Tell me about your SEI experience

I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I'd like to hear about them too.
I'm real interested in swapping out the port alpha1 gen1 lower unit on my boat for a counter rotating lower unit. I was all set to do it this summer when I found what was supposed to be one for sale. It turned out not to be counter rotating after all.
After my disappointment with the used one, I decided to look in to buying a new one, so I spoke with SEI on the phone and they seemed real nice. I especially liked the warranty. But, before I could order one from them I spoke to an outdrive guy who told me he wouldn't put them on his worst enemies boat.
I don't know the outdrive guy, but the owner of the boatyard where I used to keep my boat and who has always been very reliable, steered me to this guy to ask his opinion.
I'd like to hear more about them from someone who works on outdrives if possible, or at least has a lot of experience with them.
 
i recently upgraded my boat from a 1985 250 sundancer to a 1987 390 express cruiser, but i put a new outdrive from SEI in my 250 this spring.
theres a couple of things, i had a major overheating issue that was due to a bad water pump housing, to be honest i was in such a hurry to get the boat in the water that i never took it up with SEI, but i hear they have a good customer service....
and secondly, half way through the year i started to get a real hard shifting issue that i dont know whether it was the outdrive or just a adjustment in the linkage... i never looked into it because the boat was getting sold
all in all it fit real nice, all the hardware was included, they shipped it fast and you cant beat the price, but there were those two issues that i had so take that however you want...
 
skillz48047 said:
i had a major overheating issue that was due to a bad water pump housing, to be honest i was in such a hurry to get the boat in the water that i never took it up with SEI
and secondly, half way through the year i started to get a real hard shifting issue that i don't know whether it was the outdrive or just a adjustment in the linkage
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input.

The overheating problem you had I assume was the impeller housing, did you replace it with a merc to solve the problem or an aftermarket? Was the replacement housing a good fit?

When you installed the drive did you replace the shift cable and bellows? I've read that some users of the SEI unit had to reuse a shift bushing from their old drive because they did not know it was not included.

Keep em coming, I would like to hear more.
 
yes it was the housing, the impeller itself was fine, but the housing obviously was not
and yes i had to re use the bushing from the original

i would reccomend the outdrive, i know that if i contacted them they would have sent me what ever parts were defective, but i was in a major hurry to get in the water this spring, and myself and my freind, had plenty of experience with the alpha 1 so we just did what needed to be done, and i figured that they wouldnt believe me if i contacted them so far after the problem started...

one tip, that im sure has been mentioned on this forum plenty of times is to lube that whole water pump assembly with lots and lots of dishsoap to keep it moving freely, when it is ran the first time...
 
I have an SEI upper on my 210. I have put 250 hours on it with no issues at all. Fast shipping, and very easy to reach customer service. Excellent company!
 
I replaced my blown Alpha 1 this spring with their unit. $1577 shipped to Wisconsin with installation gasket kit and drive-shower as a 'lil insurance. I called them before I ordered and asked about their warranty work. The guy said about 30% come back for impacts to the lower unit. Was at the house inside a week and installed it in one day. Took it easy for the first 10hrs like they want; with lots of fore-to-aft shifting and only 75% power. Unit has been flawless.:thumbsup:
Their finish needed a 'lil touch-up with a black paint-pen when it arrived, but that's nothing. Painted the stainless drive-shower gloss black so it matched. So far I am VERY pleased with their product and I still have over 2 yrs to whack a log or grind the lower unit off by not raising it at the ramp. :smt043
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GoofyLeo3 said:
I replaced my blown Alpha 1 this spring with their unit. $1577 shipped to Wisconsin with installation gasket kit and drive-shower as a 'lil insurance.
Click to expand...

We seem to notice a little more noise from the outdrive on the entire SEI replacement on our bowrider. usually about 2500 RPM range. Mechanic stated that the SEI would like have this noise (and it is slight) that the Merc Alpha did not.

Do you notice any sound changes with the SEI?
 
At 2500rpm I can barely hear the aft speakers over the engine; so no, I haven't noticed any more noise from the drive. Now if I had thru-hull exhaust like some of you lucky bastards, I would only have the stereo for when the engine was off.:grin:
 
I emailed their support folks just last night as I'm trying to identify my rams as they're corroded to the point where the front caps are all but gone, and the snap rings are hanging.

There's an "SE" stamped on the side of each one, so I assumed that they were theirs. The whole trim system/pump, lines, etc., were replaced with brand new equipment, but it looks like something that goes on newer model outdrives.

P.O. must've had used rams laying around and installed those. Mine's an '81 SRV245 and I had always thought the rams had all the lines in the back on that year. These have a hard, stainless line running up to the front. Both are corroded pretty bad and I'm having a tough time finding out what's what. SEI has been totally responsive in helping me out. I can't see paying almost $500 bucks a piece for Merc's rams (unless someone here can tell me what the diff is). All in all, so far, they've been pretty good.
 
good good for us

fast delivery. had a upper changed out(broken housing, no fault of the drive) and the lower cleaned and resealed under warranty. all it cost me was freight to ship to factory
 
A little background -

SEI is owned by SBT (short block technologies). SBT remanufacturers engines for PWC's. 9 times out of 10 if you take your PWC into a local dealer or repair shop with an engine related issue that justifies replacing it, they will replace it with an SBT engine. SBT issues a no fault warranty with their PWC engines as well as their SEI drive units.

From their web site -

"SEI's Lower units come with a three-year, fault-free warranty which means that the lower unit will be covered for any failure that requires the lower unit to be replaced or repaired. This is truly a remarkable warranty. Hit a rock, suck up some fishing line, drag the lower unit up the boat launch by mistake, it does not matter, the lower unit will be covered by SEI's fault-free warranty."

Again a 3 year no fault warranty even if the installer (owner) installs the drive wrong OR EVEN hits a rock/log, etc. I also know for a fact that they honor their warranties very well too.

I would not hesitate to go with them.

Doug
 
When I bought my boat (used) from the broker, they told me that they replaced the starboard lower unit because of heavy corrosion. I have since discovered that the replacement was an SEI unit. I have never had any trouble with that drive and didn't know to do the 10 hour break-in. However, that drive does shift harder than the original Merc drive on the port side. I think someone has already mentioned about SEI drives being harder to shift.

I also had a lift cylinder go bad last year and I replaced with an SEI. Fit right in place and have had no issues so far.
 
Original Post is a few months old but:

We have been running SEI's on our 270DA for 3 years now with no complaints - just a little paint needed. The original Alpha's were whining loudly when we purchased the boat with signs of a little water in the gear lube. Tough decision being a die hard merc guy but we swapped them both out completely with SEI's - less expensive than a rebuild of our Alpha's. One has a very slight whine at idle speeds but that has been going away as the gears "lap" / wear in together. Not unusual. Warranty is great.
Shifting was an issue at first on both. I removed the outdrives, pulled the old shift cables out of their sleeve, cleaned and oiled them up with lower unit lube and reinstalled them. Shifting is really smooth and easy now.
Like with a new motor, I believe the break-in period is a very important part to getting a longer life out of the dirves - time will tell. Overall we are very pleased with them.
 
I got a brand new complete SEI 106 drive last spring. My mechanic buddy helped me put it together and we had it on the boat in less than an hour. I love it. Shifts smooth. Quiet. Quieter than a regular Mercruiser Alpha. No whining at all. I put over 100 hours on it last season. Changed the gear lube after 20 hours. Lube was clean as a whistle. I would highly recommend an SEI drive.
 
douglee25 said:
A little background -

SEI is owned by SBT (short block technologies). SBT remanufacturers engines for PWC's.
Click to expand...

These guys are local to me and a few years ago I bought a used Yamaha Waverunner. After a few uses the motor blew. I went to them directly and got a shortblock, installed the carbs and such and haven't had problem one since. We installed every component to fatory specs, started it on the first try and haven't had to wrench on it since. If it's the same company I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them again.
 
Publicnuisance said:
I would like to replace both of my 22 year old stearndrives with new aftermarket units from SEI http://www.sterndrive.cc/index.htm

I would like to hear your experiences with them, such as customer service, durability, servicability, good or bad.
Click to expand...


I was a dealer for SEI. Some things you need to know. READ the warranty closely.

Example...
I had a new unit that had a small oil leak under the water pump in the drive shaft housing. simple fix. I called SEI to report it, and told them it started to leak about 10 hours into break in just before he fished a club tournament. This voided his warranty. There is a clause in the warranty that says,

"Neither one (1) year nor three (3) year warranty covers use of the product for racing or other competitive activities."

Club events like poker runs, tournaments or any competition based events even though they are not professional will VOID YOUR WARRANTY!

They would not even listen to me explaining that this guy is just the average guy that fished a local club tournament. Did not matter to them at all.

I have sold several outdrives and outboard units over the years. Only had to send 1 back and they took care of it. But, be careful what you say to them.

I now have a customer that I sold with a 3 year NO FAULT warranty lower unit that is Voided cause he fished a local fishing tournament. So much for NO FAULT. I will have to pick up the warranty personally. I just hope it holds up for 3 years.
 
I've heard all good things about SEI and if needed, will use them if I ever have to replace my out drive.

That being said, I called them regarding replacing the Alpha1 that is on my boat. They said, the warranty will be void if used with my 454 big block like the factory setup.

So, I would probably still do it, but would be very gentle on the running gear.
 
Ive got one of their counter rotating lowers on my port drive, sorks great.
 
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