Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

[l2edneck]

I recently located and purchased this boat....

What i thought was a Mint condition 1987 RENKEN mercruiser 3.0 liter,belive its a 20ft but not sure till i title it..

boat seems to be fully equipped,but outdated....

gonna bypass OEM fule line to fire up......

any pointers to be looking for,prior to start up?

oil looks clean,sitting level,appears ready but want to be sure?

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

Check all the floor good for soft spots, this could mean rot.
I'm sure the I/O guys will chime in here on the drive system.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

prime the oil pump, remove plugs and turn over buy hand, several times, then if it turns smoothly, proceed to start.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

Hey Tas, wouldn't a squirt or two of Sea Foam, or something like it be in order in the plug holes before he rolls it over?

Mark

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

wouldn't hurt, but priming the oil pump, should get the majority of the main spots.

also doing a compression test on all 4 before and after starting, would be a good bench mark.

 

[l2edneck]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

Started right up,had my mechanic once it over says all is great.As far as any soft spots,there doesnt seem to any but in the bottom of one seat.Got it all legal today and will be cleaning it the rest of the week to try to take it out on the weekend.

Thanks for the info guys,looks like i got a deal of a lifetime.I will get back to you after we test drive it........(doing the happy dance)

 

[tntitans21399]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

I would just make sure to get the the side walls of the cylinders. That is where you might hurt the engine the most when you start it if it has been sitting for a while. The oil may have drained to the bottom and when you start it, it is metal on metal until the oil reaches it to lube it. You could scrap some of the wall, but if you do rotate it with your hand it might helps get some oil on the walls before starting. You might want to change the oil before starting it, the old oil maybe sludgy/thick if it has been sitting for a long time, and changing it out with some new fresh oil would be good for the engine, oil filter, and oil pump.

 

[l2edneck]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

Got her purrin like a kitten,seems the "ballast resistor" was bad....

on to checkin all the rubbers and draining the fuel tank.

has an alpha 1 outdrive,anything particular i should be lookin for?

doent appear as anything is wrong but its my first boat so not real sure what to look at.Hope to lower it this weekend and take it for a stroll.


thx guys sure cant wait to get her out.

 

[thrasher]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

Check the rubber bellows (there are 3 of them, transmission shaft, exhaust and gear cable), they are the biggest cause of issues on an Alpha1, the rubber dries out with age and then splits, letting water into the boat and damaging the coupler.. Otherwise change the oil in the outdrive and check for water in the oil (there shouldn't be any). Fill the drive from the bottom up and you should be good to go.

Gary

 

[Grits]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

Take your cell phone and have fun.

Grits

 

[180shabah]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

Alpha issues:

Bellows mentioned-
lube change mentioned-

Water pump not mentioned- it is inside the lower unit, the impeller need to be replaced annually in salt water, every other year in fresh water.

For your first trip out take a buddy boat, tools and service manuals. Hopefully you won't need them, but it sure beats a long swim.

 

[l2edneck]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

Ok to catch yall up to speed:

bought the boat like 2 weeks ago,lady said i could keep it there as long as i needed.Well that changed,called me this morning said i need to take it ASAP.I went bought a trailer,got some fuel went there.

We fired it up(still hanging on lift)ran great,check trans seemed to be fine.We took truck and trailer to the ramp and headed back.

Lowered it into the water,untied,and cast off.....tried to fire it....
NOTHING...turns over but no fire.
So after a few minutes of panicky drifting,i get it tied off to another dock.OK

Basically i have to go 6 miles in ICW to the ramp.WE checked it out seems like it was flooded.(wet plugs)Put old plugs back in seemed like it wanted to fire but the darn batt went dead....UGH....

so we paddled it back to original dock and tied it off.

My question is that could it be possible that the shift plate is causing it not to fire?I only ask because before i tested the shifter it fired fine....:scratcheshead:

Any help appreciated,im prayin we get there tommorrow and it fires.

-Nick

 

[ziggy]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

ya might check out this thread....

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=167035

sorry, didn't read right.......sounds like ya can crank, but no start......the link aint gonna help....

yes, the shift interupter can lead to no start condition i'd think.....
does it have a lanyard? did ya connect it if it does?

 

[wncrjb]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

Ok to catch yall up to speed:



We fired it up(still hanging on lift)ran great,check trans seemed to be fine.We took truck and trailer to the ramp and headed back.


-Nick

If you started it while on the lift, without the drive in the water or on "muffs", change your impeller before you do anything, because it is now probably toast.

wncrjb

 

[l2edneck]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

probably eight to twelve mins run on lift over about 6 starts.

Hope i didn't toast it yet...

 

[DJ]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

probably eight to twelve mins run on lift over about 6 starts.

Hope i didn't toast it yet...

It's toast but that is not your starting problem. Do you have spark? If you do, there are only two other components needed: Compression and fuel.

 

[l2edneck]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

Well thats discouraging.......how do i tell if its gone?

haven't even brought it up to temperature yet.....

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

It will overheat. Even if you get it to the trailer without an overheat problem the impeller is still gone,It may partially pump water.Keep a close eye on the temp gauge,it it gets over about 185 shut it down.
Running it dry for 30 seconds will kill a new one,let alone one thats probably been in there a long time..Good luck,you will get the bugs worked out..

 

[DJ]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

Well thats discouraging.......how do i tell if its gone?

haven't even brought it up to temperature yet.....

It will get up to temperature-REAL QUICK.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Newly aquired....Any thoughts...

how do i tell if its gone?

probably eight to twelve mins run

it's gone....they're lucky if ya can get 1 min. out of them w/o water before they're gone, all the veins.....w/o water the impeller starts to degrade right away

haven't even brought it up to temperature yet.....

with the impeller being destroyed. it'll get up to temp real fast for ya.......

good job bringing that up wncrjb......

don't feel bad 12ed. it was my first lesson in i/o's too......yer gonna need a service manual.....don't know which one though.. i'd guess #10

"http://www-alt.mercurymarine.com/mnetdata/sisdata/srvcovr.pdf"