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overheating

mechanical73

New member
I have had this boat for 3 years and it never ran hot (always ran at about 170). However, this season, it has been getting up to 200 and yesterday it actually reached 220 !

I stopped and turned off the engine - I could hear the water boiling in the exhaust manifolds and steam coming out of the carb.

I let it cool off for an hour and started back - I got about 5 minutes and it went up again. Let it cool off for another hour but when I went to start it, the starter just spun without engaging. I even tried the boost pack and someone tried jumping me. I'm hoping the block didn't seize !

The engine got extremely hot.
If its not seized then what would be the things to look for
outdrive impeller - how do you check ? I replaced last season.
water pump ?

how do you check if its seized - try to turn it by hand using the crank bolt ?

thanks
 
Should be able to turn it with a rachet, but you might have to take the plugs out to let off the compression. As for the other things, better advice from someone else. Good Luck!
 
The starter spinning and not engaging is a starter problem. Stick a rachet on the crank pulley bolt and try to turn it over. May need to pull the spark plugs. Most likely your problem is the water impeller or T-stat. Most of the time the circulation pump just leaks a lot of water or locks up and throws belts when it goes bad.

Knowing what engine an drive will help us help you. Their is no time table on a water impeller when it wants to go its going. I do mine every year. I feel that if a boats kept inside you can get 2 seasons out of it.
 
Good advice above! Make sure the ign. is OFF before turning flywheel. Should be able to
turn it by hand (somewhat) The starter not engaging is a separate problem... probably the
solenoid, batt. or connections. You need an impeller, nothing lasts forever!
 
As stated above you got a bad bendix on the starter. If it cranks but does not engauge, thats your problem. As for it being locked up, socket and a 1/2" breaker bar on the crank bolt and will turn it right over.

I got the same setup in my boat and I am having the same problems with overheating. Not to scare you but I got into mine and found all the cast metal is shot for some reason. Not saying that this is the case with yours but my maniflods are all clogged up in the water passages because cast swells to the inside when it goes bad. My theromstat housing is swelled so bad that it will not even fit the thermostat in it and the intake manifold looks the same way.
I would say mine is from excessive abuse of maintence and the fact that it was not even taken care of. My solution is that I am replacing the entire engine block(also has freeze damage), intake manifold, exhaust maniflods, water pump and impeller, hoses, t-stat and its housing. Its a shame because the oil changes must have been done regularly because you could eat off the inside of the engine.

There is Nothing worse than being stranded on the water in the middle of no where!
 
I had the same problem with a similar setup this year in my '80 Entertainer. If your thermostat isn't shot, and you have to go into the lower unit to replace your impeller, I would recommend replacing the entire pump setup. I changed mine twice this summer, as everything else looked fine, but it turned out the plate the impeller sits on and/or some of the gaskets were not in as good of shape as they appeared, and until I changed the whole kit out (on the THIRD try) it didn't cool good enough.
 
Hello checkmate forum,

I have been a member / follower since buying my 87 Checkmate Senator in the fall. 454 Merc. I have been excited about getting into the water and had it properly winterized by a marina in the fall after purchase.

Here's my day - I need some advice / help here please if anyone is able to pass along some...

Trailered into the lake this aft and had the lower unit submerged before starting. No problems on the start and all appeared normal. A little bit of smoking - but was told by the marina to expect that from the winterizing.

After about ten minutes of idling when I went to back off the trailer - it stalled after putting it into reverse. This happened several times and I thought it had more to do with a cool spring day than anything else. I'm probably wrong here in reptrospect.

Once off the trailer and things appeared fine, I decided to do a nice gentle cruise down the shoreline to get used to the boat.

Not good.

Stalled again and that's when I noticed the temp gauge was running all the way over to the right. Not good.

I checked the engine compartment - everything looked great with the exception of the motor being extremely hot.

Drifted down to the neighbours dock and parked it there for the rest of the day.

Checked the temp later and it had dropped to normal. Wanted to make sure everything was ok and turned it over again. Engine immediately ran - and ran well. let it run for about 15 seconds and turned it off and will leave it that way until someone can point me in the right direction.

Any advice?

Shawn
 
Shawn, sounds like your not getting cooling water through the motor. whats the condition of the impeller in the outdrive. I replace them every other year. From there is could be a sticking thermostat. Those are the 2 main causes of overheating.
 
I had a simialar problem a few years ago and I hope yours is better then mine was.
First make sure the motor is not seized. My starter did the same thing and after going threw a couple different starters thats when I noticed the starter was just spining because it had sheared off the teeth on the flywheel and I had BIG problems. Hope you just need to rebuild your starter I rebuilt my whole motor.
 
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