Mercruiser 3.0L Leak?

I'm in the process of buying a lake house and the boat is included with the house. Its a 2005 22ft Sun Tracker with a 3.0L MerCruiser motor. I don't know what the outdrive is. Alpha One? The owner states that when you go too fast the bilge will fill with water. From the searching on this forum i've done it sounds like a u-joint bellow. Does this sound reasonable? Is there any way to check this while the boat is in the water? There is no trailer and the boat lives full time in the water as there is no lift. My general inspection of the engine compartment looked pretty good and the owner states the motor only has about 70 hours on it. It was serviced in 2006 but not since.

Does my conclusion sound reasonable? If so, any rough ideas on how much to fix. I'm assuming i'll also need to have it serviced as well. Any rough idea on cost there?

I'd love to find an owners manual somewhere but I can't seem to find one. I've been through the Adult's Only section but i'm not sure what outdrive I have so I haven't gone through the manuals there.

thanks for all your help.

Re: Mercruiser 3.0L Leak?

When you are going fast, the bellows is out of the water. What you need to do is run the boat (or have someone else drive it) and get back there and look and find out where it's coming in at. It may have nothing to do with the drive, engine, transom shield or anything else.

Re: Mercruiser 3.0L Leak?

In addition, since the boat is always in the water, if it were the drive bellows I would think it would have sunk by now!

The owner states that when you go too fast the bilge will fill with water.

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That's certainly something I wold want to find the answer to... and soon!

Re: Mercruiser 3.0L Leak?

Fishermark said:

In addition, since the boat is always in the water, if it were the drive bellows I would think it would have sunk by now!

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makes sense. sorry for my newbieness. i can talk jetskis all day, but i don't know much about I/Os. is it ok to run with the cover open or will the wind pull it off (like a convertible top)?

i saw the boat again today. it does have an alpha one drive (gen ?) and the bilge is currently dry. i didn't have the key to try and crank it. it had some power though as i could turn on the nav lights and operate the trim. i could run the blower, but when i hit the bilge switch, i didn't hear anything. is that normal or should i have heard a pump?

thanks.

Re: Mercruiser 3.0L Leak?

usually you should hear something like high pitch spinning/winding. But not always if your not listening for it.

Re: Mercruiser 3.0L Leak?

so even with no key in the ignition i should have heard something? darn, maybe its broken.

Re: Mercruiser 3.0L Leak?

Not if it has an automatic float on the bildge switch.Then it's only going to run when water enters the bildge and turns it on. Since it's in the water all the time it's a good chance that someone set it up that way. I have mine set up that way so when I do an overnighter and it sits at some dock if it pours all night I dont have to sit out there and keep turning the pump on. Saved me many times.

Re: Mercruiser 3.0L Leak?

shouldn't the switch on the dash override any automatic switch on the pump?

Re: Mercruiser 3.0L Leak?

shouldn't the switch on the dash override any automatic switch on the pump?

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Ayuh,...

Tat's theway it's Supposed to be,..
But,..
That doesn't mean that it Is wired that way...

If you're going to be buying this place,...
The 1st Accessory you should be buying is a Trailer....

That poor boat hasn't been Serviced in 3 Years.... That's an awfully LONG time...

Re: Mercruiser 3.0L Leak?

there is a marina not too far away. i figure, at least in the beginning, i'm gonna have to get a pro to check it out and service it. i'd love to have access to a trailer, but i don't know anyone with even a boat trailer. i doubt i could use my jet ski trailers to get it out of the water. that would be a sight.