Recent content by Marcus Matos

Sorry about that. Long story short, a bunch of "life stuff" happened at the same time and took me away from dealing with boat stuff and I forgot to reply back after I came back up for air. Dude, why didn't you recommend this as an option earlier this year before I spent the money on the...

Welp, just got the news from Progressive that they're denying the claim due to improper winterization. I'm still trying to figure out how whether dropping in a complete 4.3L MPI will be a reasonable path forward. I saw one article calling the 4.5L a "direct replacement" for the 4.3L V6 (i.e...

Talked with the manager and learned that's been their general tactic - to just replace everything in the cooling system to avoid any surprises. There may or may not actually be any damage to those parts but I'm not sure I want to pay any more labor costs for them to look at it. Do you (or...

Thanks for that. I need to talk with the service manager again and figure out whether that was in the quote out of an abundance of caution or if there was confirmed damage.

Well now I'm getting some conflicting information. A local place called me and said the full engine (by itself) would be closer to $18K (off the top of his head) - waiting to hear back from a couple more "authorized sellers" off the Mercury site...

Yes - but the 200 and 250 are actually the same exact engine with the only difference being the ECM / top RPM.

Thank you for that. I have a few more days until the insurance company finishes doing their thing. In the meantime, I've started looking at engines and happened to come across a price list for 2021 4.5 engines. According to https://www.proboats.com/mercruiser-2020-engine-prices/, I could just...

I thought so too but it seems there's consensus that the long block is going to run a cool 10K. I don't know if shopping around is going to help when the only option is to buy new from Mercury. It sounds like folks here believe that repowering is an option...I suppose I could call around and try...

Good question. I'll call them (the service center) tomorrow and ask out of curiosity.

I'm looking at around $17,000 for repairs ($10K in parts) and seem to be out of options. I think my best option is to cut my losses and perhaps stick to used OB boats that I can easily work on/find parts for. This was my first I/O and after my experience (engine fire a few months after purchase...

Yup, probably the fatal mistake. From the kit: " No coolant - water nor antifreeze - will flow freely through the engine block until operating temperature is maintained. The D-I-Y is unique in that, once operating temperature is reached and then some time allowed for flushing of impurities from...

The jug is 5 gallons. I kind of remember thinking that when I opened the drain, not as much came out as I would have expected. I neglected to mention that during the beginning of the process I had followed the video and ran tap water, which I figured would have the benefit of flushing out a...

Damage confirmed. Despite my efforts I'm guessing the thermostat wasn't open long enough to let the antifreeze circulate. :(

Mini-Update: It's not looking good. They're just now getting started on my engine but report that out of the 10 4.5L and 6.2L they have, 9 of them had cracking in the cylinder walls. In most cases, some damage to the exhaust manifold too. On top of that, no availability for long block remans for...

Yup!