Ok, so many mechanics, so many opinions!
Here is what happened. I have a 79 145a in my houseboat. I was almost back to the dock when I looked down and saw that my temp guage was pegged. As soon as I pulled in I cut the engine. It had ruptured a coolant hose and lost all the fluid. More than likely ran about 7 min pegged out at the most. After everything cooled down I found the rupture and fixed the leak. Refilled with coolant. Ran the engine. Kept trying to die below 800 rpm but sounded very smooth. The plastic decal on the side of the heat exchanger melted some what. I checked the oil and there was water in the oil. There was about a quart increase in volume on the stick. I have had a "trusted" mechanic look at the motor. He looked at the dipstick and performed a compression check and said the fourth cyl. was 'sucking air'. He said definately a cracked head and that the motor would have to be pulled and more than likely rebuilt.
Now the issue is that I have had several other mechanics tell me it could be as simple as just a blown head gasket and that the head needed to be tested to make a diagnosis of a cracked head and that based on that I should not trust mechanic "a". Mechanic "a" is quoting me 7k to put in a re-manufactured 6 cyl mercruser longblock in the winter months 2500 if it is just a head and 5k to do the head during the summer. Now the problem is that I cant have these other mechanics do the work as my dock owner will not let any mechanic work on a boat on our dock without a million dollar liability policy so I may have to try to do it myself.
Any input would be helpful.
thanks
Here is what happened. I have a 79 145a in my houseboat. I was almost back to the dock when I looked down and saw that my temp guage was pegged. As soon as I pulled in I cut the engine. It had ruptured a coolant hose and lost all the fluid. More than likely ran about 7 min pegged out at the most. After everything cooled down I found the rupture and fixed the leak. Refilled with coolant. Ran the engine. Kept trying to die below 800 rpm but sounded very smooth. The plastic decal on the side of the heat exchanger melted some what. I checked the oil and there was water in the oil. There was about a quart increase in volume on the stick. I have had a "trusted" mechanic look at the motor. He looked at the dipstick and performed a compression check and said the fourth cyl. was 'sucking air'. He said definately a cracked head and that the motor would have to be pulled and more than likely rebuilt.
Now the issue is that I have had several other mechanics tell me it could be as simple as just a blown head gasket and that the head needed to be tested to make a diagnosis of a cracked head and that based on that I should not trust mechanic "a". Mechanic "a" is quoting me 7k to put in a re-manufactured 6 cyl mercruser longblock in the winter months 2500 if it is just a head and 5k to do the head during the summer. Now the problem is that I cant have these other mechanics do the work as my dock owner will not let any mechanic work on a boat on our dock without a million dollar liability policy so I may have to try to do it myself.
Any input would be helpful.
thanks