165 mercruiser dramas

[WILD_TURKEY]

Hello all, just wondering if antone out there has a 165 mercruiser or has had one in the past,having plenty of dramas with mine any feed back would be great.:-/

[The-easyrider]

cant help with a 165 mercruiser but I have a 220 mercruiser if that would help ask away. ask anyway you never what sort of good advice you will recieve on this site

[WILD_TURKEY]

I installed a new exhuast manifold 4 years ago and now its stuffed again , my mechanic tells me that mercruiser recommends replacement every 5 years......sounds a tadd expensive at $1800 each time plus labour......

[WILD_TURKEY]

By the way the boat is an Easyrider........

[whatscracken]

My old man had a 25 Bertram with twin 165 Mercrusiers. They were always causing him dramas mate, he'd fix one thing and then something else would play up. He had the boat for 12 years with the Mercrusiers and rebuilt them twice in that time. He ended up getting rid of them both and putting a single screw Yanmar diesel in and it was all good until he sold it. I think they worked really hard in that particular boat and are quite old motors in general.

[WILD_TURKEY]

here is the old girl.

[The-easyrider]

My last boat was a easyrider but the stacer version, Yeh that what I was told about the manifolds, had the heat gun on mine at the last service and it came up ok so proberly next year. When they are due to be done I will fitting stainless ones not to much dearer and then they are done for good so the work out cheaper in the long run. One thing I was told was to stay away from the cheaper cast ones advertized as mercruiser style as they just dont last
http://www.hitekmarine.com.au

[PinHead]

they usually say ABOUT 5 years or 1000 hours..the Volvos are the same.

[Roughasguts]

Got a Volvo V8 at home over 45 years old she's fully marinised with Alloy everything and never changed a manifold on her. A few rubber exhaust tubes and A few zinc anodes but that's it.

Mercruisers must be ........ really good.

[BM]

Maybe in a moored setting you would consider changing your manifold every 5 yrs or so but not when its trailerd and flushed out regularly. They are heavily cast and can withstand many years (like 20) on a trailered boat.

The 165 straight 6's are getting pretty old now. You can still buy complete, remanufactured units from the US and also all parts are available over there after market. A/market manifolds there would be pretty cheap even after you factor in the freight to Aus.

What problems are you having with her and does your mechanic really understand sterndrives or his he mainly an outboard mechanic? Theres a big difference.

Whatscracken, rebuilt twice in 12 yrs??? Whoever did the work on this boat did not properly know what they were doing. Plain and simple. Those 165's are a plain old Chev engine and as such are very reliable, go forever type units. Of course, things can/do go wrong in a marine environment but 2 rebuilds in 12 yrs is just wrong....

There are plenty out there (in the trade) who simply don't really understand sterndrive setups properly.


Cheers

[WILD_TURKEY]

Thanks BM, yes my mechanic is an inboard specialist and a pretty fussy one as well, he has found other minor issues that i wasnt aware of, maybe Im just unlucky with this manifold and riser.

Easyrider I wish I could get a stainless setup for her but there are none available as far as I can tell......Thanks for everybodys input keep it coming.....

[WILD_TURKEY]

My last boat was a easyrider but the stacer version, Yeh that what I was told about the manifolds, had the heat gun on mine at the last service and it came up ok so proberly next year. When they are due to be done I will fitting stainless ones not to much dearer and then they are done for good so the work out cheaper in the long run. One thing I was told was to stay away from the cheaper cast ones advertized as mercruiser style as they just dont last
http://www.hitekmarine.com.au
Thanks mate ,I checked them out , they only do an aluminium unit for the 165 which my mechanic says are even more likely to corode, as it turns out he reckons the original cast unit failed because the other mechanic that fitted the manifold 4 years ago didnt change the riser and now the riser is almost completely blocked causing water to stay in the manifold and corode also causing the engine to overheat...............

[Tazmaniac]

I know this wont help you, but it took me 3 sterndrives to realise that outboards are the way to go ! Go the Yammy 4 banger ! ! ! !
Taz.