So I thought I drained all the water last fall - Help!

[ATLWakeDude]

Apparently I failed to drain ALL of the water out of the engine during my winterization. I hooked up the fake-a-lake while getting the boat ready to put in the water for the season and after I started the engine there was a stream of water shooting from the stbd side. At first I thought I forgot to install a drain plug, but after further investigation, I realized that the block is cracked on the stbd side just above where the hot water take off for the shower is.

Now I need to figure out my best course of action!! and fast!! I need to get either a replacement engine or a long block that I can swap everything over to. It doesn't have to be new, but should be in good shape.

My current engine is a Mercruiser 350 Map MPI Ski in my '99 21V.

Any recommendations or leads would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[AdaminMN]

I know the feeling you felt in your chest when you saw that crack. I was there about five years ago.

The 350 will crack in a couple places. If you're lucky, it's only the exterior leak.

Without disassembly, the only way to determine if it's not cracked internally is to run it. Hook up your fake a lake. Run it for a minute and shut it down. Then check your oil. If it's milky, ithe block is toast. If not, I'd run it again for a couple more minutes, and check again.

If it's ou an exterior leak, there are a couple products out there you could use to seal it up.

Good luck!

[lee]

If it is external only you can try some of this.

[TeamAllen]

Sorry to hear of your problem. I hope the repair idea can work for you. Here are a few older threads on the subject. I hope you don't need a new engine. Good luck!!
http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...ghlight=engine
http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...ghlight=engine

[boatwakes]

Don't even run the motor, cracked block equals no go. Grab a junkyard block, 1984 - 2003, roller cam and the block is referred to as the LT. Take it to your machine shop and have them machine it to fit your Pistons, or new, and then build it with all your engine components. Check if the machine shop has one even. Block should cost you no more than $400. Do not buy an Internet long block, all of them are junk. By Internet block I mean ebay and such. Buy directly from mercruiser or trust your machine shop but the components those cheap motors are assembled with, and their build techniques, suck.

[lee]

Did you have water in the oil?

[boatwakes]

It won't be just an external fracture. To verify it quickly, open the oil fill while its running and emulsifying the water into the oil.

[lee]

I would check for water in the oil before I bought a new engine. I have repaired four with external cracks only.

[Trays22]

Yep me too! I checked the oil and made sure no water was in it then used a nice dremmel and ground a nice V into the crack and used JB Weld, the boat was an 1989 Chaparral that I owned and is still running today with the same family that bought it. And yes I told him about the repair.

[ATLWakeDude]

I ran for a while found no water in the oil at all. But the crack is pretty significant. Hopefully I can get some pics to attach via tapatalk app.


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[ATLWakeDude]

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[ATLWakeDude]

As you can see, it starts near the top of the block close to the head and propagates around in a semicircular route down around by the hot water shower tap.


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[Timmy!]

If there's no water in the oil, I say give one of the posted solutions a try. The most you will be out is a few dollars and a couple of hours of your time but it's a LOT cheaper than pulling the engine out. lee is one of the most trusted mechanic types on this forum and he is telling you to give it a try...

[IDBoating]

You (or someone else) could also run a bead of weld along that seam. Not terribly difficult, even I know how and I'm nobody's idea of a welder. Paint when done and that engine could last a very long time.

[ChrisBarnes05-12-84]

Wow you got it good. I would bet it's cracked somewhere on the inside to. Mine was cracked by the water jackets around the cylinders when it happened to me. Mine cracked in '09 after not properly winterizing. It's an expensive lesson to learn. But I wish you the best of luck! I ran mine for a while after it happened to with no water in the oil. Only when I got boat off trailer and put it under a load did it finally give up.