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1990 Skier 350PCM CRACKED HEADS & BLOCK, HELP PLEASE!!


Moutainman

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Hi Everyone,

First off let me say thank you in advance for any help than anyone may give me, this is an amazing site and you guys should be proud to have such a tight community here, thank you for having me!!

I own a 1990 Malibu Skier, it has a PCM 350 5.7L V8 in it. I have gotten SCREWED big time by the dealer I took it to in the fall to winterize it. I admit my timing was close getting it in before the freeze but after he had the boat and claimed to have drained the motor, he called me and said it all looked fine, this was in October. He was supposed to look at a sticky starter as well and said he'd get to that later when he had finished winterizing all the boats he had to do. I got a call from him 2nd week of December saying he had pulled the boat in to look at the started and the heads were cracked, and he suspected the block to be as well. I really didn’t understand how this was possible as he claimed to have already drained it. To make a long story short I’m on the hook for the repair and I highly DON'T RECCOMMEND TRU NORTH MARINE IN CALGARY!!!!!

So here sits my beautiful but sad Malibu in need of some serious love! And its owner who need some advice!

I have talked to a number of guys in Calgary, both marine and automotive and they all want between 6000 - 8000$ to either rebuild/remanufacture my engine or replace with a rebuilt engine.

I feel this is quite high for such a simple, easy to access, and available engine. I have gotten a quote from Canada Engines in Surrey BC to either remanufacture or replace with a remanufactured engine and they say they can do the whole thing including labor for around $3800.00 cdn. This seems like a more reasonable price to me...

I am wondering if anyone has any advice for me, I am new to direct drive boats and I don't want to make the wrong decision and end up spending too much money or regretting my decision. I love my boat and I am into it for $10,000.00 at this point. It is in great shape and I don’t ever see it being worth less than $10,000-12,000 (with a rebuilt engine) but I want to make sure I am choosing the best option for the engine with regards to future selling value and not having issues going forward.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks Guys and Gals!

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Hi Everyone,

First off let me say thank you in advance for any help than anyone may give me, this is an amazing site and you guys should be proud to have such a tight community here, thank you for having me!!

I own a 1990 Malibu Skier, it has a PCM 350 5.7L V8 in it. I have gotten SCREWED big time by the dealer I took it to in the fall to winterize it. I admit my timing was close getting it in before the freeze but after he had the boat and claimed to have drained the motor, he called me and said it all looked fine, this was in October. He was supposed to look at a sticky starter as well and said he'd get to that later when he had finished winterizing all the boats he had to do. I got a call from him 2nd week of December saying he had pulled the boat in to look at the started and the heads were cracked, and he suspected the block to be as well. I really didn’t understand how this was possible as he claimed to have already drained it. To make a long story short I’m on the hook for the repair and I highly DON'T RECCOMMEND TRU NORTH MARINE IN CALGARY!!!!!

So here sits my beautiful but sad Malibu in need of some serious love! And its owner who need some advice!

I have talked to a number of guys in Calgary, both marine and automotive and they all want between 6000 - 8000$ to either rebuild/remanufacture my engine or replace with a rebuilt engine.

I feel this is quite high for such a simple, easy to access, and available engine. I have gotten a quote from Canada Engines in Surrey BC to either remanufacture or replace with a remanufactured engine and they say they can do the whole thing including labor for around $3800.00 cdn. This seems like a more reasonable price to me...

I am wondering if anyone has any advice for me, I am new to direct drive boats and I don't want to make the wrong decision and end up spending too much money or regretting my decision. I love my boat and I am into it for $10,000.00 at this point. It is in great shape and I don’t ever see it being worth less than $10,000-12,000 (with a rebuilt engine) but I want to make sure I am choosing the best option for the engine with regards to future selling value and not having issues going forward.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks Guys and Gals!

That sucks. I am curious if you can get them to replace it. Anyone know the law in this case?

That's a pretty high price, agreed. If you have or can get a chain hoist or cherry picker and have the room it's not too hard realistically. Get another motor if the block's cracked. Heads may be fixable but the block won't be worth the cost.

just samples:

http://www.marineenginesales.com/marine_engines.php

Or call a couple Mercury Marine dealers and find out what they're asking for a new 350 or 377 (I think it is). Good luck!

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Sombody stop me if I am wrong but, if the boat was damaged in their possesion then the expenses is on them period!!!

I am sure there are a few who could clarify the legalities but I would be all over their arse and be calling up Malibu, the BBB, local news etc until they cracked.

Worst case they should pay half of the repair bill.

FYI I had the engine rebuilt for around $4000 USD.

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I would check out your legal options. If you used the boat with no problems prior to dropping it off for service, It should be on them! Did you buy the boat from them? Most places will service the boat's purchased from them first, then get to other boat's when they have the time! The time line is the part that doesn't make sense to me. If Tru North Marine takes this boat and supposedly drains the block, why do they wait so long to inform you the block is cracked. I'm not a marine mechanic but wouldn't cracked head's and block be noticed while winterizing? The Tru North in my area (Kelowna B.C.) sells MB. When I went to Kelowna to check out a MB TWB the new dealer was less than helpful. I seemed to know more about the boat than anyone of the three people trying to assist me. This immediately sent up red flags. Due to the people working at Tru North in Kelowna I steered clear of MB. Doesn't sound like the Tru North name is much better in Calgary. Again, check your legal options!!!

Good luck, Keep us posted

Koop

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Did he run the boat in October or just drain it down? It could have come to him cracked, he just drained it down and after running it the issue appeared.

Pretty hard to crack heads even with a bad drain down, that block was full when the cold hit.

-Chris

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Hi Everyone,

First off let me say thank you in advance for any help than anyone may give me, this is an amazing site and you guys should be proud to have such a tight community here, thank you for having me!!

I own a 1990 Malibu Skier, it has a PCM 350 5.7L V8 in it. I have gotten SCREWED big time by the dealer I took it to in the fall to winterize it. I admit my timing was close getting it in before the freeze but after he had the boat and claimed to have drained the motor, he called me and said it all looked fine, this was in October. He was supposed to look at a sticky starter as well and said he'd get to that later when he had finished winterizing all the boats he had to do. I got a call from him 2nd week of December saying he had pulled the boat in to look at the started and the heads were cracked, and he suspected the block to be as well. I really didn't understand how this was possible as he claimed to have already drained it. To make a long story short I'm on the hook for the repair and I highly DON'T RECCOMMEND TRU NORTH MARINE IN CALGARY!!!!!

So here sits my beautiful but sad Malibu in need of some serious love! And its owner who need some advice!

I have talked to a number of guys in Calgary, both marine and automotive and they all want between 6000 - 8000$ to either rebuild/remanufacture my engine or replace with a rebuilt engine.

I feel this is quite high for such a simple, easy to access, and available engine. I have gotten a quote from Canada Engines in Surrey BC to either remanufacture or replace with a remanufactured engine and they say they can do the whole thing including labor for around $3800.00 cdn. This seems like a more reasonable price to me...

I am wondering if anyone has any advice for me, I am new to direct drive boats and I don't want to make the wrong decision and end up spending too much money or regretting my decision. I love my boat and I am into it for $10,000.00 at this point. It is in great shape and I don't ever see it being worth less than $10,000-12,000 (with a rebuilt engine) but I want to make sure I am choosing the best option for the engine with regards to future selling value and not having issues going forward.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks Guys and Gals!

That's a bummer, it was cold this year. We're at about 6-7 cracked blocks that have come in so far.

$6,000 - 8,000 sounds pretty normal to me if doing a new long block which in my opinion is the only way to go if your replacing the motor.

Long block is $4,275 (for a MARINE Indmar long block) then 2-3K in labor additional parts that usually always freeze too (manifolds, heater core, shower, transmission cooler etc)

Do they really seem that disorganized where they would leave a boat on the lot un-winterized? In my opinion if the boat was getting winterized that late in the year i would say both the owner and business are in a tough spot because nobody can prove whether it happened before or after the boat went in for service.

Make sure you check with your insurance company to see if they will cover the repair, it's rare but some companies will cover it.

Wish you the best and i hope everything works out for the better.

-Paul

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1) if you can prove your block was not cracked prior to bringing it to them, they must pay. ( be firm with them or they will walk all over you)

2) if it is a PCM (with ford block) stick with that cause the rotation is opposite of mercsruisers or indmars (with chevy block, you dont need to be buying a new prop too)

3) 6-7 G's for a installed reman with warranty out the door is a fair price.

4) See if you can find a reman 95 or newer PCM Pro Boss GT 40. Your boat will practically fly with that motor in it.

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I agree with Paul. I would check the weather from then and see if there was any temps that were below freezing from that last time you used it until you took the boat to them. It usually has to get below freezing for most of a day and not come back up the next day to hurt a engine. I am a repair shop and that is what I would look at before making a customer mad or having to turn it into my insurance.

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This just sucks anyway you slice it. Sorry about your misfortune. I would definitely pursue the legal/insurance side of this first. If that gets you nowhere, then take your boat to another shop. There is no way in hell I would give that marina the business of replacing the engine. Lastly, depending on how attached you are, consider buying a new boat. You could probably get into a similar boat for the price that it is going to cost you to replace the engine. Then you could sell/part out your current boat and maybe get out of this for a net $3-4K.

Let me know if you are interested in that last suggestion. I happen to know someone who is going to be selling a '92 Euro F3 with only 485 hours on it in the spring. I think he is asking around $8k. :whistle:

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Bummer man. Sorry to hear about your boat.

Lots of good info. I would certainly look at the weather charts up to the time you took the boat into the dealer. If you can prove they did not properly winterize the boat and the damage happened on their lot you should be getting a free motor and install.

If not, and you have to pay for it, I always look how to make a bad situation better. Biggrin.gif Replacing a motor is a great time to upgrade to a newer technology or more power. You could drop a dream small block in and even upgrade to EFI. I know if we ever have big trouble with ours I will be looking long and hard at a built small block for our Malibu. Even a 350 out of a newer GM truck in the junkyard with EFI might be a decent donor motor and a cost effective solution. Of course you have to change parts over to make sure the engine is marine ready. This includes alternator, exhaust manifolds, breathers, as well as the sea water pump and T-stat. I'm sure there is more on that list, but many of the parts will be swapped off your current motor.

Good luck!

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