HELP, Need advice!?

AFT HOLE

New Member
May 1, 2020
24
NJ
Boat Info
2003 185 searay bowrider SRX
Engines
190hp 4.3l mercruiser
I bought a 2003 185BR with the 4.3l mercruiser last spring and as fate would have it I may need to replace the engine. I'm near Atlantic City NJ and I'm being told a new engine is about $9500 with freight. The engine has less maybe 350 hours on it. Below are pictures from the mechanic.
1) Does that price sound right? I know they are scarce right now but I was expecting $3-4k.
2) If the valve is shot and there is a possible scored cylinder is that something that can be machined out/cleaned up?
3) What are reputable places to comparison shop?
Any help, advice, suggestions would be most appreciated. I'm new to all of this. My family had a great time and caught the boat bug but my pockets aren't
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as deep as I'd like.
 
Yes that sounds about right for the motor and labor to install it.
 
Maybe look into a re-manufactured long block (some like Jasper) and swing everything over. Not sure what the prices would be and how much of the 9.5K was labor.

-Kevin
 
Sounds about right for a new drop in engine.

Other options are:
Rebuild what you have
or as Kevin suggest get a long block and switch components over.

A lot will depend on what your issue is. What happened?
 
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Probably a long story but I’ll try to summarize...
Had been losing RPM and speed most of summer. Pulled boat cleaned barnacles from stern drive and was almost up to par, still a little off though. Had to add about a quart or more of oil throughout the season but was told that wouldn’t be to uncommon for an older engine. I was showing small amounts of oil in the bilge.

The last day I had it out it would cut out on me each time I took it out of gear to dock. I was able to get it started again twice but the third time was no dice. My buddy towed me around the corner to our marina and when I started looking at everything I noticed the oil was completely compromised with water.

I checked the oil every other outing and it always looked clean. The temperature was always fine when running so I’m not sure what caused it. Water came out when I pulled some of the spark plugs. I didn’t do any compression tests because I didn’t know how. Winter was quickly approaching, most marinas/shops weren’t taking new customers or were backed up for months so I started tearing it down to inspect gaskets and clean out the trashed oil hoping for the best. Stopped after removing the valve covers and intake manifold since a buddy was able to get me in to a local shop. That’s when they found the issue, guessing with a bore scope.
 
@AFT HOLE Unfortunately what you are seeing here is quite common. The exhaust risers rot from the inside out between the two ports in the exhaust manifold and after running the engine raw water runs down the inside down to the valves causing the to "tulip" and crack etc. This eventually causes excessive wear to the two inside cylinders. This causes lack of power and eventually your V8 turns into a poorly running V4. When this happens, as it has to you, the engine is toast and should not be rebuilt due to the excessive water damage.

To avoid this, replace the riser gaskets and possibly the risers every 4-5 years or sooner if any signs of weeping come from the gasket. If the 9.5K includes a NEW Mercury engine and all labor, then that is a great price. Good Luck!
 
Aft,

My buddy in AC just bought 2 new rebuilt long blocks and is having them installed in is 29. I think he paid $3500 each for the motor with warranty. Plus a grand to pop them in.
 
@AFT HOLE Unfortunately what you are seeing here is quite common. The exhaust risers rot from the inside out between the two ports in the exhaust manifold and after running the engine raw water runs down the inside down to the valves causing the to "tulip" and crack etc. This eventually causes excessive wear to the two inside cylinders. This causes lack of power and eventually your V8 turns into a poorly running V4. When this happens, as it has to you, the engine is toast and should not be rebuilt due to the excessive water damage.

To avoid this, replace the riser gaskets and possibly the risers every 4-5 years or sooner if any signs of weeping come from the gasket. If the 9.5K includes a NEW Mercury engine and all labor, then that is a great price. Good Luck!
The previous opener had recently replaced the risers, that was half the reason I. Hose this boat. ‍ Can’t win them all. Also, thanks for the explanation.
 
Aft,

My buddy in AC just bought 2 new rebuilt long blocks and is having them installed in is 29. I think he paid $3500 each for the motor with warranty. Plus a grand to pop them in.
HELL YA! If you paying more you are gettin ripped off. Somebody on here was looking at $14K for 7.4 + install! Nuts!
 
Sounds like your mechanic is quoting you a complete marinized drop in. Sometimes that is the better route to take if paying for shop labor and a lot of your 18 year old bolt-ons should be refreshed anyways. They will add up real quick.
If you are going with a long block, I would go new for a bit more than the cost of remanufactured. The remans are a bit of a gamble with over bored cylinders and undersized cranks. The newer block casting are not as thick as the old ones and duty cycles in the marine world are much higher than other applications.
I have a 2017 Mercruiser reman (drop in) in the shop with a cracked cylinder wall. It was bored .040 over and just out of it's warranty period when it failed. Under 200 hrs on it. It will be replaced with a new long block.
 
Sounds like your mechanic is quoting you a complete marinized drop in. Sometimes that is the better route to take if paying for shop labor and a lot of your 18 year old bolt-ons should be refreshed anyways. They will add up real quick.
If you are going with a long block, I would go new for a bit more than the cost of remanufactured. The remans are a bit of a gamble with over bored cylinders and undersized cranks. The newer block casting are not as thick as the old ones and duty cycles in the marine world are much higher than other applications.
I have a 2017 Mercruiser reman (drop in) in the shop with a cracked cylinder wall. It was bored .040 over and just out of it's warranty period when it failed. Under 200 hrs on it. It will be replaced with a new long block.
Don’t your say, but yours is first I heard of that. Where you get that from?
 
Sounds like your mechanic is quoting you a complete marinized drop in. Sometimes that is the better route to take if paying for shop labor and a lot of your 18 year old bolt-ons should be refreshed anyways. They will add up real quick.
If you are going with a long block, I would go new for a bit more than the cost of remanufactured. The remans are a bit of a gamble with over bored cylinders and undersized cranks. The newer block casting are not as thick as the old ones and duty cycles in the marine world are much higher than other applications.
I have a 2017 Mercruiser reman (drop in) in the shop with a cracked cylinder wall. It was bored .040 over and just out of it's warranty period when it failed. Under 200 hrs on it. It will be replaced with a new long block.
Sorry to hear about your luck but I’m leaning towards new or cutting losses and seeing what the feasibility of the upgrade the wife wants might be. Appreciate the advice.
 
Thanks to everyone for the advice and information. I have a bitter sweet ending to this tail. I ended up selling the boat I had hoped to have for years to come do a fraction of what I thought I would BUT I am upgrading to an SPX 230 so there is a silver lining.
 
Sometimes these life lessons are hard to swallow at first but are soon forgotten. Congrats on your new boat. In the end you may look back and be glad you got to upgrade faster than you planned.
 
i just had 2 jasper 6.2 long block engines both fail in less than 1 hr. catastrophic failure on the first and little to no oil pressure on the second.. what is going on here guys any guesses. im getting no answers just bills.

im now on number 3 but going with Mercruiser this time. is Jasper normally this terrible?
 
Young mechanics are really stupid. They have been trained in computerized diagnostics but can't turn wrenches. You better not expect them to be able to do what you can't.
 

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