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97 4.3l issues

R

rinkerowner

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I have a 97 rinker 212 with a 4.3l lx gen + with a alpha 1 gen 2 outdrive it has the thunderbolt v ignition system. This is my first boat and first time having any real issues with it. Now I'm paying for it big time. I apologize for the long read in advance, its been quite the lesson in boats. We pulled it out of winter storage this spring cleaned it up, fired the engine up and pulled it to the nearby lake. Launched it, we got about 500 yards from the dock and noticed the temp gauge was pegged hot. I immediately throttled down and opened the hatch to find the rubber exhaust components on the verge of fire. I quickly turned the key off but with the extreme heat the engine dieseled on until I was to get the spark arrester off and spray enough fogging oil in the carb to finally get the engine snuffed out. After we made sure there was no fire I was pulled back to the dock
 
Sorry fat finggered my phone and then ran out of time to edit the post.

Long story short I found water in the 1, 3, and 5 cylinders, burnt out the exhaust bellows, rubber exhaust flaps, melted the hydraulic trim lines and melted wires. I ended up also replacing the fresh water impeller, water pump, thermostat, and fuel pump. Now after taking pretty much the entire motor and drive unit apart. It is back running with a jumper wire to the fuel pump because there is no power going through the wiring harness to it and the transmission is stuck in forward gear unless I trim all the way down then it goes into neutral and stays there regardless of what position the throttle is in. The fuel pump allegedly gets power off the starter solenoid but I have no power there. Anyway to test the solenoid to make sure that's my problem before I order one? As for the transmission problem I've isolated the problem to the lower shift cable or I didnt get something hooked back up properly when I was reinstalling the drive. Any ideas on what or where to start?
 
first thing is don't operate the engine until you restore the safety features it had...get a factory service manual and review the wiring diagram. The fuel pump only gets power from the solenoid when the starter is cranking over the engine. most likely the oil pressure switch has failed keeping the pump from running with the engine running. The switch may be ok - don't know what shape your engine wiring harness is in...

On the shifting issues, my guess is the lower shift cable was melted during the overheat event and needs to be replaced. I've never seen one survive an overheat as you described. It likely needs to be replaced and then adjusted properly.
 
I understand your concern about the saftey features. I haven't tried to take it back out since it overheated. It's been on the trailer in my family shed. It won't see the water until it's right, the absolute last thing I wanted to do is hurt my family or the engine.

Here's my problem with the service manual, according to the manual it should be purple and yellow wire coming from the starter going to the oil pressure switch and then to the fuel pump. That's not what I have, it is purple and yellow from the starter but somewhere along the way by the time it gets to oil switch it turns soild purple then there is another soild purple coming out. Red flag #1 next the wires going to the fuel pump are grey and black red flag #2. So without spending hours cutting apart wiring looms to trace wires I really have no idea whats going on. I'm not a mechanic never once have I claimed to be. I know just enough about all this to not destroy it. The wiring appears to be all factory, I don't see anything cut up or spliced together other than what melted on the backside of the exhaust when it overheated and I repaired.
I really don't understand the switch, If it's job to cut power when the oil pressure drops how would it ever start in the first place?

I suspected that was the case about the shifter cable, it melted everything else in that area. but before I ordered yet more parts and took the drive back apart I would ask someone like yourself.

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.
 
The switch is SPDT...and toggles with oil pressure...while cranking the starter, current flows to the pump...once the e gine starts, the switch toggles and the pump is fed from the ignition circuit...
 
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