Those bearings can freeze up. It happened on my OMC (sold it a few years
back). It didn't lock the engine however. Instead, the engine just kept
going. At about the same time I noticed the smoke rising from the rear,the
main shaft sheared in two. At that point of course, the engine was free to
spin all it wanted and I was dead in the water. I suppose if the bearing
had frozen while the engin was stopped, it could prevent it from turning
over, but then I suppose this could apply to any bearing in the drive
train, all the way down to the prop shaft bearing.

Los Faines de Alameda wrote in
:

Thanks for the reply and info on where to post for repair
recommendation,

The engine doesn't turn over at all, BUT... The oil on the dipstick is
still that same beautiful honey color fresh out of the can. I was told
if the block took in water that the oil would be foamy.

Someone emailed me that he'd had the same type of problem with a '79
OMC stringer drive and that the root of it all was the bearings in the
intermediate drive froze up.

I can't do anything to the boat 'til the weekend comes 'round. I was
just looking for places to start.

Thanks again,
Steve


Calif Bill wrote:

"Los Faines de Alameda" wrote in message
...
Aloha all-

I'm new to the boating world. Yep, I am.

I took my boat (1974 Dan Arena Deep-V fiberglass hull, with 225 HP
OMC Sterndrive) to Tahoe last weekend and after 10-15 minutes in
the lake the engine completely shut down. One deep, hard *thud* and
that was it. Didn't hit anything. The engine just stopped. When
turning the ignition, the starter clicks hard but is unable to turn
the engine over.

My dad, knows as much about boats as I, suspected enging crank
shaft breakage. My brother, with the same family boat knowlege,
claimed cam
bearings.

After a few phone calls I got messages back saying it was most
likely the the outdrive. I was never able to talk to anybody in
person, just alot of messages.

Is there a better book for diagnosing this type of problem than the
OMC Manual? Which is no help in this situation.

The boat hadn't been driven for several months before taking it to
Tahoe. I changed the crankcase oil and lubed up where I could find
grease zerts. I bought the boat 9 months ago.

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated,
Steve

sounds like it may have Hydrolocked. Ingested water. Pull the plugs
and see if the engine turns over and water shoots out. For repair
recommendation post on www.coastsidefishingclub.com Is the bay area
sal****er fishing board! Or www.anglernet.net for the freshwater
people. Bill