29 Sundancer, pulling the engine to replace the starter

[Bt Doctur]

29 sundancer twin 5.7 Marina said motor needs to be replaced because it has water in the oil and the starter is shot.

Going to pull the port engine to replace the starter . hydro-lock issue now. risers and manifolds show no water intrusion, even number bank has water in 2 cylinders. absolutely impossible to get access to the starter bolts.
Not to mention the genny in there on the port side and a water heater on the stbd side of the hull.
Anyone needing pics of the engine room of a 29 let me know.

 

[Strecker25]

29 sundancer twin 5.7 Marina said motor needs to be replaced because it has water in the oil and the starter is shot.

Going to pull the port engine to replace the starter . hydro-lock issue now. risers and manifolds show no water intrusion, even number bank has water in 2 cylinders. absolutely impossible to get access to the starter bolts.
Not to mention the genny in there on the port side and a water heater on the stbd side of the hull.
Anyone needing pics of the engine room of a 29 let me know.

What year? Our 98 is miserable to get to the starter as well. The main battery lead on the port engine came out of it's poorly executed crimp so I had to wedge in between the two motors to reattach it. Not fun.

We're not in need of pictures at the moment but if you feel compelled they would be great to stash in the archives.

 

[Bt Doctur]

somebody always has a question on the "how, what ,where" so I`ll have a library of pics.
To replace the genny the port motor has to come out, heck of a way to build a boat.
Even removing the stbd motors manifold there would still be no room to get a hand under the starter
Should be an interesting job. Preliminary look see showed the riser and manifold were dry and sooty. So to have water in the cylinders its either gaskets from an overheat or cracked head.

 

[Bt Doctur]

preliminary pics,
a mercruiser wiring screw up. why would you even want your system power hooked to the alt feed to the battery when the system power has its own 50A CB. The Red should go directly to the battery post on the starter. This way you can never have an alt runaway from not being connected to the battery powering up the main system power feed if the 90A fuse link should blow..

[IMG

]http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g219/BtDoctur/DSCN3436_zpsxwczzixf.jpg[/IMG]

 

[Bt Doctur]

Motor also has some type of flushing device on it. Except for the fact the block drains were plugged solid and no way to drain the block to winterize it. Let alone flush it. Maybe you fellow boaters with this system should investigate it further to save yourself a cracked block.
The 2 different gaskets makes it interesting too. Supposedly a Jasper motor and I still think they use the same head gaskets on both sides.

 

[tony357]

While the engine is out check the ring gear, the teeth can be damaged from hydraulic lock up..

water is most likely getting in from rotted cylinder head at spark plug cooling passage rotted into sealing ring.. if manifolds and risers are 5 years old or older toss them..

EDIT: I see it is a jasper engine, i used them for one year and stopped they are horrible.. look for repairs in the head that leak they use a system that threads uses plugs had two engines they built have repaired cracks in head that leaked..

I had good luck with the 1st few i installed spiraled down hill after that. one block they sent me heads and block were milled so much intake would not bolt on..

 

[Bt Doctur]

customer has had this boat for less than 1 year, the water must have been an ongoing problem.
Maybe that's why it was sold. ring gear looks good, not damaged. haven't done a full 360 yet though.
new manifolds, 3 inch blocks, and risers ordered, new starter. The head on the dry side looked ok, the one on the wet side looks horrible under the exaust valves. testing it tomorrow for any leakage. will post the pics if its something interesting

 

[tony357]

head gasket on top is original GM lower one is felpro..

if you look at the gm gasket top right cylinder you can see the discoloration in the seal ring it may be split at spark plug cooling port.

if you replace the manifolds and risers switch over to dry joint manifolds and risers..

 

[mwph]

Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures and the whole thread for that matter.

 

[Strecker25]

These are great, thanks Bt.

Regarding the starter fuse you pictured...do you just eliminate it? Ours on the port engine is pretty toasted, so I ordered a new one to replace it but everything I read about them says just dump the fuse and it basically serves no purpose.

 

[dvx216]

I would think that the starter fuse was there to protect the wire feeding the starter in case of a dead short to ground in the starter which would burn down the wire quite fast.There is a potential that if the starter would fail to ground it could weld the start solenoid contacts closed and then you would have no way of disconnecting the short from the battery.But that doesn't say you couldn't relocate the fuse to a better place but they installed the fuse closes to the most likely fault.

 

[Bt Doctur]

No, if the system power and alt feed are in the same connector, cut the system feed away and put it directly to the battery post on the starter. The system feed is protected by the 50A circuit breaker. If you did want to eliminate it at the starter, install a 90A fuse at the alt feed.The 90A will save the wiring in case of a dead short circuit.The downside to mounting at the alt, the wires going to the starter could still burn up is they were to ground out.

 

[Bt Doctur]

 

[Bt Doctur]

Reconned heads, new manifolds, risers, extention blocks, Hopefully assembled and test run tomorrow , install on Friday.

 

[mwph]

Wow. Rust, rust everywhere.
Wait, I take that back. The fuel filter looks ok on the outside.
Thanks again for the pictures.