Kermit
New Member
I have not completed the process yet but have picked up most of the supplies to do it myself. The boat has 130 hours on it and I wil be replacing the water pump this go-round since I have no idea when it was done last, if ever. I am mechanical but this is my first boat and I'm trying to get as much knowledge as possible before I go in.
Anyway, here are some of the things I ran across so far:
1. The single point drain works pretty well as I had a freeze scare and had to dump the water and pour in the pink -50 two weeks ago.
2. Is there any difference in the Peak -50 for $1.99 at Advance Auto vs the $4.99 West Marine stuff that says it has corrosion inhibitors? Both are the right type of anitfreeze for motors. The West Marine is going in this weekend.
3. Semi Synthetic Mercruiser oil is tough to find and prices are all over the place. West Marine said they had it but didn't after I arrived.:smt021 One placee had it for $43 gallon while another had it for $21 gallon. Guess where I bought it? Of course, they say they never use it Syn, only dino oil.
4. Fogging seems to have several camps. The place where I bought the oil says they only spray in the CRC fogging oil as that's all that is needed. I can't find any solid references on-line that support this and I am leary of trying it. I did pick up a 6 gallon Moeller tank at WM to do it per the manual. This guy said it was unecessary to do it that way. That method is only for shops. the injectors are protected by the Startron in the fuel.
5. Ethanol fuel. Fill or drain the tank? The last shop says to fill it up with Startron. I still don't know which way to go. He does not agree with the manual. I think I can get non-ethanol semi locally. Maybe a road trip????
6. Which oil filter or water sep filter? I ended up buying a set of Wix. They are actually finer filtration than the Mercruiser brand.
7. Alpha 1 Gen 2 water pumps are expensive! $143 locally for the entire kit. It's a little less online but shipping adds to the price.
8. The local shop says there should be no in-lne fuel pump on the stringer. It's definitely aftermarket. Hmmm, it's in the Mercruiser manual. How often does this need to be replaced and what is the part number?
9. How much "cocktail" do I need to prepare for a 4.3 to run for 5 min? Do I need 5 gallons or can I do it with 2.5?
10. Whats 100 miles of driving worth to collect everything? LOL
11. Total cost at this point is around $320. I still need some two stroke oil for the "cocktail."
12. Once I warm the motor, how long should the oil take to drain out the seacock hose?
Conclusions:
I don't trust either of the local boat shops since one is overpriced (and bad rep from other owners) and the other contradicts most of what I read in my manual. I guess this is a good time to go it alone.
Feel free to set me straight, if needed.
Anyway, here are some of the things I ran across so far:
1. The single point drain works pretty well as I had a freeze scare and had to dump the water and pour in the pink -50 two weeks ago.
2. Is there any difference in the Peak -50 for $1.99 at Advance Auto vs the $4.99 West Marine stuff that says it has corrosion inhibitors? Both are the right type of anitfreeze for motors. The West Marine is going in this weekend.
3. Semi Synthetic Mercruiser oil is tough to find and prices are all over the place. West Marine said they had it but didn't after I arrived.:smt021 One placee had it for $43 gallon while another had it for $21 gallon. Guess where I bought it? Of course, they say they never use it Syn, only dino oil.
4. Fogging seems to have several camps. The place where I bought the oil says they only spray in the CRC fogging oil as that's all that is needed. I can't find any solid references on-line that support this and I am leary of trying it. I did pick up a 6 gallon Moeller tank at WM to do it per the manual. This guy said it was unecessary to do it that way. That method is only for shops. the injectors are protected by the Startron in the fuel.
5. Ethanol fuel. Fill or drain the tank? The last shop says to fill it up with Startron. I still don't know which way to go. He does not agree with the manual. I think I can get non-ethanol semi locally. Maybe a road trip????
6. Which oil filter or water sep filter? I ended up buying a set of Wix. They are actually finer filtration than the Mercruiser brand.
7. Alpha 1 Gen 2 water pumps are expensive! $143 locally for the entire kit. It's a little less online but shipping adds to the price.
8. The local shop says there should be no in-lne fuel pump on the stringer. It's definitely aftermarket. Hmmm, it's in the Mercruiser manual. How often does this need to be replaced and what is the part number?
9. How much "cocktail" do I need to prepare for a 4.3 to run for 5 min? Do I need 5 gallons or can I do it with 2.5?
10. Whats 100 miles of driving worth to collect everything? LOL
11. Total cost at this point is around $320. I still need some two stroke oil for the "cocktail."
12. Once I warm the motor, how long should the oil take to drain out the seacock hose?
Conclusions:
I don't trust either of the local boat shops since one is overpriced (and bad rep from other owners) and the other contradicts most of what I read in my manual. I guess this is a good time to go it alone.
Feel free to set me straight, if needed.