engine removal ?

[kevinbeth]

I inherited a 2004 sea ray 280 sundancer with both 4.3 engines full of water/oil mess. I pulled the exhaust risers and heads off and had them checked. All tested good so i am thinking cracked block. I have never worked on boats before so forgive my ignorance on terms. If i just unbolt the engine at the bellhousing can i pull it forward and leace everything else behind? Does it have flywheel and bolts like a car or is it splined? Thanks for the help

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: engine removal ?

You need to get the OEM manual for your engines, first. Look up in the stickies at the top of this section.

You'll want/need to remove the outdrives. Their splined shaft fits into a couple bolted to the flywheel. Sure you may be able to move the motor far enough forward to clear the shaft, but you'll need to aling the engines upon re-install anyway. And the drives HAVE to be off for that.

Just curious, how did they "test" your exhaust manifolds and risers? I have also read on here a few times about intake manifolds that fail, causing water in the oil. Or is there a known freeze that has happened to these motors, that we don't know about?

 

[havasuboatman]

Re: engine removal ?

I am curious, as to what exactly you mean by full of water? It's not very common for both engines to blow at the same time. Was the boat stored in freezing conditions? Was it possibly sunk? (Either in the water or on the trailer?) Check for a water line inside the engine compartment.
To answer your question:
You must pull the drives off to remove the engines. Failier to do so can seriously damage the gimble bearings, and splined driveshafts of the outdrives.
Use the downloadable manuals like TilliamWe said.
Pulling the motors is pretty easy if done in the correct steps.

 

[Bondo]

Re: engine removal ?

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,....

Put the controller into Forward gear, pull both outdrives, then each motor can be pulled by removing the bolts from the 4 corners...
Leave the flywheel covers on the motors(aka. bellhousings)...

 

[Don S]

Re: engine removal ?

Since you have twins, one of the drives MAY be a counter rotation drive, in which case read this taken from the service manual.

REMOVAL, INSTALLATION AND ADJUSTMENTS
SERVICE MANUAL NUMBER 14
Sterndrive Unit Removal

1. Move remote control shift lever into the FORWARD gear position on standard rotation gear cases, or REVERSE on counter rotation gear cases.

 

[kevinbeth]

Re: engine removal ?

When i fired them up both engines began spitting water out of the throttle body, i pulled the dipstick and they were full all the wqay up to the top. Pulled plugs out and water came out of number 1 hole. Performed a leak down test and could feel air in the hoses.Also felt air coming out of number 3 hole, figured it may be a head gasket. But they seem fine. i cant see any block damage but iw as going to have it checked at a machine shop. I do a lot of work on gm diesel trucks so i was given the boat in trade because he was told by searay that the blocks were cracked and decided to just dump it.
SeaRay never actually looked at the boat. I do know it sat for 4 years and only was used twice. Nobody knows if the blocks were ever drained

 

[Don S]

Re: engine removal ?

If you have water going into the oil very quickly, you have cracked blocks from not draining the water and it freezing. Head gaskets being the problem is only a "hope" by the inexperienced and "Just a fact of life" by the experienced. Brand new engines freeze and break just like old ones.
If you want to see the cracks, pull the intake manifolds and have a look. They will be obvious. (after you get all the water and oil out of it.)

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: engine removal ?

... Or is there a known freeze that has happened to these motors, that we don't know about?

And now we know that there was. They are junk. Have fun replacing them. I'd still be very leery of those exhaust manifolds too, even though the "checked out." If they had water in them that froze, they could/should be cracked too.

 

[superpop]

Re: engine removal ?

What do the hour meters say? Was the boat used in salt water or fresh, the Mani's and Risers could be fine, not saying they are but could be.

 

[Don S]

Re: engine removal ?

What do the hour meters say? Was the boat used in salt water or fresh, the Mani's and Risers could be fine, not saying they are but could be.

Hour meter readings mean nothing. An engine with 15 minutes of running and left in freezing weather will be just as cracked as one with 1000 hours.
Anyone replacing an engine with freeze damage and no history, and they use the old manifolds and risers are just asking to replace the engines again.

 

[DeepVee]

Re: engine removal ?

too bad about the engines, but with a nice boat like that you can put new ones in and be ahead of the game still. Are they Mercs? You can get reman longblocks for about 1500 or less with good warranty if you look. Look for risers and manifolds at perf protech marine. I used their ceramic coated on my formula and they are great. Before you pull the engines take a sharpie and mark the exact location of the mounts on the stingers. Take the bolts out of the stringers to get the engines loose on the front. Take the 2 large fine thread bolts out of the 2 ears on the bellhousing that hold the engine to the housing onthe transom. Drives need to be pulled. Cable mounting removed. all fuel lines etc. It's a snap!

 

[kevinbeth]

Re: engine removal ?

The whole removing the outdrive part has me nervous. Never been that far into a boat before. Ill do them one at a time so i hav the other for reff i guess

 

[Fishermark]

Re: engine removal ?

The whole removing the outdrive part has me nervous. Never been that far into a boat before. Ill do them one at a time so i hav the other for reff i guess

I understand you being nervous... but pulling the outdrives is easy. You never did say - are these Mercruiser? Volvo? What type?

 

[kevinbeth]

Re: engine removal ?

mercruiser 4.3 i dont remember what the outdrives are

 

[Alpheus]

Re: engine removal ?

You need to read up on the manuals found in the Adults Only section. The drives are easy to take off...

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: engine removal ?

The whole removing the outdrive part has me nervous. Never been that far into a boat before. Ill do them one at a time so i hav the other for reff i guess

Pulling the drive will be the EASIEST part of what you do. reinstalling them will nly be slightly harder, unless they are Alphas. Then they will be a little bit harder to install. But I am fairly certain they will be Bravos, and they are very easy to re-install. They are just heavy, that's all.

 

[cr2k]

Re: engine removal ?

Huh? Never saw a Bravo behind a 4.3.

 

[Don S]

Re: engine removal ?

Huh? Never saw a Bravo behind a 4.3.

You gotta get out more. They have been used with the 4.3 since 96, or in that vicinity somewhere.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: engine removal ?

Huh? Never saw a Bravo behind a 4.3.

Well, you do have an OMC Stringer drive, so I am not surprised at that statement!

On a 28' cruiser with twin engines, the original poster should have Bravo drives. I wouldn't be shocked if they are Alphas, but they really should be Bravos. And by 2004, they should have been Bravo 3s!

 

[rodbolt]

Re: engine removal ?

engine removal, its a snap?
unless you have to remove half the interior,engine hatch and genset to access them .

take careful pictures,have a plan of attack.
you will need a striaght shot at the engine lifts or your gonna make some interesting lifting device.
been there done that.
we call those boats:campers: and sometimes the add ons make engine access difficult.
I replaced a 5.7 volvo with XDP drives in a 28 fourwinns a few years back that took 7 hours to remove enough stuff to access the stbd engine.
then had to remove the risers and attach the lifting chain to the manifolds using some custom fabricated brackets.
thats when the customer found out that volvo doesnt pay to remove stuff for engine access.