Hi all, my wife and I just bought a 27' 1987 Carver Santego last weekend from a dealership on the Northern part of the Illinois river and brought her down the river to our marina in Havanna Illinois. It was about 132 miles, a awsome ride...through starved rock state park..anyway about 50 miles into our trip the stb. engine lost some rpm's so we stoped in peoria at a marina and stayed the night to see what the problem was. It ended up being clogged fuel filters, but anyway the mechanic I was talking to told me that my 180 mercrusiers were not very dependible motors, said the #3 piston is famous for burning up if the charging system is not just right. Does anyone know what he would mean by that? How can you test your charging system to see if it working just right. He also told me parts are hard to find for this motor and I should replace them with 200hp's. What is the best engine's for this size boat? Thanks, Billy
For the future, these are the kind of questions that would have been answered with a survey. She's a 1987 (24 years old). Do you know how many hours on the motors? Were they rebuilt? You've just completed day one. Don't even think about swapping motors unless or until you start having serious problems. Check your fuel tank (you'll find threads here on the problems caused by the new fuel blends to the tanks on your era boat. You may need to replace the tank. They melt, clogging filters and really screw up motors). In the mean time change the fuel filters (and carry spares), spark plugs, and wires on both motors. Do an oil change if one hasn't been done this year. Check your belts and hoses and replace if there is any question. Check your batteries. Then go enjoy your boat. Boats will suck the money right out of your wallet. Don't go looking for ways to push it out faster. This isn't a boat you want to repower unless you really have to. Good luck, have fun, and welcome to YF.
Yes the hours meter says 860 somthing on the port side and 900 something on the starbord, I was told 100 hrs on rebuilds. Ill change all the plugs and wires ect. this year. I was just asking for future referance on replacing the motors, Trust me im in no hurry to tackle swaping engines. anyway thanks for the advice and same to you have fun se safe, have a great summer... Billy
I have a 1987 Carver Santego 27 and love this boat I bought this boat a year ago and have had some issues with sediment in the tanks but a flush and some fuel filter/water separators later all is good with that. My local mechanic tells me he is not aware of the issue you speak of. I have the 4.3 LX engine and there is no reason to re-power unless you kill one or both. Don't believe everything some mechanics say or you will be broke. Enjoy the Santego. I have had two strangers approach in the last year and tell me they regret selling their Santego's. And I have never heard a past Santego owner complain about this model. Marty
Hi, DreamCatcher, I have a 1989 Santego 27 with the same motors. People either love them or hate them. They are said to have the best perfomance compared with fuel economy. But their design was "unusual" to be polite. Taking one cast iron cylinder head from a Ford V-8 and putting it on Mercruiser's own aluminum block is not a clever way to start. Then having an internal alternator system is just ridiculous. Several things need to be done to your motors (and likely have already been done). 1. Get an alternator kit. This looks like an automobile alternator, but of course is marinised. Don't go for the high amp model, 60 to 70 amps is much better. 2. Replace the points distributors with electronic (pointless) type. 3. Buy some of the cheaper (around $4 each) fuel filters which are also water separators. At that price you can replace them frequently. This may hold things until you have your tanks flushed. I put this off a long time and continually had carb problems. Blame ethanol if you wish; mine was just years of dirty fuel. 4. Do some research on motor oil. These motors are known as flat tappet engines. Until recently you could use automobile engine oil. I am told that the government decided to remove most of the zinc from car oils. We still need it. I have just switched to Joe Gibbs oil for this reason. He has cars in NASCAR and developed it for them Others use Rotella - intended for diesel engines! I imagine Mercury has an appropriate oil too. I have had numerous problems with the engines but agree that you should not think of changing them yet. Find a good mechanic to work with. Parts are out there, but are getting harder to find. Good Luck. Wilf.
My Dad's 89 Montego had a pair of those and they were very good motors overall. The straight 4 design made for a somewhat rough idle and they really did not like even a little water in the fuel. I added seperate Water/Fuel seperators which helped. In retrospect I should have added Racors that had the removable brass plug. That would have made purghing water out on the lake much easier after the boat sat idle for a season due to Dad's health. The local mechanic also liked the life span of the 180's. Two boats in the shed where he stored had over 2K hours on theirs without rebuilds. One went 2700 hours before it needed rework. Boat has been sold and is still runing strong somewhere in Milwaukee.
