EBay starters?

[EarestTBass]

All I'm getting when I try to crank the boat up is a load clunk. I pulled the starter on my '88 5.0 Merc & trying to decide whether to take it in locally & get it rebuilt or buy a new or rebuilt off of EBay.

I noticed that some of the newer starters on EBay are a lot smaller & claim to be better. Anybody have any dealings or opinions about the EBay rebuilt or new starters?

 

[tystick]

Re: EBay starters?

All I'm getting when I try to crank the boat up is a load clunk. I pulled the starter on my '88 5.0 Merc & trying to decide whether to take it in locally & get it rebuilt or buy a new or rebuilt off of EBay.

I noticed that some of the newer starters on EBay are a lot smaller & claim to be better. Anybody have any dealings or opinions about the EBay rebuilt or new starters?

I picked up a new starter off ebay which has worked fine - the price was right as well - granted it does not have alot of hours on it yet but so far works great

 

[Bondo]

Re: EBay starters?

There's a Couple of those Small Starters,.......

There's the Permanent Magnet, Direct Drive starters,......
And,......
The Gear Reduction Starters...........

The Former has to be Verified to be Marine Rated...........

The Latter, is Explosion Proof by Design,......... Marine or otherwise is the Same Starter.......

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: EBay starters?

Last time i head that kind of clunk the motor was hydrolocked.you sure theres no water in the cylinders?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: EBay starters?

Ditto to BT Doc, but beyond that, I run a Marine PMR mini starter, from ebay, on my Ford 302/5.0l. They are great, they spin up like little devils and they take up less room. My OEM starter practically dragged on my Stringer motor mount stringer.

 

[EarestTBass]

Re: EBay starters?

Last time i head that kind of clunk the motor was hydrolocked.you sure theres no water in the cylinders?

I started the motor earlier in the year & had no problem but it turned cold & I had to drain it again & never got the boat in the water yet. After it warmed up, I went to start it again it turned some but didn't start right off. I stopped cranking it & then tried again but every time I tried to start it after that it just went "clunk".

I pulled all 8 plugs & they looked okay. I tried to turn the motor over by hand & then with a ratchet on the crank bolt without the plugs, it wouldn't move. The crank bolt kept turning as in tightening a wee bit more each time, so I stopped in fear of twisting it off, it's not a very big bolt. I ended up using a screw driver on the flywheel where the starter was & the motor moved okay.

I jumped the starter while it was out & it worked but it was noisy & it didn't seem to much torque like it should have had.

I did notice that the starter looked like when I drained to block last fall, the water drained right onto the starter.

 

[EarestTBass]

Re: EBay starters?

Okay.. after finally getting the chance to look into it a little more it appears deeper then the starter. I can only turn the crank 180 degrees by hand & it hits solid & won't go any further with the plugs out. I can turn it back the other way & it'll stop solid after half a turn (180 degrees), that's as far as it'll move either way. I pulled one of the valve covers off & watched the valves move as I turned it, they appeared to be okay. I pulled lose the timing chain cover & the chain & gears look to be okay.

Like I said earlier, I had started the boat for the first time this season earlier with the muffs & it started to get warm so I turned it off but it didn't show any other problems other then needing the impeller replaced. It turned cold & I drained it & a few weeks later I tried to start it again. It turned over but sounded kind of strange, maybe like it turned over to easy or the timing or something was astray, so I let off the starter quickly. I tried turning it over again but that's when the starter just went "clunk".

Tomorrow maybe I'll pull the other valve cover & see if all the valves are accounted for? <sigh>

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: EBay starters?

had a vlave face break of the stem, rest of stem was jammed in the guide. valve cover inspection looked normal untill the head was removed.sad part was it happened when the motor was run. took out the head and block.same type of lockup. 180 deg.

 

[Don S]

Re: EBay starters?

I've had a couple drop valve heads like that before. Did you see any physical damage to any of the spark plugs when you took them out?

 

[EarestTBass]

Re: EBay starters?

Did you see any physical damage to any of the spark plugs when you took them out?

Not that I remember, the boats back under the cover for now due to the weather. I'll update when I get the chance to pull the other valve cover.

 

[EarestTBass]

Re: EBay starters?

I've had a couple drop valve heads like that before. Did you see any physical damage to any of the spark plugs when you took them out?

Okay, had some "extra" time today.

The plugs look okay. I've got both valve covers off & it looks like all the valves are moving okay & I can see all the tops sticking out the spring caps. I stuck a screw driver in each of the plug holes & I can feel each piston going up & down.

When I turn the engine with a bar in the crank pulley bolts, everything turns till it comes to a hard dead stop & the same thing back the other way. There's not the slightest bit of give once I get to either of those spots & they seem to be always in the very same place.

I'm guessing that it's going to take a lot of further investigating. Maybe pulling the heads next might be the way to go?

As for the drive, the prop turns free when it's in neutral & stops when I shift into forward or reverse.

This motor doesn't have many hours on it at all even though it's a 1988, less then 300 if I remember right?

 

[stevieray]

Re: EBay starters?

Mr Bass - I am watching this with great interest since we have extremely similar boats & power packages. Think mine has a few more hours on it, though. Can you put a magnet on a stick & probe each cyl for a dropped valve? If you get lucky, at least that may help you isolate which head to pull. Hope everything turns out for the better. SRK

 

[RCSConstruction]

Re: EBay starters?

Do you hear anything when it comes to a stop? When it stops, back up a small turn and go forward again, kinda like rocking the crank back and forth. You should hear whether it's up top or the bottom end. Really sounds like a bent/broken rod to me.

 

[Reel Poor]

Re: EBay starters?

Before you start tearing into the engine, pull the drive and see if the engine will turn without the drive installed.

 

[EarestTBass]

Re: EBay starters?

Before you start tearing into the engine, pull the drive and see if the engine will turn without the drive installed.

That was a question I had. Since all this started in the yard on the first try at starting it after a few weeks, I was wondering if there might have been a problem when I moved the shift lever back & forth before I started the engine?

Okay, I'm off to the yard.

 

[Coors]

Re: EBay starters?

If not the drive, when it stops, see which pistons are at the top; and go from there. Pull the valve spring, and yank on the valve stem.

 

[f_inscreenname]

Re: EBay starters?

I must be impatient or something. A motor that is locking up has something inside of it (if its not the drive) that should not be. You will have to take it apart so don't bother looking for things in the cylinders with a magnet or fooling around with this and that. Pull the head(s) and see what's up. If nothing is there get ready to pull the motor to see whats in the oil pan.
The bottom line is even if you get the motor broken lose there is still something floating around in there just waiting to kill your motor if it hasn't done so already. Cut your losses and get to the meat of the matter.
Sorry, some times tough love is the best love of all.

 

[Coors]

Re: EBay starters?

I was going with reel poor; pull the drive; but I think first he could get it up to locked, then see if he could pull a valve stem out of the 2 pistons at tdc, renting a valve spring compressor, and yank on the valve stems, to see ie a valve head had broken off. don't ask me how I know this

 

[EarestTBass]

Re: EBay starters?

Sorry, some times tough love is the best love of all.

LOL.. yeah I know.

It sounds more like the bottom, I just can't figure out how it sounded great when I shut it off & when I try to start it a couple of weeks later, it's messed up. Now whatever has happened, I can only move the crank maybe a 1/8th of a turn or so. I'm wondering if the u-joints could create any problem like this, the boat has been out two times since new ones were put in.

I've got to get back out on the road in the morning so the mystery is going to have to wait a little longer!

Thanks to all.....later!