Merc thermostat housings are pretty complicated. I'd not be surprised if
it's close to $100 new from merc but $400 is out of line. If the job is
just to replace the intake and thermostat housing it too much. That's not a
hard job. And both those parts are readily available used. In fact many
marine shops have some laying around. As you pointed out neither go bad
often. I've seen them 20 years old still fine.

Matt, are you sure what work is happening here? First you thought it was
the exhaust, now it's the intake. For $1600 either you are paying a lot or
there is more involved here than we are hearing about. Intake replacement
is about a 4 hour job on a v8. Thermostat housing is on top of the intake
so no extra time to do it.

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
ink.net...
I've had a 'stat housing rot on cars. But $400 for a 'stat housing seems
way excessive. More like about 5-15 bucks would be my guess.
Bill

"Doug Meredith" wrote in message
...
INTAKE manifold rotted??? Thats a new one. Exhaust Risers yes, intake
no. I've never seen a stat housing rot either. If these boat has lots
of
hours on it, maybe, but I've seen 1000+ hour salt water boats and they
have never had a problem with the intake or Stat housing.


"Matt" wrote in message
...
Sorry it was the INTAKE MANIFOLD... Same question goes for INTAKE
MANIFOLD:

I ran into a problem a few weeks ago, long story short: Water in the
oil.
My boat is a 1994 w/ 350 MAG v8 5.7 liter engine. I brought my boat
to
my
trusty (i hope) marina mechanic. He stated that it was the Intake
Manifold
and Thermostat housing. He said that, probably before i had the boat,
it
was in salt water alot (which it was) and rotted through. I trust him
because before he started any work he said it could be a cracked block
and a
few other things, but the best case would be intake manifold (cheapest
of
them all, eventhough i found out his version of cheap isn't the same
as
mine). He gave me a price of $1600 for total repair (includes $640
for
NEW
exhaust manifold, approx 400 for housing, 2-3 oil changes (to make
sure
no
more water), labor) he said i could save about $300 if he finds a
used
manifold, so that's what I'm hoping.