'82 Mercruiser 228 cooling system

If you spend a little time looking on say, Craigslist for used FRESH WATER USE ONLY exhaust manifolds and risers from a 350/305 You may be surprised what you might find for a couple of hundred......

kghost said:

If you spend a little time looking on say, Craigslist for used FRESH WATER USE ONLY exhaust manifolds and risers from a 350/305 You may be surprised what you might find for a couple of hundred......

Click to expand...

The thought has crossed my mind before and have been cruising Craigslist for the possibilities of converting back with used heat exchanger. Thanks

I put the port exhaust manifold back this morning and let it run for about fifteen minutes. Used my infared temp gun on the two elbows. Starboard side 114 deg and it's discharge hose 118 deg. On the port side elbow is 135 deg and the discharge hose is 250 deg. Guess it's about time to bite the bullet, get the charge card out, and buy a new exhaust manifold for the port side. With both new elbows I just can't think of any reason for the large variance of temps between the port and starboard elbows.

Question about the exhaust "Y" tube. Are there one-way flaps in them that could be malfunctioning and causing back pressure? Gonna hit the manual and see what's down inside the "Y" exhaust tube!

I just looked online and there are evidently two of them. Does anyone know if they are accessible for checking? Can the top of the "Y" connection be opened and stick a garden hose down it and try flushing it open? Assuming the flap might be stuck closed!

Could that possibly be a reason the exhaust manifold was carbon fouled instead of corrosion founded?

After the Elbow, there is a rubber boot. After that there may be a slightly bent aluminum tube (both sides) then another rubber boot (both sides) the flappers are directly below the Y edge where the boot slips over covering the flapper pin (on both sides).

The flappers should not have any influence on your high temp reading on one side. If one fell down and was clogging the exhaust it would affect both I would say.
But you wont know anything until you look.


Based on your description and your water flow design,

Is the water hose feeding the manifolds COLD? Are you sure you used he correct free flowing gasket? No restrictions as you need full water to cool the exhaust and elbow.

If all the above is true then the manifold must be restricting the water flow.......bet if you pulled it down again the passages are clogged.

Yes I'm using the four sided free flowing gaskets. Both hoses from the thermostat housing are cool.

I removed the prop and found a whole bunch debris inside the exhaust behind the prop. Take a look! No telling, right now, what else might be inside the "Y" tube. Look at that hunk of old hose that sluffed off the old exhaust hose. I put new hoses on shortly after I bought the boat in 2008.

After putting the prop back on I was going to run it to see if it made any difference. Got up to the helm and "once again" no power. Volt meter dead, and won't energize the slave solenoid but all the helm switches work the various pumps, blower etc. Once again If I didn't have bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all. After working on the electrics, earlier this week, everything has been working great and engine starting up great!

I can jump around the slave solenoid, the engine starts, but soon as I take the jumper away the engine cuts off. (No power to coil.) I really feel the problem is up at the helm. I checked all the fuses at the helm and engine compartment and they are all good as well as the engine circuit breaker.

Tomorrow I'll take the boot off at the top of the "Y" and see if I can fish anything else that might be down there. Also run a garden hose in there to see if it is free flowing out the stern.

I gotta say that before I put the port exhaust manifold back on, I put a garden hose on the bottom 90 degree hose connector and water flowed well thru it.

I pulled the "Y" tube rubber collar off, ran a garden hose down it and water flowed very well out the stern. That doesn't tell me about the exhaust thru the prop though. Thought I found the electrical problem. When I installed the port manifold I neglected to hook up the ground wire from the block to the battery. I have to sleep on this electrical problem cause everything was working just fine and boom "no friggeting power" going to the starter and gauge panel except the nav lights illuminating the gauges.

Seems like I had to loose a ground "somewhere" for the electrical just to quit working for no good reason! Gonna be busy this weekend so I'll get back to it this Monday. If anyone has any good suggestions I'd be willing to check out your troubleshooting theory.

As far as my cooling problem I'd like to check that a little further, with the engine running, before I through in the towel and buy new exhaust manifold. Couple of days ago I pulled the wheels and bearings, on the trailer, and they are all lubed and looking good. Towed it around the block couple time just to make sure everything was ok. Getting so close to launching except for these little irritants that keep popping up. Better now than popping up in the middle of the pond! LoL

Went back at it this morning looking for the electrical problem.

Disconnected the secondary port side electrical wires from the fuse block and it started right up. I had another "false" ah-ha moment because it ran for about ten minutes and shut down once again now power.

Took the panel "grey" ground wire off and once again started up. Five minutes later it died once again. Removed the battery select switch and cleaned all the terminals. "Nothing!"

Jumped around the battery select switch and "nothing!"

Switched over to #2 battery and started up for another five minutes and shut down. Both batteries still have 12.6 volts on them.

Jumped across the engine circuit breaker and no change.

Every time it dies the panel voltmeter and gauges are also dead.

Jumped across the ignition switch runs five minutes and dies. I was thinking maybe the ignition coil was heating up and shutting down but that would not answer why the control panel would loose it's power.

Gonna take the #1 battery to AutoZone and them check it for possible bad cell cause it takes a long time to charge.
Anyone have a clue what might be going on? Thanks

Just got back from having the battery tested. It has a bad cell and needs to be replaced. That said I don't think the battery is causing my electrical problems though. It has same problems using only the #2 battery as well.

Port side cooling: I just put the garden hose on the lower elbow hose and water comes out "very" well. I don't believe there is any poor water circulation through the exhaust manifold. Still need further checking of the exhaust "Y" tube for restriction of the exhaust gas after finding all that trash in the lower. Hoping that I will find some more old hose somewhere in the Y tube.

Geeze Kid,

You are jumping all over the place............


You need to take a step back and rethink your approach.

Disconnect the main engine harness from motor at large connector.

Make your self a hot start system. ( get one on/off switch and one momentary switch.)

Wire size should be 12-14 gage, of course if you don't have the specific colors use what you have BUT clearly label them so you know where they go.

1. Crank
2. ignition power
3. Battery power

Connect a purple (ignition power) wire to one leg of the on off witch.
connect a yellow ( cranking) wire to one leg on the momentary switch.

Connect a red ( power from battery) wire to one of the remaining legs on either switch and also jump that leg to the other open leg on the other switch.

Make all three wires, red, yellow and purple about 5 ft long and connect a alligator clip on each end.

Now connect the yellow to either the slave solenoid or the starter solenoid where the SMALL tallow with red wire connects (small terminal)

Connect the purple to COIL +

Connect the red to Battery +
Do you have a point ignition or a thunderbolt electronic?

If electronic then do the next steps.

Now turn on the on/off switch. This will give you ignition power

Now activate the momentary switch and this will crank the motor over and it should start. When it does immediately release the momentary switch.

The motor should continue to run until you turn off the on/off switch.

If you have points ignition then you need to connect the purple wire some place before the resistor wire in the wiring harness.

If this is the case let me know and I will advise exactly.

So if the motor runs and does not die then you have a wire harness issue before the connector on the motor.

If it still dies after a few minutes then you need to determine why. Start with the coil. After it dies With the ignition on, you should have 12 +/- volts at the + of the coil.

Is it there?

If not is the coil HOT?
do you see any oil on the coil?

Try it at night and see if it is arcing?

Coil for electronic ignition is a INTERNAL resister coil
Coil for point ignition is external resistor (for merc is is a ~2ohm wire buried in the motor wire harness)

If 12 volts is present and the coil is not hot then check for spark at one cylinder. Is it there?

report back if this helps or not..........

not enough time to type anymore........

hope this helps and let us know what you find

"KGHOST"
Yes I am jumping around because I don't have a very good working knowledge of troubleshooting boating electrical systems. When I get a chance I'll follow your suggested procedure above.

I have points and no cracks or oil on the coil.

Mean time I pulled the battery out of my truck and got the same results of no power. I hooked the port side ground back to the fuse block and she started right up and ran for about thirty minutes. I then turned it on and off a couple times and she started right up and smooth as silk. "Then" after couple minutes I tried starting again and "just wouldn't you know it" no start and no power showing on gauge panel. No power to the accessory switches.

Do boats just catch on fire, just sitting in the yard, for no apparent reason? Oh, wait! Let go get some insurance first before anyone answers! LoL

Have you checked the main wire harness connector?

All power goes thru that.

Pull it, look at the pins and sockets.

The pins have slots in them, they can be expanded a very little bit (be cautious doing this so you don't open them too much and brake them.

Also once installed a hose clamp should be put around it and tightened snugly to assure pin to socket contact.............

Look here next.............just had the same issue over the weekend with a customers boat.

kghost said:

Have you checked the main wire harness connector?
All power goes thru that.
Pull it, look at the pins and sockets.
The pins have slots in them, they can be expanded a very little bit (be cautious doing this so you don't open them too much and brake them.
Also once installed a hose clamp should be put around it and tightened snugly to assure pin to socket contact.............
Look here next.............just had the same issue over the weekend with a customers boat.

Click to expand...

Yes I did already pull the connector to check for any possible corrosion and it does have a SS clamp on it. I'll pull it again and do a second inspection for loose fitting pins.

It would really be nice if the connector was the 3.5 year electrical problem. I'm almost ready to call a boat mechanic to make a house call. Just don't want a, " I think it's this", parts changer mechanic until the problem disappears!

Ok

do you have a 12 volt test light?

If not they are about $10.00

Reproduce the problem and then you need to probe for voltage and using a test light is the quickest way to do it. the intensity of the light tells you right away you have good power.

The wiring of these systems is fairly easy.

With no key on, you should have 12 volts (battery voltage) on the RED 10 gage wire going to the dash thru the large connector. this should also be on the key switch on one terminal. Some have a fuse link before the key switch so if you have that look for the fuse and check it for corrosion or bad connections. Typically 20 amp.

When the key is turned to the on position only, the power is put to one of the other two terminals. Purple should be the color if not you have an older wire configuration. That purple goes all the way back thru the big connector, then goes to the choke, the Alternator and connects to the resistance wire buried in the on engine wire harness which eventually connects to the coil +. That is it for the on circuit.

The other terminal on the key switch is CRANK. That should be a yellow with red wire. when the key is in the crank position power now goes thru the neutral safety switch in the shift control box and then thru the big connector and then to the slave solenoid and then to the starter solenoid.
The starter solenoid has two small terminals on it that are used (point ignition only in this case). One is the power to the solenoid to energize it and the other is the wire (power) to the coil when cranking. Newer electronic ignition boats this is done at the key switch.


Ok now we understand where the power comes from and where it goes.

The rest of the wires going thru the big connector are for tachometer, temp, oil pressure, etc. (input/output) nothing to do with power or ignition. With the exception of the tachometer lead which can influence the ignition system if the tach is bad and internally shorted. Then simply removing the tach wire from the NEG side of the coil will determine this. This would be bad running and or miss firing or no start but it would crank.

Now there is the Alternator wiring, There are 4 connections,
Ground BLACK
Output to battery thru starter main lug. Typically ORANGE

excitation, Purple this is mentioned earlier
voltage, red with purple comes also from the Starter big lug and goes thru a larger 50 amp breaker.

That is about it.

Now if you do what I recommended in my earlier post and make a hot jump/start rig you can disconnect the big connector and start the engine and if it does not die then you know the issue is in the dash or harness leading to the dash from the connector.

Until you determine this it will be difficult to determine where to look for your issue. Isolating the motor wiring from the dash wiring is standard trouble shooting.

Once we know if the problem is either in the dash wiring or the motor wiring then we can go from there.

Attached is a diagram for the hot start rig

Thanks Kghost for your efforts in trying to resolve my problems.

Haven't had a chance to work on you above troubleshooting "but" I did re-check the engine connector and found some of the pins were closed up too much. I used a razor knife to slightly open them and then used contact cleaner/lubricant on the pins. "Guess What?" I let the engine run for thirty minutes and then turned engine off / on numerous times and hasn't failed. "Maybe" that was my problem!!! Sure hope it holds out thru the day of checking it. Here's a pic of my connector before opening the pins a little.

Now back to the cooling. After getting the engine up to operating them, 110 degrees with gutted thermo, port riser elbow is 135 deg and the starboard riser elbow is 124 degrees. At the "Y" tube turn down elbows are within 10 degrees of each other. Is there "supposed" to be any exhaust gas passing thru the lower and on out past the prop? I don't feel much of anything passing there.

Yes and there is also two ports at 5 oclock and 7 oclock on the transom assembly where most exhaust comes out and it does NOT matter what side

kghost said:

Yes and there is also two ports at 5 oclock and 7 oclock on the transom assembly where most exhaust comes out and it does NOT matter what side

Click to expand...

Seems like there is not exhaust coming out from the prop but is coming out the rubber tube in the upper. Behind the prop is where I cleaned out all the trash that was shown in the picture. Maybe there is more trash in the Y tube or lower.

Pull the outdrive off and look!!!!!!

kghost said:

Pull the outdrive off and look!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Is all of the exhaust "suppose" to come past the prop or just some of it?

I have checked periodically all day to see if the motor dies and everything is working fine!

reread post 50

kghost said:

Pull the outdrive off and look!!!!!!

Click to expand...

That is something that I feel would take me "way out" of my comfort zone. I know there is bellows, shift cable and other gotcha stuff that might be a little beyond my expertise.

Has anyone seen an exhaust and water flow chart thru the outdrive that I will be able to visualize how they travel thru the Y tube and on out the prop?

When I had the lower off to replace the impeller I didn't see where exhaust gases would pass thru the lower. If it did it seems it would burn up the impeller housing.

Send me your phone number thru personal message and I will call and explain. Click on my name next to my picture and select personal message


I am not sure of a diagram to show.

I figured out why there not much exhaust coming past the prop. I don't have the outdrive all the way down. There is a rubber tube that mates with outdrive when in the full down position. It also has a slit in the bottom of the tube and I'll have to replace it. It's not a bellows though. I ordered one and then found out too late that it's not a bellows but a tube/cone that I need. The down trim is still giving me a problem and is not in the full down position. Maybe air is in the rams and I will try bleeding them.

Getting ready to take her out this Monday! Went to the tax office and paid a whopping $4 for registration renewal because it in now considered an "antique!" Trailer was $23 renewal. Bought a new 1000 amp deep cycle battery. (Overkill) Have to check out the problem with the outdrive down trim and am hopeing it's air in the rams. Sanded down the swim platform, stained with teak oil and reinstalled on boat. Have to check out the trailer inertia brakes, lights etc. Gotta find some glass fuses of the proper amperage, make the horn work and should be ready for a sea trial. Wondering if I should spring for "Sea Tow" in case it no worky so good!

No more malfunctions with the engine turning off. A very special "THANK YOU" to Kghost for sticking it out with me and my boating problems. You really "hit the mark" with suggesting that I check the pins on the engine wiring harness plug.

Started bleeding the trim rams and found the oil milky colored. Probably from sitting three years and getting condensation. Going to drain the whole trim system and put in fresh 10w-30 oil and hope things will work properly. Seems like I've had to put a lot of 90w in the lower reservoir. Maybe it's just because I drained lower and cleaned out the clear plastic reservoir. There is about an inch in the reservoir and bought another quart of Quicksilver 80w-90, Wal-Mart $8.99, and will fill it up again.