Boat overheats and will not eguage reverse and bolt rounded off to lower gear

[Railguy7463]

I have a 89 mercruiser 305 with alpha 1 stern, 2 weeks ago I let a friend borrow the boat, he overheated it and blew one of those plastic clamps to the exhaust, I believe this is a bellow, I am not getting water to the engine, and the boat dies when going into gear forward or reverse with the engine off it will not go into reverse. I did a lot of research on websites and bought the manual, so I spoke with a friend that works on boats and he told me impeller to start, I drained the oil and found no metal in it. I put gear in forward position. Somehow I rounded off one bolt that is one of the hard to reach side bolts. So I said might as well take off entire drive, I did just that. I had a ton of water in the center where the driveshaft comes out from engine side a month ago I broke off nipple to grease fitting and I replaced it but took it out 1 time with it broken off so I think water entered through their. Anyways, I had my fianc? shift the boat with no rear end on it and the shift fork out of the gimble housing doesnt really move at all, also. Tried to manually pull up the shift mechanism on the stern side and it does go up and is stuck down, the gear oil in lower case smelled burned but no metal. Is this a job that I need to attack or doi have lots of stuff going on and need to send it to shop? To recap:

Water in gimble spot,
Boat overheats
Dies when shifting in both gears
Will not go into reverse with engine off
Shift fork on engine side to stern barely moves when shift
Shift fork on stern side does not pull up
Oil smells burned but no metal
Nut to lower unit on the side is rounded off......




This is my first post and I looked on other sites and found not too much help for all the issues...
Spare me for I am a noob ...

 

[Bondo]

Re: Boat overheats and will not eguage reverse and bolt rounded off to lower gear

I have a 89 mercruiser 305 with alpha 1 stern, 2 weeks ago I let a friend borrow the boat, he overheated it and blew one of those plastic clamps to the exhaust, I believe this is a bellow, I am not getting water to the engine, and the boat dies when going into gear forward or reverse with the engine off it will not go into reverse. I did a lot of research on websites and bought the manual, so I spoke with a friend that works on boats and he told me impeller to start, I drained the oil and found no metal in it. I put gear in forward position. Somehow I rounded off one bolt that is one of the hard to reach side bolts. So I said might as well take off entire drive, I did just that. I had a ton of water in the center where the driveshaft comes out from engine side a month ago I broke off nipple to grease fitting and I replaced it but took it out 1 time with it broken off so I think water entered through their. Anyways, I had my fianc? shift the boat with no rear end on it and the shift fork out of the gimble housing doesnt really move at all, also. Tried to manually pull up the shift mechanism on the stern side and it does go up and is stuck down, the gear oil in lower case smelled burned but no metal. Is this a job that I need to attack or doi have lots of stuff going on and need to send it to shop? To recap:

Water in gimble spot,
Boat overheats
Dies when shifting in both gears
Will not go into reverse with engine off
Shift fork on engine side to stern barely moves when shift
Shift fork on stern side does not pull up
Oil smells burned but no metal
Nut to lower unit on the side is rounded off......




This is my first post and I looked on other sites and found not too much help for all the issues...
Spare me for I am a noob ...

Ayuh,... It sounds like ya probably oughta haul it to a Mechanic....

I donno if the drive will survive, but ya need a new impeller kit, a lower shift cable, 'n probably new bellows....

 

[Railguy7463]

Re: Boat overheats and will not eguage reverse and bolt rounded off to lower gear

The bellows are the rubber hoses attached the exhaust? Or are their some that run into the gimble housing? They seem easy to deal with. I'll call around..... I just hope my bill isn't too crazy. I hope the unit isnt smokes, can you tell when the upper unit is and the lower is bad.

 

[series60]

Re: Boat overheats and will not eguage reverse and bolt rounded off to lower gear

I have a 89 mercruiser 305 with alpha 1 stern, 2 weeks ago I let a friend borrow the boat, he overheated it and blew one of those plastic clamps to the exhaust, I believe this is a bellow, I am not getting water to the engine, and the boat dies when going into gear forward or reverse with the engine off it will not go into reverse. I did a lot of research on websites and bought the manual, so I spoke with a friend that works on boats and he told me impeller to start, I drained the oil and found no metal in it. I put gear in forward position. Somehow I rounded off one bolt that is one of the hard to reach side bolts. So I said might as well take off entire drive, I did just that. I had a ton of water in the center where the driveshaft comes out from engine side a month ago I broke off nipple to grease fitting and I replaced it but took it out 1 time with it broken off so I think water entered through their. Anyways, I had my fianc? shift the boat with no rear end on it and the shift fork out of the gimble housing doesnt really move at all, also. Tried to manually pull up the shift mechanism on the stern side and it does go up and is stuck down, the gear oil in lower case smelled burned but no metal. Is this a job that I need to attack or doi have lots of stuff going on and need to send it to shop? To recap:

Water in gimble spot,
Boat overheats
Dies when shifting in both gears
Will not go into reverse with engine off
Shift fork on engine side to stern barely moves when shift
Shift fork on stern side does not pull up
Oil smells burned but no metal
Nut to lower unit on the side is rounded off......

This is my first post and I looked on other sites and found not too much help for all the issues...
Spare me for I am a noob ...

First off let me welcome you to iBoats. This is the only forum you will need to fix all the stuff you are dealing with. It would be in your best interest to fill out your signature file so we have a good idea what you are talking about. Pictures are a must for best responses from the very well informed forum Moderators. These guys know their stuff and willingly give of their vast knowledge.

Sounds like you have more than one problem! Engine got hot for the lack of water which would indicate the impeller in the lower unit needs to be replaced. Manifolds and risers could be plugged up. They plug up with all sorts of matter including sand, rust, impeller pieces when the impeller comes apart. Water in the bellows indicates it's time for a complete bellows job including the gimble bearing. Water in the bellows in never a good thing. Shift cable should be replaced while you do the bellows job.

Smelly gear oil? Gear oil stinks when it comes out of the bottle so that many be normal but that same gear oil once installed in the outdrive will pickup an exhaust type of smell also and then it really starts to stink. You should do a pressure test on the outdrive while you have it off.

My best advice to you is that you need to start reading all the info in the Adult section. You can download a 'REAL' service manual there for both the engine and the outdrive. Read them! Yeh I know that can be a pain but it will make your boat a safer place to have fun. You'll be happier too.

Shift fork on engine side to stern barely moves when shift
Shift fork on stern side does not pull up

Don't know about shift fork on engine but you may be referring to the shift plate mounted to the starboard side of the engine. If that is the case the replacement and proper adjustment of the shift cable should fix that.

 

[Railguy7463]

Re: Boat overheats and will not eguage reverse and bolt rounded off to lower gear

I really think that the broken off stud to the grease fitting. I should prolly get a mechanic to do the shift cable and send the rear end to machine shop to get piece cut off and the bellows job ( if needed), should I tackle? I got a YouTube video of someone doing the gimble housing rebuild didn't seem too tough once you get that special service tool to remove the side 12 point inverter bolts.

 

[series60]

Re: Boat overheats and will not eguage reverse and bolt rounded off to lower gear

I really think that the broken off stud to the grease fitting. I should prolly get a mechanic to do the shift cable and send the rear end to machine shop to get piece cut off and the bellows job ( if needed), should I tackle? I got a YouTube video of someone doing the gimble housing rebuild didn't seem too tough once you get that special service tool to remove the side 12 point inverter bolts.

It is hard to say if you should tackle this 'PROJECT'. Have no idea of your mechanical abilities or what tools you have so I can't predict. If you want to learn and save some money then try it but don't expect too much. Everything mentioned here requires knowledge and tools. If you read through the material to understand what you are doing then I say go for it! I did and loved the time spent including ALL the frustration, sweat, blood letting, long hours and the love from a very understanding wife.

Buy an alignment tool and learn how to use it.

 

[Don S]

Re: Boat overheats and will not eguage reverse and bolt rounded off to lower gear

he overheated it and blew one of those plastic clamps to the exhaust, I believe this is a bellow,

Along with all the drive work mentioned, it also sounds like you need new exhaust hoses, elbow gaskets and flappers.

You mentioned you bought the service manual, sure hope they didn't say Clymers or Seloc on the cover.
Here are links to the OEM service manual for your drive. Might as well have some accurate information to go with your new knee pad.
http://www.4shared.com/office/L17_ufPa/06__Drives_R-A1_83-90.html?

 

[Railguy7463]

Re: Boat overheats and will not eguage reverse and bolt rounded off to lower gear

I just spoke with local shop... Gonna cost 800 bucks or so, but it's going to cost 200 in tools and 200 in parts... Might as well let them do it... I'll attack the next one.... Hopefully not soon.

 

[ktbarrentine]

Re: Boat overheats and will not eguage reverse and bolt rounded off to lower gear

May be a wise decision in the long run. Keep us posted on what the shop finds and fixes. It will help others (and will help to close out this thread). Take key photos and post them (now and future). Love to see what problems you are facing (with the key goals on being able to help fix). Welcome aboard!

 

[Railguy7463]

Re: Boat overheats and will not eguage reverse and bolt rounded off to lower gear

Dropped it off yesterday, the shop must have had 4 alpha stern drives sitting on stands. He looked at the u joints and told me they r done also. He told me if the bearings fail in u joint it could take out stern and motor, so I'm going to replace that also.. My bill now if around 1200 but I got piece of mind and now 10 years from next time I do bellows jobs again. It won't be done til next week but he's going to give me exact numbers here shortly on Tuesday. Word to the wise with old boats stuff breaks lots of rubber components, get those done b4 u end up like me with a whole lot of extra stuff, I'm sure lack of maintence added about 500 bucks on top.