Made a mistake

[plassiter1]

great forum you have, very happy to be here.

I have a 1985 Mercruiser 170 with alpha 1

I left my boat in my driveway attached to the water muffs and let it run to charge the batteries.

I got busy on the phone and saw my boat covered in a cloud of steam.

the motor stopped and the coolant tank was boiling over.

the engine stopped by itself as it overheated to say the least.

i know it still turns over so its not seized, besides a impeller pump change what else can I expect damage wise?

thanx all for any responses.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Made a mistake

Head gasket, cooked valves, fried flappers..........how do the rubber parts in the exhaust system look??

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Made a mistake

Head gasket,warped block, cracked manifold,riser,melted (riser boot, shift cable, hyd. lines,power steering lines.)

compression test first,
replace melted components
replace A/F checking for coolant in the oil or cylinders(pull plugs first)
test run

 

[plassiter1]

Re: Made a mistake

thanx guys, will let you all know how I make out.

 

[thrasher]

Re: Made a mistake

Was the engine just idling or did you have it reving?
If it was just idling you may get lucky and not have done very much damage, but if it was reving at more than 1500RPM you may have a lot of damage as suggested above.

 

[88wellcraft]

Re: Made a mistake

Thermostat stuck closed? Might want to check that too.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Made a mistake

Ya might just now find out how cheap battery chargers are that plug into an outlet. ..(think that phone call has cost ya a LOT of money), not being too sarcastic, but what the hell were ya thinking? Just like letting smoke out of a wire...looks innocent, but it will cost ya..

 

[plassiter1]

Re: Made a mistake

I believe it was just idling.

the ironic part is I just bought a battery charger , I have no clue what I was thinking.

still havent heard back from the marina to know the full extent of the damage

 

[plassiter1]

Re: Made a mistake

heres a quick update.

i guess I got lucky that day, as my mechanic said my engine is fine.

new impeller pump kit , a prestone flush, and an oil change, and I am happy to report been out on the lake 3 times already with no problems.

I guess the mercruiser 170 is stronger than most people give it credit for.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Made a mistake

I guess the mercruiser 170 is stronger than most people give it credit for.

Ayuh,............

Or,.....
If it's runnng Soo Good Now,.........
It might be a Good Time for a Boat Up-Grade.................

 

[f_inscreenname]

Re: Made a mistake

Its not always skill that takes the day. Sometimes luck is all you need.

 

[plassiter1]

Re: Made a mistake

Ayuh,............

Or,.....
If it's runnng Soo Good Now,.........
It might be a Good Time for a Boat Up-Grade.................

thats exactly what I was thinking as well. now I just have to convince the wife and find something else to buy.

couple of observations about the 4 cylinder merc 170.

1. it is not underpowered, it does move quite well and gets to plane at about 3000rpm.

2. its not "economical" I bought this boat on the premise of not wanting to dump hundreds of dollars in fuel, gas is not cheap in Quebec.

 

[Don S]

Re: Made a mistake

1. Underpowered they are not. That was the reason for that type 4 cyl engine.
2. It's basically half a 460 Ford. They also weren't easy on gas.
3. The 470 style engines do not deal well with overheats because of the aluminum block and cast iron head. It will fail, just a matter of when at this point.

 

[plassiter1]

Re: Made a mistake

Im starting to see some continued repercussions of this incident.

oil sending unit gasket leaks(fixed)

newest is the temp gauge noticed after the incident it doesnt go past 105 degrees , finnally gotten around to fix it.

by reading this site, I understand it could be a)the thermostat,b) temp sender or c) gauge itself.

changing the t-stat , anyone done it on this engine? it easy?

 

[JoChek219]

Re: Made a mistake

i haven't changed mine but the t-stat is easy to get to atleast