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mistake by son could be costly

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alan17

New member
Hi all,
2006 Alpha 1
was pulling the boat out for gas. 20 year old son who has been boating since 6 weeks old put the boat on the trailer and I pulled out. He jumped into the truck and we drove 10 minutes to gas station. Got out of the truck to find boat motor STILL Running. We shut it off immediately and I turned the key on to check temp. which read 220. (air not water temp).
Went straight to parts dealer and got new impeller kit. Replaced impeller but noticed Yellow part under water pump had heat damage at the top of the part only. No damage seen at the base where it fits into the lower drive. Cleaned it up and tried it out. Boat ran great and temp stayed at 165 degrees. (normal for this boat). Boat ran great rest of the week, 7 days, ran it every day, skiing, wakeboarding, tubing, high speed runs and long 3 hour runs up river.

Question, Do I need to replace that Yellow part under the water pump? There is no water in oil, no leak in outdrive oil, engine oil looks good, no burned smell, no other problems noted.

Son was almost physically sick from guilt, so I couldn't even yell at him.

thanks Alan
:cool:
 
Alen what a nice name. Wait i spell it different but sounds the same. Actually i spell it Allen in real life but when i went to get a aol name Allen was already taken hence Alen.

Chief Alen at your service.

First your son is kicking himself enough in the butt for you not to even have to say anything. I have a 22 year old girl and 19 year old boy and a 16 year old boy and a 14 year old girl.

The 16 year old is the " fishing " machine and a boating expert. My older boy knows boating but doesn't at this time really like it he's the " Deer slayer "

Now to your problem.

I would replace the yellow part Now !

What i would do is a oil change on the motor. Fresh filter.

Shame on the dealer he should have told you to. And when you had it open and you saw it damaged you should have made the return trip to the dealer.

That yellow part comes in some kits complete with a shift shaft bushing, some call it a seal. And you could have done it all in 45 minutes total.

Kit i would get complete with housing and bushing and the yellow part with impeller, save the impeller. You can throw it on another time.

Sorry i can sugar coat it for you but you asked. Below is the diagram from this website.

http://www.marineengine.com/parts/mercruiser-stern-drive/mercruiser-engine-parts.php?modelId=4772&model=ALPHA+ONE+(GEN.II)+1998&serialId=4773&serial=0L100040+AND+UP&componentId=4756&component=GEAR+HOUSING+(DRIVESHAFT)(STANDARD+ROTATION)
 
alan17 said:
Hi all,
2006 Alpha 1
was pulling the boat out for gas. 20 year old son who has been boating since 6 weeks old put the boat on the trailer and I pulled out. He jumped into the truck and we drove 10 minutes to gas station. Got out of the truck to find boat motor STILL Running. We shut it off immediately and I turned the key on to check temp. which read 220. (air not water temp).
Went straight to parts dealer and got new impeller kit. Replaced impeller but noticed Yellow part under water pump had heat damage at the top of the part only. No damage seen at the base where it fits into the lower drive. Cleaned it up and tried it out. Boat ran great and temp stayed at 165 degrees. (normal for this boat). Boat ran great rest of the week, 7 days, ran it every day, skiing, wakeboarding, tubing, high speed runs and long 3 hour runs up river.

Question, Do I need to replace that Yellow part under the water pump? There is no water in oil, no leak in outdrive oil, engine oil looks good, no burned smell, no other problems noted.

Son was almost physically sick from guilt, so I couldn't even yell at him.

thanks Alan
:cool:
Click to expand...

Let me say this 1st, before anything else. Please don't take this the wrong way, but:

Ran for 10 minutes with no water and didn't ruin engine / exhaust system? Doesn't take an already warm engine long to overheat "severely" with no coolent when running. Amazing !!!!!!!! I would play Loto if I were you.

I would be replacing every component of the water pump after that one. I would also be checking all the exhaust hoses, flexible joints and the exhaust shutters for damage. They can burn up pretty quickly with no coolant going thru them.

It is obvious the boat was loaded onto the trailer, bow winch cable hooked up and away you went, without re-tightening the winch cable on level ground, connecting any transom tie downs to trailer or checking anything before driving off.

A suggestion: As a safety step, one should always connect the transom tie downs and a bow safety chain when boat is pulled from water to keep boat on trailer as it is being towed. If that was done, then running engine would have been obvious while you were back there. Hit the brakes hard, get in an accident or get going a good speed and grab too much wind and the boat could become missle if not secured to the trailer properly. Seen it happen too many times and there are a million videos on youtube showing boats that have "left the trailer" while being towed.

Oh yeah, I wouldn't be putting all, or most, of the blame on son by saying "Re: mistake by son could be costly". I believe the onus falls squarely upon the owner / driver of the vehicle to ensure everything is good to go before pulling out and heading for the public roads... Seems as though there is plenty of blame to go around.
Just my humble opinion.
 
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what puzzles me is if its an sterndrive,you normally turn the engine off,to lift the stern drive up into the the "trailer position",so you can winch it onto the trailer and drive off.the motor wouldnt go,as the sterndrive,being right up,the input shaft universals are "bent" as the shaft is on quite an angle to the motor.even on a big trailer,the sterndrive hangs down quite a way
 
Gotta suspect exhaust shutters are gone. Worse case scenario other than engine damage would be a melted seal at the bottom of the exhaust horn where it bolts to the transom plate. You'll know if it's bad because it'll leak if melted. Unfortunately, it's an engine removal to replace the seal. Hopefully you're OK. Crossing my fingers for ya.
 
i meant bilge plug.

If someone here hasn't made a mistake please post away.

I made plenty. I admit it here in front of the whole world and g-d almighty.
 
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HAHAHA... Gotta love your up front honesty. A lot of folks just won't own up to what they have done. If someone says he / she is perfect, I will suspect a liar or a dillusional personality.

PS: We have all been boneheads at one time or another. If you fix your own stuff, you've made mistakes. It's called the learning curve. Just that some need to admit to a mistake and accept the blame instead of issuing it.
 
leason learned dont drink load the boat, lol gotta have some fun on here sometimes makes the pain go away lol i have boys two 23,20 the things they have done will curl your toes!!! good luck it will work out!
 
mikey43 said:
leason learned dont drink load the boat, lol gotta have some fun on here sometimes makes the pain go away lol i have boys two 23,20 the things they have done will curl your toes!!! good luck it will work out!
Click to expand...

As all of here have done, also, I bet......... "Son, listen to me, never do this because when I did it"
 
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