Boating Forum forum

Greetings all, I recently bought a gem of a boat with only 192 hours on the Mercruiser 3.0 from the original owner. The engine runs great and has excellent compression on all four cylinders. I've never had this boat on the water. It had sat for many years but was told it was winterized. The fellow is a real stand-up guy and I don't doubt him, but after getting it running, I'm having some issues. It pours oil out the back of the boat through the exhaust. Oil in water, water in oil, etc... Read more

Hi guys, I've got a white/yellow Starcraft Holiday, I think it's a 1973 on the grounds that I don't see a 15' Holiday in the 1974 catalog, though I suppose it could also be a 1972 or 73 Nova 15. The paperwork says it's a Holiday. The center length is 15'4" and the beam is 66" if that helps. ANYWAY. The windshield was broken in half when I got it and we hit up UDP plastics to use it to make a new one. BUT we don't have much experience with mounting one - now, we've read the posts here... Read more

Long story short, I overheard a well respected mechanic tell a group this info. Story: The boat had 2 dead batteries since it was in storage for a year. The boat owner was going to use a small jump box connected to one of the dead batteries to start the engine and let the engine sit at idle to charge the batteries. Shore power was not an option. The mechanic said NOT to do this since the engine alternators would detect a low voltage of the dead batteries and send high amperage to... Read more

Hi, I filled antifreeze through thermostat housing, but couldn’t add more than 13 liters, the manual says 20 liters for a Mercruiser 5L MPI, maybe the manifold doesn’t get filled that way? Can I start the engine and circulate the antifreeze in to the manifolds? The drive is off Regards Affa

So this stems from a comment @muc Had made in another thread a few days ago. My 4.3 has a thunderbolt V setup on it with the black denso module. System has been more or less fine aside from that one issue I had where I was getting a backfire through the intake, documented here . Haven't had that issue crop up since last reported in that thread which is good, but curiosity got the better of me this week. My distributor still has the 2 wire pickup, the one without the extra ground... Read more

Mornin' Guys and Gals I just repaced all bellows and lower shift cable on a1996 Alph1 Gen 2. I did all the adjustments as described in the shop manual, and the shifter seems stiff. Both cables move freely when not attached to the bracket, but when connected and adjusted correctly, the movement is stiff. I routed the new cable the same as before by pulling a string through when removing the old cable. Any suggestions to get the shifter to move more freely. Thanks, Ken

I’m trying to plug the tachometer wiring harness into the front of my mercury control box. The plug is D shaped. What is the proper position of the D plug when inserting into the control box. I’m having a hard time getting it to line up and I’m afraid I’ll damage the pins inside the box if I force it. Thank you in advance.

Like my 9 mm, 45, 9 x 18 , 32s, etc. haven’t shot my 44 yet though

Picked up a 92 Bayliner Bayliner for next to nothing to restore. Have already removed the outboard built a stand and threw a battery and throttle on it just in case I need them. Removed some of the interior and as I expected needs a new transom and stringers, as these boats weren't the best built. The fiberglass resin was peeling off the floor like paint. Will also need some gel coat repair. My question is for the fuel tank. I'm assuming it's the original tank from 92. How long are the life... Read more

Carbureted engine, PCM 351 BOSS. So far tried rebuilding original carb, then purchased another factory style carb, then replaced fuel pump and then replaced the factory ignition and finally, got a completely different brand new holley carb. Nothing every changed, Stalls when you give it too much throttle from a stand still. In cruise, accelerates fine when you give it full throttle. You can see the accelerator pump working too. Really going crazy with this one. thinking vacuum leak maybe... Read more

Hello, I recently bought a 1993 Johnson 9.9 2 stroke outboard. It was sitting for close to 20 years but the previous owner ran it out of gas before putting it away in a barn. He claims that it was only ran 3 times and it looks brand new under the cover. When I hooked up a fresh tank of gas it ran flawlessly. After that I had it out around 5 days and it was running perfectly. Last week when I had it out it started running very rough throughout the entire RPM range. I got home and took the... Read more

Ran this engine with no oil in the gas for about 5 minutes. Yes, I know. It started to slow down ... and stopped. Did NOT actually seize, I am going to fog it several times and run it on double oil for 1/2 hour or so. Anyone else has success doing something else/additional? Thanks in advance.