[Maciej]

Hello, having issues posting to introductions, so let's see if this one goes, as I posted a reply to another post and that worked fine.
New owner of a 1994 180 Talari, we are the second owners, just picked it up a week ago, unfortunately the weather not yet cooperating for getting it out on the water. We are in Caledonia, but boat will live on Pigeon Lake near Peterborough.
Been reading a lot about Mariah's and 4.3 Merc's in the last few weeks. Feeling somewhat confident about the usual maintenance like oil and drive oil changes, but I think I will have it in for a professional first service and make sure all is good for this season. I have been working on my cars for years, and a little bit around our Seadoo boat, but I/O is new to me. Looks like my boat has a remote mounted oil filter, front right of the engine, not back left (port) as I had been led to believe through my reading.
Other than engine and gear oil, anything I should consider for this new to us boat such as plugs or fuel filter?

Thanks all

Pics to follow if I can finally post

[Maciej]

Woot, it worked finally, maybe I was trying to post in the "sticky" section before, doh!
Anyway, I bought the boat without a water test, and on the word of the shop that took care of it, that it was a well maintained and taken care of one owner boat. I did check it out and had it running while I was going over it.

Interior is in really nice shape, but has small issues based on the age of the boat. Vinyl, for the most part is in very good shape, a couple of small tears here and there, worst being the sunpad at the very back. Need to figure out how to stop the spread of small cut on driver seat without resorting to beautiful white gorilla tape Also needs a couple clips for bracket for the taller cover.

Exterior is in good shape too, mostly scrapes to the decal parts, which we might remove down the road for a cleaner look. Also small nicks here and there for a boat this age.

Still have to figure out some parts of the engine, I believe I located the power steering reservoir at front of the engine (would it hurt to put an idiot logo/word on the cap?). Not sure what the reservoir is at back port side, behind the engine, but perhaps fluid/pump for trim? Gear oil reservoir pretty obvious from youtube videos on changing gear oil. As stated, oil filter seems to be a remote mount to front starboard of the engine, certainly easier to get to, although mounted upside down would have made the job much easier. At least I have the dipstick with the threaded end to attach pumpp to. Space is tight in there though, with the walls of engine compartment, any way to change the mounting of the walls on either side of the engine for easier removal? I am contemplating even moving them out an inch or two for easier access to the screws that hold the walls in place and give the engine more room on either side. Any thoughts on the safety aspect of this?

Along with first maintenance, should I have the belts changed as well? I think I might get taken with this first service, but might be worth the peace of mind that our first season won't be ruined due to me "learning" I am planning on holding off selling our Seadoo Challenger for a bit, in case something goes awry with this boat at the start of the season.

Sorry for the long post, have a ton of questions still.

Thanks all

[Maciej]

Ok, here are a couple of pics.

Any thoughts on boat insurance in Ontario, is it worth it? We had our Seadoo Challenger 14ft boat for 8 or 9 yrs and never had insurance on it. My insurance company won't insure boats over 15 or 20 yrs old, so would also appreciate thoughts on different insurance companies with best benefits.

Thanks

[GaryDoug]

Welcome, and your boat looks real good in the photos. I would probably try some vinyl repair kits on the upholstery if you don't want to replace it. The best ones are those that have you placing a patch under the tear for strength, and then using a plastic filler cream to cover up the tear.

Make sure you are looking at the oil filter and not the fuel filter. They look almost identical. To change the oil filter, place rags and/or paper towels under it, unscrew about 1/2 turn (?) slowly and then stick the end of the dipstick under the seal to let air inside. Leave it there for several minutes to allow the oil to drain out. Then unscrew it all the way and remove it. No matter how hard I tried, I still dripped some oil.

When changing the fuel filter/separator. It is sometimes necessary to fill the filter with fuel before installing it or the engine won't run. It was necessary on my 5.7 and many other users, but not for all. I don't know why.

AS for the belt, I bought a new one and keep it on the boat after learning how to change it (in the dark if necessary). I even printed a diagram of the belt routing and taped it inside the engine compartment. If you are reinstalling a belt, make sure to put it back with the direction of rotation the same or it will probably make a lot of noise, especially if it is a serpentine type. For consistency, I always install a belt with the part number on the belt readable and upright.

Insurance... I only have liability and towing, but not damage to the boat itself, because I can afford to replace it if needed. I don't think the age of the boat is relevant to those types of insurance. I used Geico only because I have that company for auto insurance. Geico doesn't sell towing insurance in my area, but they did sign me up with TowBoatUS with a big discount for new members. There is a TowBoatUS boat just two blocks from my dock, so it should work for me.

I think you are correct about the trim reservoir/pump in the rear port side area.

If you look around online, you should be able to find the complete 4.3L Mercruiser service manual and operation manual.
I think this may be it for 99 (click on Download): https://www.manualslib.com/manual/10...-3l-Alpha.html
Or for 96: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...xt_HtQ&cad=rja
Operation: https://mercurymarine-gsdesign1.netd..._860171060.pdf

[Firestone]

Welcome to the club!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Maciej]

Thanks guys

Another quick question, my initial research seemed to indicate that this boat had the 4.3 Mercruiser with 155 or 175 hp because I was under the impression those years (and because it says "4.3/V6) it didn't have the Vortec heads. However, upon closer inspection I see Vortec stamped on the valve covers so may have lucked out with more power than I originally thought. I was thinking of doing the heads/carb in a couple years if I felt I needed more power, but may have lucked out and may be just a carb swap away from a bump up. Thoughts or input on engine/power for that year/model?

Thanks

[GaryDoug]

I'm not familiar with that engine. But it would not be very unusual for the boat to have been re-powered with a new engine at some time. Seldom do the mechanics just install the older engine type since the newer ones are more available.

[Maciej]

Haven't done the oil changes yet, but after some more reading, I believe GaryDoug is right and I found the fuel filter, not the oil filter, doh! Thanks for the heads up, back to search for oil filter. Maybe that can be a future mod if possible, remote oil filter mount to make things easier. Got my tools for the changes though, gear oil pump, crankcase sucky pump thing and muffs t run in driveway. Any tips/don't do's for starting in driveway?

Thanks again

[GaryDoug]

First a disclaimer: I know little about the 4.3 engine. I barely know my way around my 5.7.

But if the operation manual is right (and it may not be), the oil filter should be on the port side up high near the oil filler tube. I have marked a generic diagram attached.

Next: I bought the Mercury Quicksilver oil change pump kit (pump and outlet tube). I warmed up the engine as directed in the manual before using the pump to remove the oil through the dipstick tube. Mine had a garden hose type fitting on the top, and so it fit the pump. Because the oil was hot, I tried to move my grip around on the pump as it got hot, and it started to leak a lot around the rubber end pieces. It made a mess. In retrospect, perhaps I should have used thick gloves and kept my grip on the cylinder part, or bought another type of pump.

By the way, I initially got lucky and both filters on my engine were Sierra brand and had visible part numbers that identified their purpose. A simple Google search was all that was needed.

[Maciej]

I think that oil filter location in the pic would be a dream, I believe mine will be at the back pointing down, less dreamy. I felt/looked around but didn't see it. I'd hate to think after all this time working on cars I'd miss such an obviously placed filter on top We shall see on Friday.
The shop I spoke to that took care of the boat told me all fluids changed for winter and boat should be ready to go. I thought maybe they were thinking wrong boat, because the filter I found was pretty dirty, but makes sense if it's the fuel filter which wasn't changed for winter. Once I find the oil filter and if it shows shiny I might be good to go.
I got a 6L Pela ball/pump sucky thing, hopefully less messy than what you described.
Once I get around to the oil changes, next decisions will be oil type/brand, should be simple choices cause everyone agrees on that topic

Thanks again