Overheat issue turned nightmare

Z

Zklink5150

New Member
Apr 3, 2009
77
Weirton west Virginia. Ohio river MM 58
Boat Info
1983 sundancer 260
Engines
350 alpha
I just came to the end of a long struggle and wanted to share my findings and help the next guy along. It all started with a overheat issue at high rpms. After sitting for 14 yrs, I rescued this boat thinking I had a fairly solid boat. It was winterized properly and all that jazz, I thought, just change the fluids, impellar, tune up and go..here's how it panned out.

The impellar was my first move as I said, I put the boat in and found that I had the overheat. All seemed well with the engine, So I split the drive again to be sure. Warped impellar housing, upper housing seemed ok, changed all the seals, still overheating, now it's mixing water in the oil!!! Had bob mase at jtm marine in canton take the reigns. Turned up with a cracked block, two cracked heads, water pump, risers, thermostat, thermostat housing, oil pan. New 350 basically!! After that, still overheating at high rpms. I was livid. This site saved the day. I read a post that explained how to measure water flow from the impellar. After all this pain and money, the 1/2in water tube that supplies the engine was packed full of broken impellar pieces. What a lesson learned though. I mean, where did I think those pieces went when I changed the old impellar? WTF!!!

The next step is getting her on plane. Ive heard that my prop may be too big? (17) Any helpfull threads on this subject anyone could reccomend would be great.

Thanks for listening. It's been a long road...
 
Thanks for the follow-up. Too many times people post asking for help and we never hear the end result. It's great to see someone look out for the "Next Guy" to hopefully help later down the road. Thanks to Jim for letting us use his page to learn and make boating more enjoyable!:smt038
 
yeah, thanks for a good post and hopefully you can enjoy the rest of the season.
 
Lots of prop pitch threads on CSR
 
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So much further to go, But here she is!!
 

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Z,
Thanks for the post it should help future readers if they use the search feature & find it. I have a question though.

Mind you my experience is very limited and I am not trying to stir up any sh11t, but I wondered why/how the mechanic could spend so much time on this and put it back together with the clogged water hose?
 
Z
Welcome to the site. Glad you have her figured out now. She looks in pretty good shape. A good friend of ours has an '83 245WE. Nice boats if they're taken care of. Sounds like you're over the major hurdle.
 
mwph said:
Z,
Thanks for the post it should help future readers if they use the search feature & find it. I have a question though.

Mind you my experience is very limited and I am not trying to stir up any sh11t, but I wondered why/how the mechanic could spend so much time on this and put it back together with the clogged water hose?
Click to expand...

I Know it's happened to me before, if he didn't know about the prior impeller coming apart the symptoms may have led him in a different direction. Sometimes the simple stuff is the hardest to find because you assume the easy stuff is OK. He may have felt the hose and a small amount was getting through, hard to say. But it is very possible.

Z, we want to see pictures of the installed unit in the front. Post them on the other thread so we can see what you did. I'm curious as to how it came out. Works good, I guess?
 
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Z,

First, welcome to CSR! We're glad to have you, and as you now know, lots of friendly, knowledgeable people here.

Second, glad you got things figured out, and can enjoy the rest of the summer.

Third and finally, though I live in Charlotte, NC now, I was born and raised in Weirton, WV! Lived there until 1976. My folks still live there, and we try to get back often, but not often enough for sure.

Good Luck!
NCC
 
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where is weirton? I live in Parkersburg WV, and if I ever get my bot out of the shop I will be boating on the Ohio river putting my boat in at Williamstown, I got my boat all together Al Cott marine said he ran the boat and it sounded good so I put the boat in the water, fired it up and heard tick tick tick in my outdrive. I went ahead and backed the boat off the trailor and heard thunk thunk so I turned it off and called the mechanic to come look at it. he had me start it and put it into gear and it went in and I turned it back off. He immediately pulled the outdrive off to the tune of a busted U joint. Now im waiting on the call to go pick it up and go for round two I stopped by yesterday and he was putting it all back together but we will see how it goes. but would be cool to run into someone on the river from CSR ......thanks
 
Hi Matt,

Weirton is about 25 miles north of Wheeling, in the northern panhandle. Or, about 30 miles west of Pittsburgh.

Small world...my brother is a priest, and his parish is in Parkersburg, WV. I believe the name of the church is St. Margaret Mary's.

Maybe our next trip north, we'll bring the Sea Ray up, and do a little river cruising.

NCC
 
bring it on up .....there is ALOT of boats out on the weekends up here more so than I seen where I used to boat in Charleston, WV, I just hope I can join them soon enough
 
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