Mercruiser 50 L 2003 Tuliped Valves and more

"Well my 3 year old 2 season u

"Well my 3 year old 2 season use Mercruiser engine is shot I believe. My mechanic found no compression in #2 and #8 cylinders and removed the head to find corrosion and tuliped valves. He says that for $4,200 he might be able to fix it but one of the cylinder walls shows some scoring so it still might not work no gurantees. His recommendation is to repower the engine for $8,500 and step up HP. The maybe fix would rebulid the heads and replace the exhaust system manifolds, elbows and risers.

My mechanic says that this damage was caused by water coming in from the exhaust system. Mercruiser is saying it was not propped properly maybe(how they know this is beyound me I say CYOA)

So I am thrilled. As soon as this POS is fixed I am out of this boat and moving on to something else (not Mercruiser).

Should I try DIY and fix this engine or should I repower? 4.2K for the fix is ridiculous for a maybe. I might be able to do this for a lot less myself with a little tech help from a few friend mechanics (one boat and one car).

So what do you guys recommend?

Thanks,

Jacob"

"That's a lot of money for

"That's a lot of money for a 5.0L motor. Is he selling you a new one or is this a reman? You need to call around for prices. What kind of boat is it, is the motor injected and what other info can you provide? Salt water or fresh water? If you can rig up a hoist and you have a friend who is a boat mechanic, I see no reason to get reamed by the other guy, even if he's your dealer. Unless your motor is inaccessible, it should take about a day to repower it. At $85/hr, that's $765 if it takes 9 hours, plus parts, materials, fluids and the new motor, which I know is available for less than $4K (not Mercruiser, but it's a GM anyway and they're available all over). I used to use Jasper motors and had no problems at all. Used a few of their reman lower gear cases, too.

If the heads need work but are not cracked, the work and parts are fairly inexpensive. If they're cracked, replacements are widely available. The cylinder being scored is really no big deal, either. If it's not bad, it can be rebored for a relatively low price. If it's really bad, it can be rebored and sleeved. They sleeve race car motors all the time and I doubt that you run it that hard.."

"to hoist the motors out of my

"to hoist the motors out of my old 27 searay I spent one day disconnecting every thing. then I called the local auto towing shop (told them I needed engines pulled from a boat) he came up with a tow truck with the boom on the back and plucked them right out and onto engine stands for $100, and the same for re-installation. two remain engines a couple days of work and it was just about $5000 (for two engines)"

"All i can say is, "Damn,

"All i can say is, "Damn, Jake!". Welcome to boating. Follow Jim's advice and repower! Go find yourself a complete engine or a "long block" and man up and stuff it in. Not rocket science. As i told my friend the other day who was going to put a deck on his house... "if you had hair one down there - you would do it yourself!!" Good luck... We'll talk you through!"

"5.0 engine unless you have a

"5.0 engine unless you have a small boat is pretty underpowed and it makes sense to step up to a 5.7 260 to 300 HP which should fit your outdrive. In any case getting a rebuilt Marine 5.0 should be about $1800.00 You can reuse your manifolds, etc. and it should be about $800 to $1000 to have it swapped out if you can't do it yourself."

""My mechanic says that th

""My mechanic says that this damage was caused by water coming in from the exhaust system. Mercruiser is saying it was not propped properly maybe(how they know this is beyound me I say CYOA)

So I am thrilled. As soon as this POS is fixed I am out of this boat and moving on to something else (not Mercruiser)."

Well Jake,......
You need a New Mechanic,...... It's Not Mercruiser's Fault that You, or Your Mechanic can't set up a Boat.......

3 years or 2 seasons is a pretty Short Time for there to be a Problem with the Manifolds/ Risers,..... Even in Saltwater......

The fact that Merc. says your boat was Not set up right,.. Is unfortunately, Right On......
The Tulipped Valves says it's been Lugging, unable to reach it's recommended WOT......
That's Not covering their asses,... That's Just the Facts.......

And,....
At $4200.00 for Head Reconditioning,+ $8500.00 to Repower,........
It's your Mechanic/ Marina that's Covering their Asses,+ Making a Killing on Your Checkbook....

Good Luck with it....."