat) to give an idea of how the rust looks like is some of the parts.

so how the rust looks in these two following pictures is how the rust on my boat looks but around the sparkplugs, oil pan, and surroundings. Notice how the rust on the second bolt looks like if it was a crust.




Here is a picture of how the spark plugs look like. (again not my boat but this gives a good idea) I believe that the porcelain is what acually broke but the force of the explotion caused the weak metal to break.

 

[ktbarrentine]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

hmmmm.... Champion spark plugs???

 

[JP_R]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

the ones that I currently have installed are AC Delko 41-993

 

[dingdongs]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

try removing the set of plugs and replacing them.hammerite will cover most surfaces to be painted as an engine removal will cost a small fortune for preventive maintenance.keeping the bilge dry and the boat covered can save a lot of back breaking crawling in the bilge area.
long arms and a little of your time, will save you having to put them into deep pockets.Don't cover the boat if wet inside from watersports etc b4 carpet has dried out if you have it.

 

[JP_R]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

My original plan was to just fix the broken plug and change the rest but discovering that the oil pan is actually leaking some oil changed everything.... That and the fact that some parts are heavily corroded will force me to pull out and fix.

 

[frantically relaxing]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

I owned a '77 Kona minicruiser a long time ago, that was my nightmare boat. You name it, it was wrong with it-- One of the worst things was the leaking oil. When it was cold the oil would drip out of the pan, while using it it would go thru a quart every 15 minutes! I pulled the engine, and the oil pan. I held the pan up to the sun and it looked like a planetarium star show, zillions of pinholes. Upon further inspection with the engine out of the boat, I finally noticed the very faint but obvious waterline inside the bilge. The line was angled, and it's height showed that at least the lower 1/4 of the engine had sat underwater for awhile. The angle of the waterline showed that the starboard side was about 6" farther in the water than the port. I've always assumed the plug was left out and the stern sank in shallow water, and I guess was left there (how long?)

The surprising thing to me was, the boat was barely 3 years old when I got it, I didn't think an oil pan could rust completely thru like that, that quickly!

Did you buy that boat new, or used?

 

[JP_R]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

I bought the boat used as a repo in '09. Shortly after i started discovering little things where either the dealer o previous owner cut corners. Biggest thing .... They had disconnected the alarm. As soon as I plugged it, it started beeping. Diagnosed it and discovered it was the oil pressure switch. Trim pump was behind some sort of firewall and base was pretty rusted, etc. been taking care of it as much as possible but this has been the biggest hit so far.
Got quoted by a guy a minimum of $1400 to pull engine, clean and paint, change spark plugs, clean bilge, and change oil pan and gasket.

I am afraid it will actually be higher once he sees the rust damage also I am going to try to get his cost down. Just to pull the engine he is charging $800 in his quote. Seems too high to me.

 

[dingdongs]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

is he coming from the uk as i must be in the wrong job.

 

[frantically relaxing]

Re: HELP (Looking for a ball park of how much should I be paying for.....)

That $800 quote should be to pull AND re-install the engine, with all the electrical connections, drive connection and alignment that a re-install entails. Roughly 8-10 hours by shop rate, and I'd say that's about how long it would take. Just removing the seat/cover supports just to make room to start unbolting things can be a 2-hour job--