175 wont start

[alpinestar180]

Hi everyone. i'm new here. my family has had a sea ray 1997 175 bls with the 4.3 mercruiser V6 for a while now but this is the first time i have ever seen it. it has been in dry dock at an airplane hangar for about 3 years.

I took it out of the hangar the other day to see if i could get it to work. the problem is that we had lost the keys, and there was no battery. I bought a new ignition switch assembly and a marine battery at an auto parts store and installed them today. When i went to try to start the boat (i have one of those devices that lets you start it out of the water using a hose) it wouldn't even turn over. it clicked and the engine moved a tiny bit, but didn't turn over a full rotation.

i thought it was the battery conncection, but after messing around with the terminals and connections for a while all seemed fine. the batter gauge showed around 12V. so i thought maybe it was seized up. i tried to put it into forward gear and turn the prop by hand to get it to move. that only worked for about 3 full rotations.i could hear the pistons moving as i did it and felt the compressions and such. so i figured maybe i loosened it up a little. however, when i tried to start it, it just clicked again. i am almost absolutely certain that the connection to the battery is not the problem because it messed with it for a long time to no avail.

i cannot get the engine to turn over.

also i cannot get the stern drive to go up or down. there is not even a sound when i mess with the switch for the trim. is there any chance the stern drive being up is keeping the engine from turning?

the electronics for everything else on the boat seem to work fine.

Can anyone offer any insight as to what my problem is?

i searched but found nothing

thanks in advance

Edit: actually the website shows that the 175 bxl was only made in 1996

 

[Firerooster]

Have you checked the ground from the starter. May be some corrosion on it. Or the main batter ground where it grounds to theblock

 

[alpinestar180]

yeah. i'm heading down to the boad today. i'l have a look. i was also going to see if i can get the boat to crank with no plugs in.

still though, that doesnt expalin why the Hydraulic lifters for the stern drive wont work

 

[alpinestar180]

i tried to jump the battery straight to the solenoid and it still only clicked. ground doesn't seem to be the problem. i still cant get the hydraulics to work though.

i tried to pull the spark plugs to see if it would crank with no compression but they are basically inaccessible due to the headers being on top of them.

 

[zuhl]

Had similar issues with my 1995 3.0. Same story (minus the outdrive issue). Engine was siezed and it would just click. Tried the battery straight to solenoid too. I ended up messing with trying to start it till it broke free, but now no compression. Sheesh. Try to get those plugs out and soak the cylinders with some lightweigh penetrating oil and let it set for a few days. Good luck.