Hello everyone- new member here and need some expert advice.
I have a 1988 Sea Sprite SS 160 which is a really cool little boat but it never has performed well and now its dead.
I bought the boat at the beginning of summer and the guy I bought it from said it would do 45-50 mph but the best I could ever get is 35 according to the speedo.
It has Mercruiser 3.0 engine with an Alpha 1 outdrive. I've done a complete tune with new points and set the timing, cleaned/replaced fuel filters and changed oil and filter with Mercruiser parts. The motor runs great but I just couldn't get much speed out of it.
Today I was cruising for about 20 minutes and all of sudden the boat stalled with no warning. Temp gage was not hot and oil pressure was good. I tried to re-start and it just grunted when trying to turn over- similar to a dead battery although the battery is new.
I waited maybe 10 minutes and it restarted and drove slowy back to dock and the engine ran fine for a while and then it stalled again when slowing and putting in neutral. Again it would not restart and I looked in the water at the outdive and steam was coming up. The strange thing is when I tried to start the motor the steering wheel jerked to the right which leads me to beleive it is stuck in gear.
I pulled the boat and took it the nearest marina which unfortunatly does not have the best reputaion but they are the only one around. I explained what happened and he didnt beleive the steering wheel would move when starting so I showed him- the motor did crank over then but slowly and there was a squealing type noise in the back by outdrive.
He looked at the outdrive outside the boat and found the shift cable end was melted and then stated it didnt look good- could be the motor is bad or the outdive.
So at this point it costing me $280 just to have them diagnose it because he said it was going to take a lot to figure it out.
So here is my question- would an outdrive just suddenly sieze or did my motor give up the ghost?
I have a 1988 Sea Sprite SS 160 which is a really cool little boat but it never has performed well and now its dead.
I bought the boat at the beginning of summer and the guy I bought it from said it would do 45-50 mph but the best I could ever get is 35 according to the speedo.
It has Mercruiser 3.0 engine with an Alpha 1 outdrive. I've done a complete tune with new points and set the timing, cleaned/replaced fuel filters and changed oil and filter with Mercruiser parts. The motor runs great but I just couldn't get much speed out of it.
Today I was cruising for about 20 minutes and all of sudden the boat stalled with no warning. Temp gage was not hot and oil pressure was good. I tried to re-start and it just grunted when trying to turn over- similar to a dead battery although the battery is new.
I waited maybe 10 minutes and it restarted and drove slowy back to dock and the engine ran fine for a while and then it stalled again when slowing and putting in neutral. Again it would not restart and I looked in the water at the outdive and steam was coming up. The strange thing is when I tried to start the motor the steering wheel jerked to the right which leads me to beleive it is stuck in gear.
I pulled the boat and took it the nearest marina which unfortunatly does not have the best reputaion but they are the only one around. I explained what happened and he didnt beleive the steering wheel would move when starting so I showed him- the motor did crank over then but slowly and there was a squealing type noise in the back by outdrive.
He looked at the outdrive outside the boat and found the shift cable end was melted and then stated it didnt look good- could be the motor is bad or the outdive.
So at this point it costing me $280 just to have them diagnose it because he said it was going to take a lot to figure it out.
So here is my question- would an outdrive just suddenly sieze or did my motor give up the ghost?
