Expert: tyler boehner - 2/29/2008

Question
Hello and thanks,
I'm buying a 1998 Sumerset Houseboat with twin 5.7L engines efi and these engines have about 220 hours on them. What general maintenance minor or major would I be looking at and what is considered high hours for this type of engine.

Answer
I'm honestly not sure what the normal maintenance is for I/O engines because I am from Kansas where the average boat gets 50 hours a season and must be winterized after every season.  I can tell you what we do here for yearly service.  Once a year we change the oil, oil filter, fuel filter, and gear lube.  We also suggest changing water pump impellers every 2 to 3 years.  Spark plugs usually last quite a while but i would replace them every 5 years.  However, that is for Kansas where we run different hours on engines.  If you are in a warm climate and don't need to get your boat winterized, I would ask a warm weather boat mechanic about the hourly service schedule to get a more accurate answer.  Hope I didn't make things more confusing.  Sorry I couldn't be more help.