Hello All,

I have a 2001 Bayliner Capri stern drive with a 5.0L V8 Alpha One Gen II. Last fall it developed a hole in the shift cable bellows and took on some water while it sat at the dock when we were out of town for two weeks. I got the boat out of the water and cleaned up the engine, but the weather turned cold and I was frustrated. So I winterized the boat and put it in storage. This spring I changed all the bellows out and decided to buy some insurance and change the thermostat while I was at it along with a performing many other routine maintenance items. I put the boat in the water on Memorial Day, and it ran just fine. The next time we took it out, we drove around for a little while then anchored for awhile. Shortly after I restarted the boat, warning buzzers started going off saying we had no fuel, and the fuel gauge dropped from full to empty. I knew that wasn't true because I had filled the boat up just a couple of days previously, and had only used it for an hour, and it couldn't leak out 37 gallons of fuel at the rate the gauge was dropping. (There would have also been a huge oil slick in the lake, and there wasn't). Then the temperature buzzer went off saying it was overheating. However, on opening the engine compartment, nothing seemed extraordinarily hot. I also noticed that when the temperature buzzer was going off that the RPMs changed. I shut the boat off and restarted it, and the buzzers quit and the gauges returned to normal. Then they started again shortly after restarting. I pulled the boat out of the water and pulled the engine temperature sensor and performed the test recommended in the manual, and it tested fine. I also tested the sender, and it also checked out fine. I've done a little more research on the thermostat I bought, and according to the online store I purchased it from, it is not the correct thermostat for my model boat. However, it says it should work for all Mercruiser 160 degree thermostats. Not sure if it makes any difference, but it doesn't say it's the replacement for the OEM part. Any thoughts?