Did I fix a starting problem or find a big engine problem?

I have been using the guidance of everyone that contributes on this forum to fix up my 94 Sea Ray 220 Signature BR. A huge thanks to Bond-o, Don S and everyone here who takes the time to help others out. I've saved thousands of dollars by doing my own work and made my boat much more seaworthy.

I've been focusing on electrical issues for the past week. When I bought my boat, several of the gauges didn't work and the previous owner, while trying to troubleshoot, couldn't figure them out. I've had the boat for a year and just decided to enjoy the boat before I put all that work into it. I replaced the temperature seeing unit and now the temp gauge works. The needle in the tach fell off so I replaced it and now my tach works. All I had left was my speedometer and, after raising the Outdrive and laying underneath, I found the vacuum tube was disconnected. Sure enough, I now have a working speedometer.

I tell a friend about my good fortune and that all my gauges are working. He said I should change my oil and inspect it because he thinks I may have sucked in water. I had a really hard time getting the engine to start before I found the disconnected vacuum tube. I would have to pump the throttle and crank the starter for about 20 seconds before it would turn over. After fixing all the gauges, I started it on the trailer, using the muffs and a turn of the key started it right up. Could the vacuum tube, disconnected at the Outdrive pull water into the engine? Could I have a small amount of water in my cylinders? I looked at the oil and it is clean and dark.

I have a Mercruiser 5.7 with an alpha one gen 2

Re: Did I fix a starting problem or find a big engine problem?

Vacuum tube going to the outdrive????? I don't think so. That tube was the speedometer sensing line. It senses water pressure at the speedo port on the lower end of the OD. There is no vacuum line going to the OD from the engine, so that isn't why the engine was hard to start....

Re: Did I fix a starting problem or find a big engine problem?

Like 04fxdwgi referred to. That line has nothing to do with the engine.

Re: Did I fix a starting problem or find a big engine problem?

Excellent thanks. Obviously I'm still learning.

Re: Did I fix a starting problem or find a big engine problem?

That tube is referred to as a "pitot tube". It is the same method that just about every airplane uses for the airspeed indicator. It actually senses air pressure in the boat, too. The air that is in the tube is compressed by the water at the nose of your outdrive as you accelerate. As ts compresses the air, the speedometer reads that increase in air pressure as higher speed. There is no connection between your engine and the pitot tube, so your engine problems are not related.