ebigelsen
New Member
This is my story about having to replace not one or two engines, but now seven Mercruiser engines on my Sea Ray, and what I’ve learned along the way which will hopefully be helpful to you.
First, you might initially think, judging by the sound of it, I’m into racing “go fast” boats that go through engines frequently due to the stress of racing high performance engines at high speeds and RPMs, but I’m not. I own a 38 foot Sea Ray Sundancer which is a recreational express style boat that cruises at 18kts (20.7 mph) at 3,600 RPMs. The boat is powered by Mercruiser 7.4L, 454 cubic inch, 380 Horizon MPI engines that connect to Borg Warner 5,000 Velvet drive, V-drive transmissions. It’s worth noting that Mercruiser and Sea Ray, while separate companies, are connected - they’re both subsidiaries of Brunswick Corporation which I’ll discuss later. It’s also worth noting that I have over thirty years of boating experience, and I’m very conscientious about the maintenance and care of my boat, including frequently checking engine oil, transmission and coolant levels, and changing them annually, engine oil and filter, and regularly as recommended by Mercruiser using Mercruiser parts.
To date, I’ve had to replace seven Mercruiser engines, and this is where my story begins.
Water reversion (water ingestion), design flaws, manufacturing defects, re-manufactured part defects, improper installation, expensive repairs bills, lost valuable boating time, headaches, stress, aggravation, time, money, etc. These are the ingredients that make many people run away from boating. My family loves boating, however, we had to endure multiple Mercruiser which had engine failures which has truly hampered our boating experience and pleasure.
We initially found our dream boat, a Sea Ray Sundancer with the same engines as described above, that was seemingly in bristol condition, until an experienced and skilled boat surveyor, Bob, identified a major engine problem. While the boat looked amazing, and the sea trail went smoothly, Bob knew enough about Merc engines to check further. As part of the survey, he took off the spark plugs to perform a visual inspection of the spark plugs, and a compression test. Uh oh, he couldn’t get close to half of the nearly sixteen spark plugs off between the two-big block V8 Merc engines. After further examination of the engines, his advice was to run away from this boat since the engines had water in them. So we did.
We learned more about the water ingestion problems that Mercruiser, and a few other marine engines had. This was mainly due to a design flaw in the exhaust system, and geometry of the engine sitting too low in the engine bilge (shallow down angle of the exhaust hose). This allowed sea water that was cooling the engine’s heat exchanges, in my fresh water cooled engine, to exit though the exhaust elbows and large exhaust hoses, and out the boat. The only problem was that due to something known as the capillary affect, some water reverted back up through the exhaust hoses and elbows, and got passed the manifolds, and into the engine. Think of a straw, and what happens when there’s liquid in a straw, and the straw is gently vibrated - the water moves up the tube.
The one universally known thing about boating is that engines and sea water don’t mix well. This is especially true when corrosive salt water gets into an engine, and the internal components of an engine start wearing away over time, and the water hampers proper combustion in the cylinder. Uh oh, big engine problem! Uh oh, lost boating time, big repair bills, warranty issues, etc.
So now you know something about water ingestion, and what happens. Also, you’d like to think that seemingly reputable companies like Sea Ray and Mercruiser, that are sister companies, would have known about water ingestion, and would have designed and built engines and boat that eliminate this problem. Let’s face it, we’re not putting someone on the moon here. This is boat and engine design 101 - don’t let residual exhaust water come back into the engine.
So my story continues when I finally purchased another similar Sea Ray Sundancer with the same engines, but being aware of the problem, I thought I’d avoid the water ingestion problem with a few fixes Mercruiser and SeaRay supposedly came up with.
This next boat surveyed fine, including the engines that had approximately 250hrs on them (the boat was four to five years old). After nearly two seasons of boating and lots of enjoyment, I started my engines and it sounded like a lose bolt rattling around inside one of them - a truly terrible sound.
Well, after about $4,000 in labor charges, I had confirmation that my engines had ingested water, and the corrosive effects of salt water unknowingly ate away several internal parts. This shouldn’t have happened because Mercruiser and Sea Ray were aware of the problem and came out with service bulletins to address this problem. One solution was to install a baffle flap in the exhaust hose to keep the water from reverting back up the hose. This should have been done under warranty to my engines before I bought the boat since it was serviced by an authorized SeaRay and Mercruiser dealer, but it wasn’t.
The saga continues with Sea Ray and Mercruiser, attempting to create goodwill by providing multiple re-manufactured Mercruiser engines. However, they’ve all failed for one reason or another, whether due to improper installation by Mercruiser authorized dealers, design issues, or defective re-manufactured Mercruiser parts. I’ve had to replace seven Mercruiser engines in approximately seven years.
I’m sharing my experience with you so you can understand what’s going on, and hopefully avoid many of the problems I’ve had so you can enjoy your boat and boating. Further, I hope you will also share your experiences in the hope of getting boat and engine manufactures to recognize they need to create more dependable products, and support their products better. Why do you think most everyone knows the saying: “The two happiest days of a boat owner’s life are the day you buy it, and the day you sell it.” Perhaps it’s time to adopt the principles of the automobile Lemon Law for boat and engine manufacturers. Let’s face it, consumers want dependable products for recreational use, and without lots of problems and hassle. In turn, if the industry did change the perception by producing better, more reliable products with better support, then they’d sell more products, generate more revenue and profit.
First, you might initially think, judging by the sound of it, I’m into racing “go fast” boats that go through engines frequently due to the stress of racing high performance engines at high speeds and RPMs, but I’m not. I own a 38 foot Sea Ray Sundancer which is a recreational express style boat that cruises at 18kts (20.7 mph) at 3,600 RPMs. The boat is powered by Mercruiser 7.4L, 454 cubic inch, 380 Horizon MPI engines that connect to Borg Warner 5,000 Velvet drive, V-drive transmissions. It’s worth noting that Mercruiser and Sea Ray, while separate companies, are connected - they’re both subsidiaries of Brunswick Corporation which I’ll discuss later. It’s also worth noting that I have over thirty years of boating experience, and I’m very conscientious about the maintenance and care of my boat, including frequently checking engine oil, transmission and coolant levels, and changing them annually, engine oil and filter, and regularly as recommended by Mercruiser using Mercruiser parts.
To date, I’ve had to replace seven Mercruiser engines, and this is where my story begins.
Water reversion (water ingestion), design flaws, manufacturing defects, re-manufactured part defects, improper installation, expensive repairs bills, lost valuable boating time, headaches, stress, aggravation, time, money, etc. These are the ingredients that make many people run away from boating. My family loves boating, however, we had to endure multiple Mercruiser which had engine failures which has truly hampered our boating experience and pleasure.
We initially found our dream boat, a Sea Ray Sundancer with the same engines as described above, that was seemingly in bristol condition, until an experienced and skilled boat surveyor, Bob, identified a major engine problem. While the boat looked amazing, and the sea trail went smoothly, Bob knew enough about Merc engines to check further. As part of the survey, he took off the spark plugs to perform a visual inspection of the spark plugs, and a compression test. Uh oh, he couldn’t get close to half of the nearly sixteen spark plugs off between the two-big block V8 Merc engines. After further examination of the engines, his advice was to run away from this boat since the engines had water in them. So we did.
We learned more about the water ingestion problems that Mercruiser, and a few other marine engines had. This was mainly due to a design flaw in the exhaust system, and geometry of the engine sitting too low in the engine bilge (shallow down angle of the exhaust hose). This allowed sea water that was cooling the engine’s heat exchanges, in my fresh water cooled engine, to exit though the exhaust elbows and large exhaust hoses, and out the boat. The only problem was that due to something known as the capillary affect, some water reverted back up through the exhaust hoses and elbows, and got passed the manifolds, and into the engine. Think of a straw, and what happens when there’s liquid in a straw, and the straw is gently vibrated - the water moves up the tube.
The one universally known thing about boating is that engines and sea water don’t mix well. This is especially true when corrosive salt water gets into an engine, and the internal components of an engine start wearing away over time, and the water hampers proper combustion in the cylinder. Uh oh, big engine problem! Uh oh, lost boating time, big repair bills, warranty issues, etc.
So now you know something about water ingestion, and what happens. Also, you’d like to think that seemingly reputable companies like Sea Ray and Mercruiser, that are sister companies, would have known about water ingestion, and would have designed and built engines and boat that eliminate this problem. Let’s face it, we’re not putting someone on the moon here. This is boat and engine design 101 - don’t let residual exhaust water come back into the engine.
So my story continues when I finally purchased another similar Sea Ray Sundancer with the same engines, but being aware of the problem, I thought I’d avoid the water ingestion problem with a few fixes Mercruiser and SeaRay supposedly came up with.
This next boat surveyed fine, including the engines that had approximately 250hrs on them (the boat was four to five years old). After nearly two seasons of boating and lots of enjoyment, I started my engines and it sounded like a lose bolt rattling around inside one of them - a truly terrible sound.
Well, after about $4,000 in labor charges, I had confirmation that my engines had ingested water, and the corrosive effects of salt water unknowingly ate away several internal parts. This shouldn’t have happened because Mercruiser and Sea Ray were aware of the problem and came out with service bulletins to address this problem. One solution was to install a baffle flap in the exhaust hose to keep the water from reverting back up the hose. This should have been done under warranty to my engines before I bought the boat since it was serviced by an authorized SeaRay and Mercruiser dealer, but it wasn’t.
The saga continues with Sea Ray and Mercruiser, attempting to create goodwill by providing multiple re-manufactured Mercruiser engines. However, they’ve all failed for one reason or another, whether due to improper installation by Mercruiser authorized dealers, design issues, or defective re-manufactured Mercruiser parts. I’ve had to replace seven Mercruiser engines in approximately seven years.
I’m sharing my experience with you so you can understand what’s going on, and hopefully avoid many of the problems I’ve had so you can enjoy your boat and boating. Further, I hope you will also share your experiences in the hope of getting boat and engine manufactures to recognize they need to create more dependable products, and support their products better. Why do you think most everyone knows the saying: “The two happiest days of a boat owner’s life are the day you buy it, and the day you sell it.” Perhaps it’s time to adopt the principles of the automobile Lemon Law for boat and engine manufacturers. Let’s face it, consumers want dependable products for recreational use, and without lots of problems and hassle. In turn, if the industry did change the perception by producing better, more reliable products with better support, then they’d sell more products, generate more revenue and profit.
