Buying an '03 Sea Ray Sundeck 220

[Lou C]

When I had my issue with leaky head gaskets & salt water in the oil I spoke to a few mechanics & both said the same thing water in the oil or even antifreeze will deteriorate bearings & you might not know that there bad till you put a load in it. In my case the water wasn’t in the oil long enough to damage them, even though it’s the original short block the oil pressure is normal. Cold idle oil pressure on that engine should be about 40-50 psi depending on what viscosity oil you use and the air temp.
I agree with the likelihood that there are cracked engine components if a core plug was pushed out.

 

[mr 88]

I would be hesitant to not bother with muffs and run it dry . Not sure if you have a heat exchanger or where your impeller is located . Not fun to find all the remnants of the impeller jammed into who knows where . Or what that does to the impeller housing ,base plate . As noted above , main bearings are probably toast at this point after sitting in water for so long .

 

[tpenfield]

Yes, I'll be doing everything myself. The price is right.

Congratulations on the new-2-you boat. I assume that you will be doing the re-power. Since you are salt water I would get an engine that has or can be rigged with FULL Closed Cooling. I'd also make sure you are getting a new engine (or at least a new long block). . . and . . . Don't let a new engine ever see the salt.

The engine will last forever and winterization will be fairly straight forward.

BTDT on the full closed cooling and never looked back.

 

[Scott Danforth]

agree, on a repower, get a heat exchanger. with an alpha drive, you can only do the half system unless you add a crank mounted pump

 

[Lou C]

Another vote for closed cooling. Right now I’m in the process of extending the block drains with 2 lengths of hose so that I don’t have to pull out the rear seats just to drain the motor. They way I’m doing it they are not tied together & can be rodded out if they don’t drain. That & the remote oil filter mount may make owning the I/O more tolerable….

 

[Ed Yez]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I'm just going to go ahead and take it apart.

 

[stresspoint]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I'm just going to go ahead and take it apart.

try to get some oil without water through the motor first , you never know , salvage parts like heads , crank rods ,etc are sought after by people doing budget builds.

 

[Ed Yez]

try to get some oil without water through the motor first , you never know , salvage parts like heads , crank rods ,etc are sought after by people doing budget builds.

I tried. I cannot reach the oil drain plug (and a lot of other things) on this boat to save my life. I used a fluid extractor to suck out the oil/water through the dipstick tube. I got 9 quarts of water out with the extractor, but there's still a considerable amount of milkshake in there. The dipstick now reads a couple of inches above the full mark. In any case, the milkshake clogged up the suction tube. I ran the engine with muffs, got it up to 170 to thin out the mixture. When oil filter felt hot, I tried again with the same result. I even added a quart of ATF and ran some more to try and thin it out, no dice. I may try to get to the oil drain plug through the garboard drain. Anyone know what size socket it might take? How would I get it back in to run it?

Another thing worth mentioning is that it showed 40 PSI on the oil pressure gauge while running, but I don't trust it. The needle doesn't move smoothly.

 

[stresspoint]

I tried. I cannot reach the oil drain plug (and a lot of other things) on this boat to save my life. I used a fluid extractor to suck out the oil/water through the dipstick tube. I got 9 quarts of water out with the extractor, but there's still a considerable amount of milkshake in there. The dipstick now reads a couple of inches above the full mark. In any case, the milkshake clogged up the suction tube. I ran the engine with muffs, got it up to 170 to thin out the mixture. When oil filter felt hot, I tried again with the same result. I even added a quart of ATF and ran some more to try and thin it out, no dice. I may try to get to the oil drain plug through the garboard drain. Anyone know what size socket it might take? How would I get it back in to run it?

Another thing worth mentioning is that it showed 40 PSI on the oil pressure gauge while running, but I don't trust it. The needle doesn't move smoothly.

ha ha , welcome to the world of inboard boats "" think of your body as a pretzel and you will be able to reach most things .
drop the oil into the hull if the engine compartment is partitioned and sop it up when the engine is removed. either way try to get as mu h of that milk shake gone whilst ti is still running .

+1 dont trust the gauge at this point as the sender may have water present in the workings.

some plugs are 14 mm , older motors 11/16

 

[Scott06]

I tried. I cannot reach the oil drain plug (and a lot of other things) on this boat to save my life. I used a fluid extractor to suck out the oil/water through the dipstick tube. I got 9 quarts of water out with the extractor, but there's still a considerable amount of milkshake in there. The dipstick now reads a couple of inches above the full mark. In any case, the milkshake clogged up the suction tube. I ran the engine with muffs, got it up to 170 to thin out the mixture. When oil filter felt hot, I tried again with the same result. I even added a quart of ATF and ran some more to try and thin it out, no dice. I may try to get to the oil drain plug through the garboard drain. Anyone know what size socket it might take? How would I get it back in to run it?

Another thing worth mentioning is that it showed 40 PSI on the oil pressure gauge while running, but I don't trust it. The needle doesn't move smoothly.

The block is cracked- Doesn't matter what oil pressure is. Pull the engine get a new long block and manifolds.

I did a similar repower on a 04 Sea Ray back in 2016. I ended up getting a new (not reman) extended base engine from Michigan Motorz. of course it was more money this way but just finished the 8th summer of trouble free use. The boat was in excellent shape otherwise, it does not have wood stringers would think your 03 is also the same.

In the end I saved $6-8k off (including repower) what would have been a $18-20k boat at the time, so worth the effort