My nephew stopped by today to tell me his tale of woe. He bought a certain
type of used boat a couple of years ago that is powered by a 175 hp "Force"
engine. The engine overheats, despite the replacement of impellers, etc.,
and the boat/engine repair place that he took it too won't even look at it.
Cites cracked block as the probable problem.

They have recommended he buy a refurbished engine .... brand unknown, except
they happen to have a couple that they have "it stock". One is a 200 hp,
the other is a 225 hp. My nephew seems to think they are a reputable dealer
and know what they are talking about.

My nephew asked me my opinion. I asked him what the USCG nameplate said as
the maximum horsepower for this boat was. Answer: 175 HP. I asked him if
the dealer trying to sell him the new motor knew this and he said, yes, but
the dealer said the boat will take a bigger engine, no problem.

I hated to burst his bubble, but advised against this. I could tell by his
reaction that his mind is set and he's going to do it anyway.

So, am I going to be the old fashioned fool?

RCE

RCE wrote:
My nephew stopped by today to tell me his tale of woe. He bought a certain
type of used boat a couple of years ago that is powered by a 175 hp "Force"
engine. The engine overheats, despite the replacement of impellers, etc.,
and the boat/engine repair place that he took it too won't even look at it.
Cites cracked block as the probable problem.

They have recommended he buy a refurbished engine .... brand unknown, except
they happen to have a couple that they have "it stock". One is a 200 hp,
the other is a 225 hp. My nephew seems to think they are a reputable dealer
and know what they are talking about.

My nephew asked me my opinion. I asked him what the USCG nameplate said as
the maximum horsepower for this boat was. Answer: 175 HP. I asked him if
the dealer trying to sell him the new motor knew this and he said, yes, but
the dealer said the boat will take a bigger engine, no problem.

I hated to burst his bubble, but advised against this. I could tell by his
reaction that his mind is set and he's going to do it anyway.

So, am I going to be the old fashioned fool?

RCE


I believe in 'playing it safe'.
In fact, I'd probably go a size down a lot quicker than moving up.
Canucks don't usually have that surreal fascination with power that
seems common south of the border..

Ok, first and foremost I am not a fan of Force motors.
(yet I do like regular merc's)

As for the motor overheating... If your nephew is into
fixing his own motor, he should really look into why
the motor is overheating. I would NOT get the impression
that they are knowledgable when they tell me that
they replaced a bunch of parts and its still overheating.
There has to be a REAL reason why the hell this thing
is overheating. I would first check it out with the thermostats.
Make sure they are cleaned and free of sand/salt.
If they are old and have never been changed, that's bad.
The water pump impeller should be new (most common reason
for overheating)

Next if the water pump impellers and thermostats are good, then
I would check the compression of all the cylinders and see
if one is way out of wack. This may or maynot show something.
While running the motor out of the water and on muffs, I would
take an IR thermometer and see which one of the cyclinders or
banks are getting too hot. At least that'll tell you which side is
getting
too hot. You can pull the head and see if the passages are clogged
up
and replace the head gasket. Run that motor again and
see what happens. A cracked block would normally cause some
lower compression on one of the banks. They should be able to
say which cylinder is being effected.

Tom