I sold my boat a few days ago - hooray! 1987 23' Wellcraft NovaXL, 454 Alpha. I repowered the boat in 2000 with a reman 454 from Runsnew. Last full season of use was 2004, with probably less than 80 hours total on the new motor. Ran the motor one time during summer of 2005 on the hose for a potential buyer. Winterized and ran last Wednesday on the hose for the current buyer. Idled and revved motor for about 15 minutes. Buyer decided to purchase and picked up boat Saturday. Buyer called today and said while practicing docking alarm came on and he shut down motor. Found a mechanic (on Sunday)who removed distributor and told him that oil pump was seized. Diagnosis performed with a long screwdriver. Wants me to pay half of $2000 repair.

Does this ring true? What would you do?

Thanks,

Ron

call runsnew for some help$$$

6 years ago.Come on!

Was it sold "as is" can anyone verify his story? tough call if it's a buddy.

I'd verify that the pump is seized at the very least if you are considering making a donation.

Thanks for the replys. Buyer is not a friend, actually two states away.

I'm not much of a motorhead and have a question. What would happen to the distributor shaft if the oil pump seized? Would motor continue to run?

Thanks,

Ron

If it ran right when he bought it and it was sold as-is then it's his headache not yours.

If it shears the oil pump drive shaft, yes the motor can keep running. Did the boat have an hour meter? I seriously doubt that the first thing anyone would do with a new boat is practice docking

It would have to snap off the tang at the end of the distributer that fits into the oil pump drive shaft. Maybe it wasn't completely siezed. There could be damage to the oil pump that you could feel from turning the pump. But like has been said, it was sold as is. If you want a warrenty, buy new or at least get it in writing.

With no oil pressure, not for very long until whole engine seized up. The distributor is run from the camshaft and the bottom of the shaft runs the oil pump, If the pump seized seems to me the bottom of the distributor shaft would chew up the input slot of the oil pump and you would see metal shavings and im sure you would hear some sort of noise. I would direct the new owner to 1800-runsnew if the engine is still under warranty (which im sure its not if its 5-6 years old) Still forward them to 1800 runs new.
I know you dont want to be a heartless ahole but its not really your problem anymore. Maybe call runs new and talk to someone and refer the buyer to that person, Help out a little, I would NOT fork up money just yet. Depends, but if you did not mis-represent the boat then the failure might have been the new users fault not something you did, so that being said, I need my header welded, You want to send me some $ for it? Ill gladly accept it.
See, this really is not your problem what someone else has done or did or whatever.
J