A strange mystery

[Jeepguy]

I bought my '06 185 Sport in the middle of July with 80 hours on it. It always fires right up and runs very solid.
I put 20 hours more on and took it Saturday to have its 100 hour service and have it winterized.
The mechanic called me today to say that he found the oil dipstick wasn't reading properly. Upon investigating he found that the engine didn't have the correct dipstick. While researching the proper part# he discovered the engine is not original. In fact the engine is an 05! I'm shocked!
Well everything is serviced and adjusted, and the mechanic said everything looks good, but WOW! I have so many questions that will never be answered! I am SO glad that I had a good mechanic go over the whole thing.

 

[jason78]

That is strange. Your engine may have been replaced under warranty by the orginal owner. You should be able to call Merc with the serial number and they will be able to give you the "story" if indeed it was a warranty replacement.

 

[jrcinnh]

Also possible that the original owner bought a model year 2006 boat made in late 2005 with an brand new current engine, made in 2005.

Just like cars, boats switch model years before the calender year. Check you HIN it should have the manufactured year and the model year.

 

[Gofirstclass]

You can call Sea Ray Customer Service and give them your HIN. They'll be able to give you the S/N's of the original engines. They may also have some information on why the engine was replaced if it involved any warranty work by Sea Ray.

 

[Nehalennia]

Also possible that the original owner bought a model year 2006 boat made in late 2005 with an brand new current engine, made in 2005.

Just like cars, boats switch model years before the calender year. Check you HIN it should have the manufactured year and the model year.

That's what my boat is. It's a '99 Merc engine and a '00 Hull. I'd bet it's stock.

 

[Jeepguy]

I thought the mechanic said I should have an F series, but I have an H series or something, I cant recall, but he said he would give me all the #'s and info when I pick up the boat

 

[Jdr01930]

"It always fires right up and runs very solid."
At the end of the day, that's the important part.

I agree with the others who say it's likely stock - I think this is actually pretty common. The boat I just traded for my new SD220 was a '89 hull with '90 engine. My dad was in the auto parts biz for decades, and said that kind of thing is not uncommon in the auto industry too. It really messed them up sometimes when ordering exhaust system parts etc. Actually it used to really piss him off.

 

[boatmailster]

Also possible that the original owner bought a model year 2006 boat made in late 2005 with an brand new current engine, made in 2005.

Just like cars, boats switch model years before the calender year. Check you HIN it should have the manufactured year and the model year.

boats are not made in "late" year. sometimes "next" year boats show in dealerships in late may/june!!!

 

[Smile Maker]

Ok, so maybe the engine and boat year are out of sync as is explained above, but how in the world did the dipstick get out of sync with the rest of the engine???

 

[Jeepguy]

Ok so I picked up the boat from service. The Carb and the block have different serial#'s. I dug through the paperwork given to me by the previous owner and I found that the serial # on the carb is the original. I am going to write Sea Ray with my HIN# and see if the know anything. I will also write Mercruiser and see what they can tell me about the block that is in there.

 

[Jeepguy]

Sea Ray emailed me this morning and they have no knowledge of the engine change. Mercruiser also emailed me. They don't know anything either, but they told me that the block is a 1995!!!!

 

[VTSeaRay]

so, the boat hull is '06, and the engine is '95? that's definitely not right. I'm surprised it even runs right. Seems like the Electronics and other engine control pieces are very different between those 2 boats. My '95 185 was carb'd, not FI, as the '06 would have been.

-VtSeaRay

 

[Jeepguy]

Both engines were carburated. I think that this is something that the seller should have disclosed. I feel a little deceived. I'm sure that this will affect the trade in value if I decide to upgrade.

 

[CraziFuzzy]

Both engines were carburated. I think that this is something that the seller should have disclosed. I feel a little deceived. I'm sure that this will affect the trade in value if I decide to upgrade.

Well, if you think about it, it didn't affect the sale value for the last guy who bought it... just saying.