Need help with cooling system

8

85 seville

New Member
Oct 15, 2014
16
Ga
Boat Info
1985 Seville
Engines
Merc 170
OK, I'm about to pick this boat up FREE of charge from a family member. It is a 1985 Seville with only 52 hours on it. It has been in storage all its life when it was not used. I know nothing about inboard engines. Looks like I have a a holding tank with antifreeze that needs a new cap. How does this cooling system work? I have looked all over the internet and am confused on the many different options that are there. Here are a few pics I took a few months ago when I looked at the boat.
http://

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Oh boy are you in for the ride of your life, and i mean a bad ride.

That is a 470 / 3.7l /170 engine.

If you do a search you will see a bunch of posts about that dreaded engine.

If you havn't picked it up yet don't. Don't spend one penny on this boat.

Is there a actual alternator with a belt upgrade on the engine ?

What size is the exhaust pipe ?

I know this engine, and the pitfalls, and actually when i was re-powering my previous boat i turned down this engine and drive combination. They were in boats with actual trees growing thru them.

People here by me in NJ can't give them away.

To your question, get a oem mercruiser manual and study it, and this engine you are about to have.

Do not take it, buy it, or get tricked into dragging it away. You will be sorry.
 
Woody is that a replaceable piece or does the whole tank need repacing? I hope its not as bad of an engine combo as stated below. I picked up the boat yesterday and ran it for 5 minutes in the lake.
 
the tank is a heat exchanger. ur engine has antifrezze running through it, than sea water cools down the tank. Alan was talking about the Alt. There is an expensive upgrade for it.I think it close to 400. If i'm not mistaken the Alt gets really hot so to cool it down they run sea water through the voltage regulater and those fail over time
 
I had that engine in my '88 Regal. Other than being prone to vapor lock, I had no troubles. Not sure how long this engine wwas stored and for how long, but 52 hours on ANY 29 yo motor, at first, sounds appealing. Could be a disaster in reality. Curious how this turns out for you. GOOD LUCK!
 
Chief Alen said:
Oh boy are you in for the ride of your life, and i mean a bad ride.

That is a 470 / 3.7l /170 engine.

If you do a search you will see a bunch of posts about that dreaded engine.

If you havn't picked it up yet don't. Don't spend one penny on this boat.

Is there a actual alternator with a belt upgrade on the engine ?

What size is the exhaust pipe ?

I know this engine, and the pitfalls, and actually when i was re-powering my previous boat i turned down this engine and drive combination. They were in boats with actual trees growing thru them.

People here by me in NJ can't give them away.

To your question, get a oem mercruiser manual and study it, and this engine you are about to have.

Do not take it, buy it, or get tricked into dragging it away. You will be sorry.
Click to expand...

What a helpful post.

To the OP. Yes, that part is replaceable. You don't need to do the whole tank unless the flanges are broken but it looks like its just the cap that separated. I have this engine in my boat and it seems to be ok but I haven't put a ton of hours on it. Its got good fuel economy and in my open bow seville it moves pretty good. At least IMO. From my studies when the stock alternator craps out the best solution is to modify it to take a belt driven alt which is what Servio mentions. $400 is a lot when it comes to an alternator but hey, as far as maintenance goes, you only have one elbow and riser to buy (when the time comes) and not two like everyone else.
 
Last edited:
My regal had a 2bbl carb. The 4bbl gave an extra 15-20hp (?) - I can't recall exactly. With 4 adults and a kid or two the Regal was dragging. But yes, great fuel economy.
boat4sale.jpg
 
Chief Alen said:
Oh boy are you in for the ride of your life, and i mean a bad ride.

That is a 470 / 3.7l /170 engine.

If you do a search you will see a bunch of posts about that dreaded engine.

If you havn't picked it up yet don't. Don't spend one penny on this boat.

Is there a actual alternator with a belt upgrade on the engine ?

What size is the exhaust pipe ?

I know this engine, and the pitfalls, and actually when i was re-powering my previous boat i turned down this engine and drive combination. They were in boats with actual trees growing thru them.

People here by me in NJ can't give them away.

To your question, get a oem mercruiser manual and study it, and this engine you are about to have.

Do not take it, buy it, or get tricked into dragging it away. You will be sorry.
Click to expand...

I agree with all of this! The engine only has 52 hours because that is probably all it would run before it quit!! My first boat with an I/O had this engine and I considered going back to outboards because of the problems with design and longevity. Head gasket prone to blowing, alternator burnt up (twice) and heat exchanger barely cooled the engine and it became very hard to start after running it hard. I could go on but since it's free and been in storage all these years it may be worth trying to repower it with something. Don't stick any money in this engine!!!

However it taught me a valuable lesson, never buy new technology!! Like the 6.0 Ford diesels in trucks, this Mercruiser 470 was hailed as being a god send to boating. I bought all the sales pitch and jumped into this engine thinking I had made a wise decision. Only engine hours and experience will show how effective engine design is.
 
Newman said:
What a helpful post.

To the OP. Yes, that part is replaceable. You don't need to do the whole tank unless the flanges are broken but it looks like its just the cap that separated. I have this engine in my boat and it seems to be ok but I haven't put a ton of hours on it. Its got good fuel economy and in my open bow seville it moves pretty good. At least IMO. From my studies when the stock alternator craps out the best solution is to modify it to take a belt driven alt which is what Servio mentions. $400 is a lot when it comes to an alternator but hey, as far as maintenance goes, you only have one elbow and riser to buy (when the time comes) and not two like everyone else.
Click to expand...
Sure looks like the tank flange is busted off to me
View attachment 37775
 
Radiator shop can solder on a new one.
 
Ok guys. I got the piece out as the service manual showed and now I just need to order 4 parts as it shows in the manual. Thanks for the help.
 
Woody can you give me this link again. I need to order the parts to get the ra
diator working.
 
I had a 470 in a 17' Cruisers Rally, the boat was a great performer and gave us a lot of years of service. I replaced the voltage regulator once, about $160, a lot but not $400 for the conversion. I had to fix the radiator cap neck and that wasn't too bad, not sure of the cost any more (long time ago). I ran the boat hard, a lot of skiing, tubing and wide open throttle. If there aren't some problems with the amount of time the boat sat I would bet that would be a great free boat!

jerry van
 
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