oceansoul63
Seaman
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2008
- Messages
- 59
I just found out the year of this motor from researching the serial number.
Anyway, before I get to the questions, please read the back story. I apologize that it's a bit long, but I want to give as much info as possible on this.
A few months ago, my landlady, who is also a friend, told me she wanted to get a little runabout for herself and her young daughter. She was raised here in St. Augustine and grew up around boats, and wanted to give her daughter the same experience.
She didn't have much money to spend, though. I found a 1967 Sportcraft on eBay that came with a running Mercury 50 HP and trailer, and she was able to buy it for just over $500. A great deal. I went up to Jacksonville and picked it up for her.
The first time we put it in the water, it idled fine, but wouldn't throttle up, even with the handle all the way down. A buddy and I took the cover off, and found that the lines running to the distributor were getting bound on the cowling. After a few adjustments, it was running pretty good. The carb seemed a bit dodgy, but for a 38-year-old motor, it was doing OK.
However, the lower unit was a bit suspect -- when you put it into gear, it would hesitate and make a bit of a grinding sound, then go in gear. My buddy told me he'd help me adjust it the next time he was in town (he lives in Gainesville, FL and I am in St. Augustine, about 75 miles away).
Anyway, we used the boat a few more times, and the motor was performing quite well. We took it all the way down to the Matanzas Inlet and back, and it ran great.
Then, coming back into our inlet, I did something stupid. I used to do a bit of a hotdog move in my old Renken, where I'd make a real tight turn around the channel marker at a pretty good speed. I really should not have done this, but I did it in the Sportcraft.
Well, much to my dismay, when the boat swung around, the motor swung up on one side. Apparently, the starboard motor clamp wasn't fully tightened, and it didn't hold. The port side clamp held, so the motor didn't come off the transom, but it swung into about a 40' angle, bringing the prop out of the water. I instantly shut it down, moved it back into position and tightened both clamps.
Went to start it, and it would run for about 5 seconds, then stall. I kept trying it, to no avail. Got towed back into the ramp by some friends and puller her out of the water.
My neighbor and I fiddled around with it back at home, and got it to idle good without stalling.
Then, my buddy came to town the next weekend, and we fiddled around with it some more. It seemed to be running good again, so we took it to the ramp and put it in the water. It would run fine in neutral, but as soon as you put it in gear, it would stall. He tinkered with it for about an hour without any success. His theory was that it was the distributor, or the carb. He didn't have his tools with him, and he doesn't have much experience with Mercs (he's good with Johhny/Rudes). He told me to find a local marine mechanic, and said it shouldn't be too much to make the proper adjustments.
Keep in mind that this is my landlady's boat, that I talked her into buying, that I feel responsible for screwing up from the hotdog incident. So I'm making it my duty to make this motor right, or buy another running one for her. I'm also really tight financially.
Anyway, she called a couple of places and was referred to a local mechanic who works on old Mercs. She asked me to take it to him. So, I did. When I got there, I immediately had misgivings about the guy. His shop was out in the boonies, and there were all kinds of junked boats strewn about on his property, most with weeds growing through them. It looked more like a junkyard than a repair shop. But, I figured, sometimes those guys are good.
Another red flag was the fact that he had a bunch of German Shepard dogs, some of which were running loose, some of which were caged, some of which were chained up. Now, I'm no dog hater -- quite the opposite, in fact. I love dogs. But these dogs didn't seem like family dogs. More like attack dogs. Oh, also, the whole place stunk to high heaven.
Anyway, this guy comes out, and I tell him exactly what I've told you above. He says OK, leave it here. I said, well, obviously, I'd like you to call me with an estimate before you go doing hundreds of dollars worth of work. My friend had said it shouldn't be more than $100 to make the required adjustments. This guy said he wouldn't even touch it for less than $300 (this was without even looking at the engine yet). I thought that was kind of suspect, but I figured, well, I guess I'm kind of stuck with this, since it's so hard to find mechanics who will even work on these old Mercs. So, I said OK, but please call me if you think it's going to be more than $300.
Now, while I was there, I felt real uneasy about the whole thing. The guy definitely had a sleazy kind of vibe and didn't communicate very well (I couldn't tell what nationality he was, but English was obviously not his first language). I mention that not as any kind of ethnic discrimination, but because the communication process was hindered by it. Not what you want in this kind of a situation.
He told me he wouldn't get to it until later in the week, and I said that was fine. Never once in my presence did he even look at the motor. I really halfway thought about just saying "never mind," and hooking it back up and leaving. And, if it had been solely my decision to make, I probably would have. But my landlady had wanted me to take it to him because some shop she called had recommended him.
So, the very next day, I got a message from him asking me to call him. When I did, he said "You brought me a frozen motor."
I said I did not, that it was running just a couple of days prior. He insisted that it was seized, and that the flywheel would not move. I was very disturbed by this, because I literally had been running the motor just the other day and it was running smoothly (in neutral, anyway.)
So I said, OK, well how much do I owe you, figuring that naturally there would be a bench/diagnostic fee. He said "Well, we agreed on $300."
I said, but that was to do all the work. He said "I did all the work."
I said why would you do the work if the motor was frozen??!!
He said he never tried to start it until AFTER he had done the work, rebuilding the carb, etc.
He said he just based the work on what I told him was the problem.
I said you've gotta be kidding me.
What kind of mechanic would not first try to run the motor to do his own diagnosis before beginning any work???!!! Why would he base it solely on what I told him? I'm not a mechanic -- he is.
In all my years with cars and boats, I've never heard of a mechanic just going ahead and doing work without first examining the situation for himself.
Anyway, he wouldn't give the boat back unless we paid him, so we did. So now we've got a seized up motor with a rebuilt carb.
Now I know it's like $1000 to completely rebuild a motor like this, and I could probably find a running equivalent for less than that.
Now for my questions:
1. Is it possible that the motor is seized because of the lower unit? If so, how do I determine that?
2. If it is the power head, I've read about some stuff called Engine Release that you put into the cylinders to free up a seized outboard. Is this worth attempting? A couple of people I've asked said no, but I've found some online sources that say it does. I figure it might be worth a try -- I mean, at this point, what do we have to lose on this motor?
3. Is all hope lost for this motor? Should I just part it out on eBay and look for another one, or should I pay someone to rebuild it?
4. Lastly, do you think this is directly a result of the above-mentioned hotdog incident? Or is it possible that the motor was on its way out already?
Any advice would be quite welcome. I don't have much money, but I want to make this right for my landlady and her daughter.
Thanks!
Anyway, before I get to the questions, please read the back story. I apologize that it's a bit long, but I want to give as much info as possible on this.
A few months ago, my landlady, who is also a friend, told me she wanted to get a little runabout for herself and her young daughter. She was raised here in St. Augustine and grew up around boats, and wanted to give her daughter the same experience.
She didn't have much money to spend, though. I found a 1967 Sportcraft on eBay that came with a running Mercury 50 HP and trailer, and she was able to buy it for just over $500. A great deal. I went up to Jacksonville and picked it up for her.
The first time we put it in the water, it idled fine, but wouldn't throttle up, even with the handle all the way down. A buddy and I took the cover off, and found that the lines running to the distributor were getting bound on the cowling. After a few adjustments, it was running pretty good. The carb seemed a bit dodgy, but for a 38-year-old motor, it was doing OK.
However, the lower unit was a bit suspect -- when you put it into gear, it would hesitate and make a bit of a grinding sound, then go in gear. My buddy told me he'd help me adjust it the next time he was in town (he lives in Gainesville, FL and I am in St. Augustine, about 75 miles away).
Anyway, we used the boat a few more times, and the motor was performing quite well. We took it all the way down to the Matanzas Inlet and back, and it ran great.
Then, coming back into our inlet, I did something stupid. I used to do a bit of a hotdog move in my old Renken, where I'd make a real tight turn around the channel marker at a pretty good speed. I really should not have done this, but I did it in the Sportcraft.
Well, much to my dismay, when the boat swung around, the motor swung up on one side. Apparently, the starboard motor clamp wasn't fully tightened, and it didn't hold. The port side clamp held, so the motor didn't come off the transom, but it swung into about a 40' angle, bringing the prop out of the water. I instantly shut it down, moved it back into position and tightened both clamps.
Went to start it, and it would run for about 5 seconds, then stall. I kept trying it, to no avail. Got towed back into the ramp by some friends and puller her out of the water.
My neighbor and I fiddled around with it back at home, and got it to idle good without stalling.
Then, my buddy came to town the next weekend, and we fiddled around with it some more. It seemed to be running good again, so we took it to the ramp and put it in the water. It would run fine in neutral, but as soon as you put it in gear, it would stall. He tinkered with it for about an hour without any success. His theory was that it was the distributor, or the carb. He didn't have his tools with him, and he doesn't have much experience with Mercs (he's good with Johhny/Rudes). He told me to find a local marine mechanic, and said it shouldn't be too much to make the proper adjustments.
Keep in mind that this is my landlady's boat, that I talked her into buying, that I feel responsible for screwing up from the hotdog incident. So I'm making it my duty to make this motor right, or buy another running one for her. I'm also really tight financially.
Anyway, she called a couple of places and was referred to a local mechanic who works on old Mercs. She asked me to take it to him. So, I did. When I got there, I immediately had misgivings about the guy. His shop was out in the boonies, and there were all kinds of junked boats strewn about on his property, most with weeds growing through them. It looked more like a junkyard than a repair shop. But, I figured, sometimes those guys are good.
Another red flag was the fact that he had a bunch of German Shepard dogs, some of which were running loose, some of which were caged, some of which were chained up. Now, I'm no dog hater -- quite the opposite, in fact. I love dogs. But these dogs didn't seem like family dogs. More like attack dogs. Oh, also, the whole place stunk to high heaven.
Anyway, this guy comes out, and I tell him exactly what I've told you above. He says OK, leave it here. I said, well, obviously, I'd like you to call me with an estimate before you go doing hundreds of dollars worth of work. My friend had said it shouldn't be more than $100 to make the required adjustments. This guy said he wouldn't even touch it for less than $300 (this was without even looking at the engine yet). I thought that was kind of suspect, but I figured, well, I guess I'm kind of stuck with this, since it's so hard to find mechanics who will even work on these old Mercs. So, I said OK, but please call me if you think it's going to be more than $300.
Now, while I was there, I felt real uneasy about the whole thing. The guy definitely had a sleazy kind of vibe and didn't communicate very well (I couldn't tell what nationality he was, but English was obviously not his first language). I mention that not as any kind of ethnic discrimination, but because the communication process was hindered by it. Not what you want in this kind of a situation.
He told me he wouldn't get to it until later in the week, and I said that was fine. Never once in my presence did he even look at the motor. I really halfway thought about just saying "never mind," and hooking it back up and leaving. And, if it had been solely my decision to make, I probably would have. But my landlady had wanted me to take it to him because some shop she called had recommended him.
So, the very next day, I got a message from him asking me to call him. When I did, he said "You brought me a frozen motor."
I said I did not, that it was running just a couple of days prior. He insisted that it was seized, and that the flywheel would not move. I was very disturbed by this, because I literally had been running the motor just the other day and it was running smoothly (in neutral, anyway.)
So I said, OK, well how much do I owe you, figuring that naturally there would be a bench/diagnostic fee. He said "Well, we agreed on $300."
I said, but that was to do all the work. He said "I did all the work."
I said why would you do the work if the motor was frozen??!!
He said he never tried to start it until AFTER he had done the work, rebuilding the carb, etc.
He said he just based the work on what I told him was the problem.
I said you've gotta be kidding me.
What kind of mechanic would not first try to run the motor to do his own diagnosis before beginning any work???!!! Why would he base it solely on what I told him? I'm not a mechanic -- he is.
In all my years with cars and boats, I've never heard of a mechanic just going ahead and doing work without first examining the situation for himself.
Anyway, he wouldn't give the boat back unless we paid him, so we did. So now we've got a seized up motor with a rebuilt carb.
Now I know it's like $1000 to completely rebuild a motor like this, and I could probably find a running equivalent for less than that.
Now for my questions:
1. Is it possible that the motor is seized because of the lower unit? If so, how do I determine that?
2. If it is the power head, I've read about some stuff called Engine Release that you put into the cylinders to free up a seized outboard. Is this worth attempting? A couple of people I've asked said no, but I've found some online sources that say it does. I figure it might be worth a try -- I mean, at this point, what do we have to lose on this motor?
3. Is all hope lost for this motor? Should I just part it out on eBay and look for another one, or should I pay someone to rebuild it?
4. Lastly, do you think this is directly a result of the above-mentioned hotdog incident? Or is it possible that the motor was on its way out already?
Any advice would be quite welcome. I don't have much money, but I want to make this right for my landlady and her daughter.
Thanks!
