transom leak

[mr300z87]

Hi just stumbled on your thread. I did an 7.4l engine replaces on a simular boar not to long ago and documented it here. See thread in my signature file. I too over thought everthing as you are even lost sleep over it. I have say went really well and was much easier than any car engine removals I have done. Good luck

 

[rickasbury]

Thanks, have been reviewing it!
A question in my mind as I'm already thinking about re assembly.....when I did my bellows which was the first time I had removed an out drive....I put a new bearing in and could not get the out drive back on.I had an alignment tool and thought it was going in as it should be it obviously was not. On another forum I was on, a fellow on there said in the process you had to align the bearing to the copler ...I understand the front engine mounts raise the alignment up and down. I did not really understand what he meant and I had a friend come over that is a merc mechanic as I could not figure out how to get it together. I had the merc tool courtesy of this friend.....he stuck it in there...tap a little with a hammer and kept working it until he was able to get it to go in relatively easy. We put some grease on the spline, you could see vertically it was out of line a little but he said it was good enough and the drive easily slid onto the transom. Is this all the proper way to do things???

 

[Maclin]

Well, tapping forward is not a good idea. You do sometimes have to use the tool while it is only engaged in the bearing to pound N or NE or E or SE or S or SW or W or NW to get the bearing to move into a better alignment. Usually just up or down, just depends on what all forces the bearing has seen since the drive was pulled.

 

[alldodge]

had the merc tool courtesy of this friend.....he stuck it in there...tap a little with a hammer and kept working it until he was able to get it to go in relatively easy.

:facepalm: Agree with maclin, a hammer and the bearing is not good. With the drive not going in all the way, and IF the alignment would go in smooth before the hammer, then was the bearing put in backwards

 

[rickasbury]

no, did not put in backwards......

 

[rickasbury]

So, pretty good success today getting things apart, really went much better and less to do for all my worries. The only think I really messed up on is that I could not get to the tube for the foot reservoir in the back of the motor so I tried to undo it from the front...was having trouble getting the tube off the barb so I drained out the fluid. I thought the bottom fitting on there screwed on and off- there is a big nut on the back side so I started to undo that- not sure what is holding it on there but it does not unscrew and it did not come off so looks like I broke something...how does that come apart?? That is the only thing that will need to be undone as the motor comes out.

On the exhaust Y pipe connections....I undid the clamps that go vertically on the Y pipe, is that it for that??

And on the bearing topic above, there was no hitting of that tool, very light tapping and turning until it engaged.

So, I will loosen the two back bolts the the transom and the two to the motor mounts, remove and plug the fuel line and I think I'm done! Took maybe an hour and a half total to get where I'm at and I have to see if I can make the hatch work...that will be a problem if not.

 

[alldodge]

how does that come apart??

I think your talking about the speedometer tube. It turns only 1/4 turn then you pull it straight up out of the drive.

If your talking about the lube bottle, you just remove the bottle and then pick up the tube going back to the transom and move it away from the motor. The tube and bottle stay with the transom assembly and do not come out with the motor

On the exhaust Y pipe connections....I undid the clamps that go vertically on the Y pipe, is that it for that??

Yes, once clamps and boots are remove the exhaust is disconnected. Most remove the elbow going to the Y pipe and the two boots on each side also

So, I will loosen the two back bolts the the transom and the two to the motor mounts, remove and plug the fuel line and I think I'm done! Took maybe an hour and a half total to get where I'm at and I have to see if I can make the hatch work...that will be a problem if not.

Remember to disconnect the electrical including the grounds from the battery, trim pump and transom assembly ground wires. Also disconnect power steering hoses at the steering ram

 

[mr300z87]

Sounds like you made good progress. The drive fluid bottle is not really made to come apart, that big nut holds the float in place and it can be dis-asembled but was tough to put back (don't ask how I know). I ended up just cutting the hose figuring that I would replace it anyway. On the front mount remove the 2 lag bolts holding the mounts to the boat, this way when you put it back in the engine will still be close to correct alignment. Remove the 2 back mounting bolts and pull her out.

 

[rickasbury]

And the good news was with shore power on the hatch worked so I could close it up properly and not have to deal with raising it by hand...pretty good day of moving this forward!.

 

[rickasbury]

Yes, on the lube bottle...the hose runs all down in the motor so I did not see any good way to get it off- plus I screwed up the connection where the tube and the lube monitor sensor go into the bottom of the bottle. It needs to be cleaned out- I thought it was a nut you turn, which I did but it does not seem to unscrew, how does that come apart? Not a common thing to do I'm sure...sounds like I screwed that up. $$$ I will have to disconnect it from the back as the motor is coming out.
As far as wires to the motor, one to the alternator, one to the starter and there were 4 ground wires on the back side of the motor so I assume I got all of those...the two lines to the power steering lines, got them. Fuel line and my water lines all check.
As far as the boots on the exhaust, they seem pretty rigid and I assumed that once undone and the motor lifted vertically, they would just pull apart from the Y pipe? Maybe I have some more stuff to pull apart there? Looks like it would pull apart and the re assemble as you put the motor back in?

Also, I see a hook on the back of the motor to lift but I don't see anything/where on the front. How does that work??

thanks all for the input!

 

[alldodge]

Use a hose pick or screw drive to get the boot off the exhaust elbow. don't recommend leaving it connected.

In most cases there is a hook ring on top the thermostat housing (item 12). Don't remember seeing a serial number
http://www.mercruiserparts.com/bam/subassembly/31761/8093/190

If the ring is not there, you can use a chain and connect it to the head somewhere. Just need to remove a bolt off close to the center as possible and connect there. DO USE STRONG bolts

I like using 2 - 6 foot long, 1 inch wide lifting straps. Drape the slings under each exhaust manifold from front to rear. Then bring the 4 ends up to top and connect the lifting hook

 

[Rick Stephens]

+1 on pulling the exhaust elbows off. If when wresting the motor out you break the aluminum Y pipe you end up with an extra $600 bill. Far far easier to just buy elbow to manifold gaskets and remove them.

 

[rickasbury]

Thanks- I have to look back at the manual. My motor is also a closed cooling so maybe that hook is under the heat exchanger...one more thing to take off or at least loose- Hopefully don't have to go into draining the coolant. As far as the exhaust elbow- will look at that but as I looked at it quick yesterday, seemed like a lot of hoses or something went along with those. I like the idea of using the screw driver but also don't need to mess anything else up! I still have to deal with the lower unit reservoir which I hopefully did not trash (see above) and when I took the tilt cylinders off, I mess up at least two of those hose fittings...is there a special tool for those?

On the motor mounts, it was said above and in the manual also to pull the bolts that mount the engine mounts to the floor-I would think you would not want to be doing and undoing those. It looks like the nut that is on the top side of the mount removed would leave the engine mount on the floor and also in the same position for re installing the motor- what am I missing there??

 

[alldodge]

is there a special tool for those?

Its called a Line Wrench, and is basically a boxed end wrench with a slot cut into it. This way you have more sides to hold the nut

motor- what am I missing there??

This is done so your not messing with the motor alignment adjustment. Still need to check and/or adjust after reinstall, but if all goes back in and nothing has changed, then no adjustment needed

 

[rickasbury]

But does not just removing the large nut on the other side of mount do the same thing? Leaving the mount installed on the floor of the boat....if those bolts are just bolted into wood, I would think taking them in and out several times over the life of the boat would degrade the holding power of them?? Sorry to beat a dead horse...

Where do I get the line wrench, guess I'm going to need one...never heard of that!

 

[alldodge]

Several places, just google it. HF, Sears, others
https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-2655-F.../dp/B000NPUJOE

This set is metric but think you need sae 3/8

 

[Rick Stephens]

Take pictures of everything as you go, that way if you have questions when reassembling you have something to refer back to. It really helps the first few times. I never thought about it first time and had to go study pictures in the manuals to figure out where the coolant hoses went when I reassembled.

If you pull the lag bolts that hold mounts to stringers, the motor goes back in a lot easier than if you have to line up adjustment bolts.

Note; Removing the lag bolts is TONS easier than removing the three bolts on each side that hold the mount to the block. When I installed my V6 I had pinched the Y-pipe o-ring between pipe and transom plate. I had to pull the motor right back out after first motor start and subsequent garden hose like leak at the Y-pipe. No biggie, took 45 minutes out and back in. But because I had used 3M 5200 to seal the lag bolts into the stringers, I decided to pull the mount bolts instead. To get those back in was NOT fun and used every configuration 9/16th wrench I owned to reach around and bear on the bolt heads. If I had it to do again, I would still hesitate to pull my lags out since they were freshly 5200'd in to the stringers. However, if I was pulling the motor out first time in many years, I would absolutely pull the lag screws and regoop them with 5200 when I reinstalled. Just to make sure they were sealed in really well. And the motor will drop back in without a care in the world for the placement of the forward motor mounts, all you have to worry about is getting the rear mounts lined up. If you pull the adjustment nuts you will have to very carefully hold the motor high enough and perfect enough to drop down on the bolts without damaging the threads.

Every auto parts store or hardware store on the planet carries line wrenches.

 

[Bondo]

On the motor mounts, it was said above and in the manual also to pull the bolts that mount the engine mounts to the floor-I would think you would not want to be doing and undoing those. It looks like the nut that is on the top side of the mount removed would leave the engine mount on the floor and also in the same position for re installing the motor- what am I missing there??

Ayuh,.... If ya do it Yer way, the motor will fall off yer pallet,....

Pull the lag bolts,....

If the wooden mounts are Bad,....
What better time to Fix 'em,....

 

[rickasbury]

got ya, makes sense ...and it's just the riser I need to pull off, I don't think that looks so bad. I will look under the heat exchanger tank and see if there is something there to hook on to. I hope to have someone lined up by the weeks end to at least drop everything off to!

 

[Bondo]

and it's just the riser I need to pull off,

Nope,.... Not the risers,..... the cast elbow behind the risers, goin' to the y-pipe,.....

Loosen the rubber collars(hose pick is handy), slide the aft ones down the y-pipe, 'n the forward ones against the risers, 'n wiggle out the cast elbows,.....
Or,....
Wait til ya lift the motor, 'n those elbows get loose quickly as ya raise the motor,....
After the rubber collars are loose, 'n away of course,...