bad starter 5.0 Mercruiser

[Weylin]

I just purchased a 1990 Wellcraft 196 Eclipse project boat... previous owner thought motor to be good but the starter was bad and has been sitting for 5 years.. /: My first step is replacing the starter ..any tips on this and then advice for next steps..? thanks

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: bad starter 5.0 Mercruiser

I would remove the spark plugs ,squirt some fogging oil in there, R/R the starter and see.

 

[cr2k]

Re: bad starter 5.0 Mercruiser

Replace with Marine Starter. Auto unit is not spark sealed and could blow your boat up.

 

[achris]

Re: bad starter 5.0 Mercruiser

^^^ Best bit of advice you'll get....

 

[Weylin]

Re: bad starter 5.0 Mercruiser

Replace with Marine Starter. Auto unit is not spark sealed and could blow your boat up.

thanks! that is where I will start!

 

[Weylin]

Re: bad starter 5.0 Mercruiser

picked up the new marine starter .. got a dumb question but I'm not much of a mechanic.. the old starter was already off the boat so I am a little unsure of where the wires go.. there are two larger terminals and two small terminals on the solenoid .. it appears the bigger wires are all together on one of the large stud bolts and then theres one smaller wire for the smaller stud bolts ..is there a diagram I can look at? thanks

 

[Don S]

Re: bad starter 5.0 Mercruiser

This should cover it.

 

[Weylin]

Re: bad starter 5.0 Mercruiser

GREAT! thanks!!

 

[Weylin]

Re: bad starter 5.0 Mercruiser

Ok,,,,,, I've been spraying Mystery Oil in spark plug holes for a while.. (spark plugs are out) .. I put the new marine starter on and boat turns over.. (good news!) ... so i put new plugs in and re attache plug wires and motor turns over a few times spits and sputters... I drip a little gas down the carb and it fires a few times then an awful noise from the starter.... now starter makes a grinding noise... it seems beyond my simple mechanic knowledge at this point so I take it to our local boat mech .. he warns before looking at this it probably won't be good... /: the dip stick show over full by about 3 quarts and he says maybe from water inside or could be someone overfilled with oil after it had been setting.. he takes starter off and finds the shaft has been broken.. and he can't get the motor to turn by hand but about 1/10th rotation.. says his prognosis is something terribly wrong with engine down deep .. but will cost me a lot of money for him to proceed from here and to find out...

 

[Weylin]

Re: bad starter 5.0 Mercruiser

Ok,,,,,, I've been spraying Mystery Oil in spark plug holes for a while.. (spark plugs are out) .. I put the new marine starter on and boat turns over.. (good news!) ... so i put new plugs in and re attache plug wires and motor turns over a few times spits and sputters... I drip a little gas down the carb and it fires a few times then an awful noise from the starter.... now starter makes a grinding noise... it seems beyond my simple mechanic knowledge at this point so I take it to our local boat mech .. he warns before looking at this it probably won't be good... /: the dip stick show over full by about 3 quarts and he says maybe from water inside or could be someone overfilled with oil after it had been setting.. he takes starter off and finds the shaft has been broken.. and he can't get the motor to turn by hand but about 1/10th rotation.. says his prognosis is something terribly wrong with engine down deep .. but will cost me a lot of money for him to proceed from here and to find out...

 

[Don S]

Re: bad starter 5.0 Mercruiser

If you can't check things out yourself, they you have to pay someone to do it. It may be a cracked block, may be water in the cylinders, who knows.

All he has to do is pump the oil out of the pan, if there is water there, it will be obvious immediately.

 

[dingdongs]

Re: bad starter 5.0 Mercruiser

A lot of these things could have been found out by you b4 taking boat to a mechanic as pulling plugs to see if cylinders are full of water or have had rust in them and what the prognosis will be.If the boat does not stand you in too much, it may be better to weigh up what the losses are as a new engine and possibly manifolds and carb rebuild may set you back $3 or4k.A boat that has been standing 5 years and bought without a sea trial is a big risk.May be better to lick your wounds and next time get a survey and trial b4 spending big money especially if your not mechanically minded to tackle the jobs yourself.It could start getting really expensive from here!!!!!!!