New- please help.

[Jmeclevenger]

this is my first boat and I don’t know much about them. It’s a 91 Wellcraft nova 202 with a mercruiser 350 mag and mercruiser alpha one. Been out like 4 times with no issues. Was out yesterday driving around and the engine reved really high almost sounded like prop was out of water. I quickly shifted to neutral and could smell a rubber smell and a little smoke coming from engine compartment. Turn boat off take engine cover off and don’t see anything out of the ordinary. Start engine in neutral everything is fine. I can go forward and backward if I keep it just above idle. If I go any further the engine revs but prop stops. We were towed back and the boat is home but I need help advice on what could be the problem. Thanks in advance.

 

[GA_Boater]

Welcome aboard.

Motor revs, burnt rubber smell, smoke and only moves at idle speed = blown out coupler.

The motor and drive needs to come out to replace the coupler and the motor needs to be aligned during reassembly.

Sorry.

 

[Fishermark]

Yep - agree. Classic signs of a bad coupler.

 

[Jmeclevenger]

Not what I was wanting to hear. Any idea on about how much that will run?

 

[Fishermark]

Are you a "do it yourselfer" or not? The job is not hard by itself - sometimes the hard part is taking off / out the various boat items that need to come out to gain access to the motor. That varies with each boat, so it's hard to give even an estimate of price.

 

[Jmeclevenger]

I am a do it myself person but I don’t have a way to pull the engine. I spoke with the guy I bought the boat from and he said I should check the gimbill bearing first. I don’t know if that is the case but I feel like pulling the engine is going to be expensive

 

[Jmeclevenger]

Getting to the engine to get it out is easy. Just being able to get it out is the problem I have

 

[Scott Danforth]

gimble wont cause rubber smell.

rent an engine hoist, drop the trailer onto the hubs sitting on 2x6's. that will lower the boat enough to use the engine hoist.

 

[Maclin]

I did this inside my 2 car garage with a chain hoist. I did not remove the engine out of the boat entirely, got it as high as I could and then moved the boat back and did the R&R work while it was on the hoist with the 800# 4.3l in my lap more or less. Get a copy of the Merc manual, read and plan. You may not want to do it this way. I am under an HOA with a particularly nosy neighborhood spy team and could do the work in the driveway.

I had 9 feet ceiling to work with, built a gantry with the beam close to the ceiling. Close quarters but it all worked out. I got all the boat stuff out of the way in the driveway and removed the drive and did all the removal prep steps up to raising the engine. Then backed the boat in, moved the gantry to position the hoist as needed. Need to leave some room to move the boat back as you raise the engine, had to move the boat about 3 times to clear the stern and get up high enough to reach everything. Engine Alignment afterwards was a little tedious, getting in and out of the boat about 50 times it seemed.

Good luck on your boating decision!

 

[porscheguy]

Cool boat BTW. They didn’t make very many 202 novas. Mainly because of the recession that killed the boating industry when that model came out.

Anyway, its not hard to pull the engine. Take off the hatch and rear bench to give yourself ample room to work. If you’ve ever changed the engine in a car, this is way easier with the right equipment. A tall engine hoist may work. Some people build a gantry from lumber. I bought one from harbor freight. Regardless of what you choose for a hoist, with the proper one, engine removal is two hours work. Installation is about the same. When I changed my engine I spent an extra hour rechecking everything because I was concerned by how easy it was.

One thing i would suggest is to check the condition of the motor mounts. Engine misalignment is the primary cause of coupler failure. In addition, by several bottles/cans of bilge cleaner/degreaser because while the engine is out, you might as well get things clean. Also check the condition and capacity of your bilge pump. Wellcraft May have only fit a 500gph pump. You can easily step up to 1000gph and a new hose.

You can do the bare minimum coupler replacement and have it out and back in, in one day. Or you can knock out the maintenance stuff as well and it will occupy you for one weekend.

 

[Jmeclevenger]

I definitely want to do as much as possible maintenance wise while the engine is out. I guess another question about realignment what are things to watch for on that? I was thinking if I made a mark on the mount and where it’s bolted now when I put it back in line those up that would get me close but what are better ways? I only want to have to do this once.

 

[porscheguy]

You’ll need to buy or borrow an engine alignment tool. Ideally you should check the alignment before you pull the engine so you can see if your coupler failure was caused by misalignment. On the two rear bolts that connect the engine to the bellhousing, there’s no adjustment. The adjustment is done on the mounts on the sides. There’s one on each side. On the top of the mount you have a large nut held in place by a tab washer. Under that is the bracket that bolts to the engine. Under that bracket is another large nut and tab washer. Leave this alone. Raising and lowering the lower nut is how you adjust/align the engine. if you don’t disturb them, when you put the engine back in, it should be pretty much the same position before you removed it.

Check youtube for videos on engine alignment.

 

[Jmeclevenger]

Thanks. All this info is really helpful. Anymore tips or things for me to watch for will be much appreciated

 

[Maclin]

There is definitely something that needs attention with the alignment, something caused the coupler failure and you need to find that root cause or causes. porscheguy has a good post covering all of this :thumb:

One of the removal steps on mine, your engine may be different, was to remove the raw water inlet hose at the back of the engine at the power steering cooler, it runs to the transom. I decided that this would be more difficult than my non-limber body could do easily so I opted to just cut it and replace it during the procedure, that was a win for me even with the extra $30 cost. Definitely get all new rear mount stuff as suggested.

Hopefully your structure is sound and a simple alignment will be obtained and the new coupler will last another 30 years.

Grease the splines!

​​​​​​​

 

[Maclin]

A good set of hose picks helped me with the hose removal and manipulating the exhaust tubes. Good time to augment the ol' toolchest

 

[porscheguy]

Don’t pick up the engine by the eye on the thermostat cover. Use the eyes at the front port corner and the rear starboard corner.

while the engine is out give everything a look over. Check things like hose clamps and note if they’re positioned to be accessible when the engine is in place.

when you disconnect things like throttle/shift cables install the washers and nuts back on the studs you removed them from. Do it right away as each thing is disconnected. This prevents them from getting lost, and eliminates the head scratching and wondering if you got hardware mixed up.

Plan out each task so you don’t have to stop and make an unexpected trip to the boat store. For example, let’s say you decide it’s time to update the bilge pump and you want to go up in size. You’ll need the pump and weather proof butt connectors. You need to check the size of the fitting on the pump and make sure you have the correct length and size hose. You’ll need hose clamps and a means to secure the hose to the boat. Finally you’ll need a new barbed thru hull fitting, 4200/5200 caulk, and the right size hole saw.

get at least one of these kits.
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/sier...MI_fq-j-P_2wIVyrfACh1dQwFEEAQYAiABEgIXwPD_BwE

this is the bolt kit to attach the rear of the engine to the transom assembly. The odds of losing one of these things is pretty high.

 

[JoLin]

Definitely check the Y-pipe and make sure it's in good shape. Engine oil pan, too. Rot-through of either of those will also require engine removal... again.

My .02

 

[gergAlicious]

Jmeclevenger - I was able to get an alignment tool online for ~$22 or so. I also rented a large engine hoist from a local tool rent house - definitely larger than the ones you see at the auto stores. I’ll be removing the rear swim deck before I put my engine back in. I had removed many components before lifting the engine - but want to put it back in mostly assembled. I had limited ‘reach’ but ample height to clear the stern. I put the front trailer jack/wheel on a 6x6 piece of lumber, allowing more lift in front and lowering the rear in turn.

All - on the note of ‘new rear mount’ hardware. Is that a standard procedure when an engine comes out? Not trying to HiJack here, but mine all look fine. Should they be replaced as a matter of process?

 

[Maclin]

I had slight movement on one side of the rear mounts, so I replaced the fiber washers and double wound lock washers on my Gen II pre-knurled version. The parts may be different on your model.

 

[porscheguy]

I got new hardware when I put In my new engine because I was already a few grand into the project, and I recall when friscoboater went to reinstall his engine in his searay, one of the springs disappeared and it stalled his progress for a day or two. I hate getting stalled when working on a project over a trivial part that costs less than a dollar.