Mercruiser Maintenance -- Newbie At Work
Discussion
Following on from my other topic:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
and seeing as I'm not working for a few months, I decided to have a crack at maintenance myself.
I think I need to replace the manifold and risers as the boat is 9 years old and used in saltwater (although always flushed after use), replace the sparkplugs, fuel filter and change the oil.
I thought to do one side after the other instead of ripping everything off in one go.
First up, removing the Risers and manifolds because everything (plugs, fuel filter etc..) seems to be buried underneath them:
The throttle assembly is attached on the starboard side, I couldn't get the star drive bolts undone as they're rusted in. Managed to strip the threads too :Doh: but luckily they have bolts too that came out pretty easy.
The Riser came off pretty easily once I'd undone the hoses. One question, is there any trick to removing and redoing hoses? They seem tricky and fragile to get on and off.
Next up the Manifold. This came away pretty easily too.
This exposed a sorry sight of corrosion underneath:
The Sparkplug was rusted in, doused with wd40 and finally it came free. I suspect the plugs have never been changed!
Now to inspect the Riser, Spacer and Manifold (Starboard side):
The water runs around the manifold in channels, for some reason though the gasket on the below part restricts the water flow in one channel by a huge amount. Doesn't look right to me but I'll see what the replacement gaskets look like. Here's what I'm talking about at the top:
The parts don't look too bad in fairness, not too much corrosion inside (they look worse on the outside).
I'm looking at some stainless steel one piece items ($2,500) to replace the manifold and riser with but seems to be different thoughts about them on the web, some people saying horror stories of cracked welds and the like. Shame because the concept seems good.
Anyhow genuine mercruiser parts are $1,890 so I'm not sure whether I can refurbish or not.
Got to get my kids from school now so time's up for today, tonight I'll have a think about either:
Replace manifolds and riser with genuine parts, refurbish old ones OR use Stainless Steel one piece items.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
and seeing as I'm not working for a few months, I decided to have a crack at maintenance myself.
I think I need to replace the manifold and risers as the boat is 9 years old and used in saltwater (although always flushed after use), replace the sparkplugs, fuel filter and change the oil.
I thought to do one side after the other instead of ripping everything off in one go.
First up, removing the Risers and manifolds because everything (plugs, fuel filter etc..) seems to be buried underneath them:
The throttle assembly is attached on the starboard side, I couldn't get the star drive bolts undone as they're rusted in. Managed to strip the threads too :Doh: but luckily they have bolts too that came out pretty easy.
The Riser came off pretty easily once I'd undone the hoses. One question, is there any trick to removing and redoing hoses? They seem tricky and fragile to get on and off.
Next up the Manifold. This came away pretty easily too.
This exposed a sorry sight of corrosion underneath:
The Sparkplug was rusted in, doused with wd40 and finally it came free. I suspect the plugs have never been changed!
Now to inspect the Riser, Spacer and Manifold (Starboard side):
The water runs around the manifold in channels, for some reason though the gasket on the below part restricts the water flow in one channel by a huge amount. Doesn't look right to me but I'll see what the replacement gaskets look like. Here's what I'm talking about at the top:
The parts don't look too bad in fairness, not too much corrosion inside (they look worse on the outside).
I'm looking at some stainless steel one piece items ($2,500) to replace the manifold and riser with but seems to be different thoughts about them on the web, some people saying horror stories of cracked welds and the like. Shame because the concept seems good.
Anyhow genuine mercruiser parts are $1,890 so I'm not sure whether I can refurbish or not.
Got to get my kids from school now so time's up for today, tonight I'll have a think about either:
Replace manifolds and riser with genuine parts, refurbish old ones OR use Stainless Steel one piece items.
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