‘94 mercruiser 350 never gets to temperature

[fishngolf]

Hi All,

Have a 94 mercruiser 350 tournament ski that will not get up to temperature. New to me boat that I picked up last fall. Opened up the thermostat housing last night thinking it was stuck open and found a lot of rust flakes in the reservoir. Removed all the debris and replaced the thermostat. Same issue. Temp gauge doesn’t bounce off the bottom until I restrict the water flow. I didn’t see a sleeve in the thermostat housing could that be the problem?

 

[fishngolf]

[No message]

 

[Bt Doctur]

click to enlarge cork gasket, thermostat, retainer ring

 

[fishngolf]

Thinking whoever I bought from installed incorrectly. When I pulled the housing off the thermostat was just sitting there on the bottom. Is it supposed to be up in the housing that pulls off above the sleeve?

 

[Bt Doctur]

correct , in the housing not in the manifold

 

[Bt Doctur]

 

[fishngolf]

Makes sense. Figured it was too easy and was having the same problem. I’ll straighten it out tonight and see if that solves my problem. Any concerns with the amount of debris in the manifold? Could that debris end up somewhere else I should be cleaning? (Transmission cooler?)

 

[fishngolf]

Exactly what it was. Previous owner installed the thermostat in the manifold not the housing. Corrected per the diagram and now gets up to 160. Thanks!