Some Boat problems

Alright, bear with me, I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to boats and such but pretty experienced with Jeep motors and whatnot. I've got a ???(don't know the year) Baretta boat with a Mercruiser stern drive. It sat in the woods for a while till my buddy pulled it out, put a new floor in it and and put a new 350 motor in it. That was around four years ago. Since then the boat has sat outside and in a carport with a valve cover off on the righthand side of the motor. The motor has never been run so im not too worried about water being in the cooling system. Do I need to go ahead and pull off the cylinder heads to check them or should i just clean everything up and slap it back together. Oh wait, no electrical systems are hooked up AT ALL. The upside is that all of the orginial wiring is in place, I just need to hook it up, however I don't have a manual for it, A friend of mine has a manual for his 165 mercruiser, would that work? I'm trying to get it running again, I have all the parts on hand including new water jackets. I know that it won't be ready for this summer so maybe by next summer we could have it up and running. Thanks for bearing with a noob and his long post.

Zack

Re: Some Boat problems

Not good that the valve cover has been off for 4 years. I would pull the plugs and put some oil in the cylindres and rotate the motor by hand to see if its still smooth.

Why has the valve cover been off for 4 years?

Is there any water in the oil??

Re: Some Boat problems

Thats the thing, I'm not sure if there is ANY oil in there, but I can prolly pull the plugs, add oil and see if I can spin it. Is there a right way to do this?

Zack

Re: Some Boat problems

If it has been sitting outside with no valve cover on for four years, you can forget it. The engine will need to be taken apart and everything evaluated from the crank... rods... pistons... cylinders... heads... you get the picture.

Re: Some Boat problems

Thats what I was thinking, I has set in a carport for most of its life, and when it hasn't, it has had a tarp on it. Does that matter, or is it a waste of time/money?

Zack