Is this a normal temp reading & alternator reading? 1982 3.8L 170HP OMC V6

[jjchavez]

Hi, new to this forum. My dad has a 1982 Seaswirl that hasn't been started since 2006. Oil wasn't changed since 1998 (yep you read that right). He fogged it well and winterized it nicely. I changed oil, filter, new battery, new oil for tilt, new drive lube in all the right places (according to the manual). Fuel had stabilizer in it so I didn't drain it. Got it started and out on the water. Everything seems to be working well but I'm not sure what the guages "SHOULD" read. The alternator guage stays right on zero. Does that mean it's not charging the battery or is it normal? Also, the temp guage has 165 in the center. It got up to 165 in about the 1st 10 minutes of operation but then it leveled out 1/2 way between 165 and the high temp mark which is 245. I'm guessing (if the guages are right) that would put the temp around 200. I ran it for about 20-30 minutes and it never moved off that temp (never got higher). It actually would drop down to about 175 when I was running real slow in a no wake zone for about 5 minutes. But once I hit it again it goes back up to the higher temp.

One last question. I "pretended" to pull a skier by being in low forward and then punching it. Everytime I punched it, it would cough and die. It allows me to ease it up from slow forward to 45 really quickly but not in one fast motion. Does that indicate bad fuel, fuel filter anything else?

Thanks for any help.
Jim

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: Is this a normal temp reading & alternator reading? 1982 3.8L 170HP OMC V6

Welcome to Iboats.

Unless I all the sudden need reading glasses, I could barely tell there was gauges in that picture, let alone what they're indicating.

Gauge to the left appears it may be an Ammeter. As long as it's staying zero, or charging, should be no problems. You may want to eventually switch it out to a voltage gauge (you'll need to change the wiring a bit to do this). You can place a volt meter on the battery terminals to see what it's doing when the engine is running. Should be at 13.5 volts, or better.

Temp sounds like it may be on the high side. In the list of things you mentioned you did, I didn't see mention of replacing the impeller in the drive. Was this done? If not, it needs to be.

An engine with 7 year old gas in the system will run like crap, if it even runs at all. Stabilizer may help gas for a couple years, but not the better half of a decade. Gas should be pumped from the tank. Does it have a remote fuel filter? Yes= change the filter. No= Install one. The carburetor may have a little bitty filter installed where the fuel line screws into it, should change it out. May actually not be such a bad idea to also pull the carb off, apart, and clean it up, then install some new gaskets.

 

[jjchavez]

Re: Is this a normal temp reading & alternator reading? 1982 3.8L 170HP OMC V6

Thanks for the inputs. I think you are right...it did say Ammeter on the left guage and it stayed at zero. I actually bought the impeller kit but need to find a manual to change it out. I watched some videos for some I/O's that looked pretty straight forward but my brother said this particular engine was hard to take the lower drive off. Something about a shift rod that used some special clips to hold it on or something. I'll be bringing the boat back this weekend and will drain out the gas too. Thanks for the inputs.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Is this a normal temp reading & alternator reading? 1982 3.8L 170HP OMC V6

If that gas had been non-ethanol gas and it was stabilized, you should be good to go. I had 12 year old stabilized, non ethanol regular in my '65 Mustang 289 (at near 10.0:1 compression. It had not run in over three years. I pulled the plugs, squirted in some Magical Marvel Mystry oil, pulled the coil wire, cranked it over until the oil light went out, re-installed the plugs and it fired right up. I ran that 12 year old gas until the tank was near empty.

If you do end up draining the gas, feed it into some other vehicle a few gallons at a time. No need to worry about disposal.

As far as the oil, the oil in my seldom driven Mustang is now 31 years old, so I wouldn't be concerned about it not being changed while it had no use.

On the impeller, that is a long time to sit without use. There is no 'shift rod' to worry about, only a very expensive dual path shift cable. It is hard to separate the the upper and lower without disconnecting the shift cable from the converter and pulling the cable out thru the intermediate housing. Just do not stretch it or kink it.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Is this a normal temp reading & alternator reading? 1982 3.8L 170HP OMC V6

Ammeters are calibrated -30 -- 0 -- +30 or the 30's may be 60's. Regardless, the gauge will read "0" with the key off. When you turn the key to ON (not start) you should see very slight movement to the -30 side. That tells you the battery is being discharged by the ignition system and whatever other stuff you have turned on (such as the blower). When you start the engine the needle should move to the +30 side of the scale. Depending on how discharged the battery is, it may move farther to the +30 or perhaps stay quite close to "0" but still slightly on the +30 side. If the meter does not move either way (key on or engine running) something is wrong. I agree that a voltmeter is far more valuable than the ammeter that most folks don't understand anyway.

 

[jjchavez]

Re: Is this a normal temp reading & alternator reading? 1982 3.8L 170HP OMC V6

Thanks again. Love the forum. Yes it was non ethanol gas so I'm feeling a little better about that. I'll take my voltmeter too. Boomyal - you say "It is hard to separate the the upper and lower without disconnecting the shift cable from the converter and pulling the cable out thru the intermediate housing." Does that mean it is possible to separate the upper & lower without messing with the cable? or do I have to mess with the cable but just need to be really careful. I think that must be what my brother did before (stretched it or something). All he said was he couldn't get it back together and had to take it to a boat shop and ended up being pretty expensive to fix. That's why nobody has ever touched the impeller again. I wasn't there for it but am willing to dive into the project. Just need to know if I need any special tools for it.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Is this a normal temp reading & alternator reading? 1982 3.8L 170HP OMC V6

No special tools are needed for the water pump. Any time I have been involved, I have always removed the drive with the shift cable disconnected and pulled all the way out. If you do not do that, there is very little slack in the shift cable to just drop the lower to gain access to the bottom of the upper where the impeller is. Even then, you'd be practically working on it upside down. It just isn't that big a deal to remove the shift cable from the converter. There is a procedure though. If you do not now it you will pull your hair out.