Official 350 Thread

Beech2000 said:
Engine troubles for me hopefully are a thing of the past. We too had previous difficulties with cold starts. Not just the boat but my surrounding dock neighbors. Smoke, constant high rev starts, etc.... with lots of stinky smoke everywhere.
Since then, I've made a purchase. Two new Michigan Motoz GM crate long blocks. While still Carberated, the classic boat start ups are improving daily.
With regards to questioning your troubleshooting steps thus far I can offer the following life experiences.
My Stbd engine was the same as your port. Tough start ups followed by a perfect day of running.
I can share that being an aircraft mechanic I own an $18000 fully articulating 4MM borescope.
What I found during borescope through Stbd Odd cyl bank spark plug holes was constant wetness and coupled with water in oil..(Milky).
Engines ran good once they were at operating temp which is hard to do in winter on lakes.
Long story short I found the end problem to be a faulty after market elbow. (Not Mercury but something like Barr) Not sure. Found rusted hole from salt water running in Florida I guess. I went with all new Mercury manifolds and elbows. Aftermarket exhaust parts are hit and miss. IMO
Hows your compression cold?
Hows you compression at temp?
How do your spark plugs look?
How do your oil changes look?
Have you removed and inspected the exhaust elbows and gaskets lately?
My rule of thumb is... Make sure you have a good engines first... Then troubleshoot the easy stuff. No sense throwing time and money at them if the engines need help.
For me? The Stbd engine had been a thrown together 2bolt truck motor by someone whom had no compassion for any marine quality requirements. We only get one chance to do it. So do it right the first time.
Question everyone and everything including my response. Machines do break and give us high's and lows in this thing we call life. Since new engine installs I'm mostly happy. Working through a vibration issue and a water leak under high power on Stbd side. Otherwise happy I went with new Long Blocks
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Problem solved. One of the risers was bad. Leaking antifreeze into the exhaust which in turn was being sucked into a couple cylinders. As I said before. I chased this problem for two years. Glad it’s over.
 
aross2566 said:
Problem solved. One of the risers was bad. Leaking antifreeze into the exhaust which in turn was being sucked into a couple cylinders. As I said before. I chased this problem for two years. Glad it’s over.
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Commendable for your posting the results. So many times we forget. Myself included in reporting the fix.
Moisture in cylinder was same as yours. Rotted elbow(riser) of odd bank stbd engine.
 
Working through some on going crappy issues.
The lights next to the commode. Three floats in crapper tank? or two?
I re-connected a found broke wire during an in water survey and all three lit up like a Christmas tree.
I'm told to pull and clean float switches. Yuck. Think I'll try ensuring wiring is correct first.
I just got done replacing duck bill valves and diaphragm. Personal recovery for the task at hand underway and getting better each day. Wuck.
 
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Beech2000 said:
Working through some on going crappy issues.
The lights next to the commode. Three floats in crapper tank? or two?
I re-connected a found broke wire during an in water survey and all three lit up like a Christmas tree.
I'm told to pull and clean float switches. Yuck. Think I'll try ensuring wiring is correct first.
I just got done replacing duck bill valves and diaphragm. Personal recovery for the task at hand underway and getting better each day. Wuck.
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I'm gonna have to dig in and do my duck bills and diaphragm soon as my vacuflush is beginning to cycle on more frequently. Need to also fix the indicator lights, the only one that works is the FULL light. Which I guess is the main one LOL.
 
Anybody replaced their horn? Mine has taken a dump. I'd love to find one that will fit in the original mount so I don't have to deal with filling holes, etc.
 
I purchase my replacement kit from West Marine. Fit perfect. I'll take a picture at first chance
 
LastCall350 said:
I'm gonna have to dig in and do my duck bills and diaphragm soon as my vacuflush is beginning to cycle on more frequently. Need to also fix the indicator lights, the only one that works is the FULL light. Which I guess is the main one LOL.
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Only my holding tank half full light illuminates. Gonna have to do the same.
Wuck
 

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Last Call,
Timvail contacted me with a question I can't answer. He shares of dual stacked flame arrestors on his 350 big Blocks.
My engines are carb studded to accommodate a single flame arrestor. Yours?
What would be the benefits or draw backs of dual stacked arrestor and can you shed some light on the matter?
 
Beech2000 said:
Last Call,
Timvail contacted me with a question I can't answer. He shares of dual stacked flame arrestors on his 350 big Blocks.
My engines are carb studded to accommodate a single flame arrestor. Yours?
What would be the benefits or draw backs of dual stacked arrestor and can you shed some light on the matter?
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Are they carb engines or has someone done a repower with MPI's? Sounds like something somebody added aftermarket, certainly no advantage. To my experience I haven't ever seen that OEM on a Mercruiser product, always center studded in the carb or TBI for a single spark arrestor.
 
LastCall350 said:
Are they carb engines or has someone done a repower with MPI's? Sounds like something somebody added aftermarket, certainly no advantage. To my experience I haven't ever seen that OEM on a Mercruiser product, always center studded in the carb or TBI for a single spark arrestor.
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Thanks for getting back to us. They are carburated units. When we are allowed back into the marinas Im going to have a closer look, and follow up with this.
 
Timvail said:
Thanks for getting back to us. They are carburated units. When we are allowed back into the marinas Im going to have a closer look, and follow up with this.
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Tim,
They won't let you into your Marina? Who won't?
 
Beech2000 said:
Tim,
They won't let you into your Marina? Who won't?
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Politics aside. Here we are considered a hot spot for covid. So the province has an emergency order in place that prohibits certain businesses from opening. Marinas are not allowed to open. The public is not allowed to go to the marinas unless you were liveaboard. This has been in place now for the past 4 weeks. It looks like it will be extended to June 2nd at this point. Our hospitals are almost at maximum for ICU beds etc. Hopefully, things will settle down soon and we can get back to life.
 
Timvail said:
Politics aside. Here we are considered a hot spot for covid. So the province has an emergency order in place that prohibits certain businesses from opening. Marinas are not allowed to open. The public is not allowed to go to the marinas unless you were liveaboard. This has been in place now for the past 4 weeks. It looks like it will be extended to June 2nd at this point. Our hospitals are almost at maximum for ICU beds etc. Hopefully, things will settle down soon and we can get back to life.
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Hate to hear that, things here in TN have gotten back to normal as far as I can tell. Hope y'all get to enjoy your boating season.
 
I haven’t been super active on here but I have a 350 dancer from 91 that I’m in the middle of a lot of painting and prep for painting. Looked like this was a pretty good thread for me lol.
 

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LastCall350 said:
Hate to hear that, things here in TN have gotten back to normal as far as I can tell. I hope y'all get to enjoy your boating season.
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I can't quite figure this one out. The marina can launch your boat for you but your not supposed to use it unless you're going to a cottage you own. And were not to access the marina property unless for service reasons—a bit of a mess. The boat goes in later this week. We will be boating soon. Once in the water, stealth mode will kick in. Solar, lifepod and inverter install will be done and completed before warm weather arrives.
 
darksilicon said:
I haven’t been super active on here but I have a 350 dancer from 91 that I’m in the middle of a lot of painting and prep for painting. Looked like this was a pretty good thread for me lol.
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Once you splash your 91 350,.... is that gorgeous trailer available for purchase?
Were looking at moving our 90 350 to Lake Chickamauga in Chattanooga, TN in the pretty near future.
 
Beech2000 said:
Once you splash your 91 350,.... is that gorgeous trailer available for purchase?
Were looking at moving our 90 350 to Lake Chickamauga in Chattanooga, TN in the pretty near future.
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I had it custom made so I wouldn’t have to keep my Searay in the water… I had so many issues with marinas and stuffing boxes and I just got tired of it…
 
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