Submerged Mercruiser Petrol V8

landlockedpirate

landlockedpirate

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 Nov 2001
Messages
2,306
Location
North West
Visit site
A friend has acquired a boat that is sunk in fresh water, he intends to re float it on Monday. He knows the V8 is probably junk, but what immediate 1st aid would you suggest for the block and the leg when it resurfaces ?
 
hi if you act fast take carbs off plugs out etc you will be able to save motor electrics might not be as easy strip starter if you have plenty off wd40 just keep spraying it wont rust until it drys out, leg will be ok just check dip stick?
 
As soon as it comes out of the water get it into as many parts as possible (to make it fit) get it into a barrel of diesel, a friend of mine did it to a race outboard that had been at the bottom of a Loch for three weeks and the engine survived and raced again.
 
Mega flush out of the oily bits with diesel then petrol and dry. The electric bits need flushed with alcohol (gin/vodka - it works well for cameras too) then dried slowly in an airing cupboard.
 
Cheers guys, boat sunk last week most likely due to leaking bellows. Insurance company simply wanted rid of it quickly at minimal cost to avoid any further liabilities.

I will let you know how we get on.
 
the engine will probably be fine just pump out the sump & dry out the ignition system carefully you dont say if its an ecu controlled engine but if it is try & open the ecu carefully & dry it out strip the starter motor & dry that & the solenoid out

try & get the electrics as dry as possible before putting power to them

if its an older carb engine drain the float chamber ,if its injection the system will probably be fine just disconnect the feed from the tank & connect to a seperate can of clean petrol

maybe worth taking rocker covers off & washing valve springs & rockers with diesel then pump out the sump again and refit the rocker covers & fill up with oil

refit the starter motor & spin the engine with the plugs out. It might be worth some lubrication down the air intake while spinning it

once your sure all the water is out put the plugs back in & try & restart it the sooner you get it started the better

its more than likely to start if it does, run it untill its nice & hot & change the oil & filter keep running it & changeing the oil untill the oil stops going white the more you run it the better chance you have of saving the engine

if you cant get it to start I'd refill everything with oil not diesel because diesel contains moisture & if left for a longish period the moisture in the diesel will start to corrode things

if you dont want the expense of buying enough new oil to fill the entire engine call at a local garage & scrounge enough waste engine oil to fill the engine to protect it untill you can get it going

i've repaired several flood damaged vehicles & a few sunk boat engines & fresh watter doesnt do much harm -saltwater is a totaly different animal though

sterndrive should be ok after an oil change & the uj/s have been regreased

good luck

ken
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top