Hi everyone,

I have a 1996 325 with twin crusaders. Last season, the oil pressure was reading low on the port engine, but still within spec. I asked my marina to take a look at it and then said they would when we launched this spring.

They said when they launched, the port engine fired up fine and oil pressure was within spec when they first checked it, but then they moved the boat, checked it again, and it was reading zero.

They said they pulled the gauge and put in a manual gauge to make sure it wasn’t a gauge issue, and it was still zero.

They did some further testing this week and said that the oil pump and pickup need to be replaced. Since it is on the bottom of the engine, they said they will need to pull the engine to replace it. They quoted me $10,000. I’d imagine this is mostly labor.

I knew if the oil pump needed to be replaced they would need to pull the engine so I was expecting a big bill, but this was still a shock. Does $10k sound reasonable?

Also, while the engine is pulled, is there any other preventative maintenance we should do in order to make sure we don’t have another huge repair bill in the future?

They said that there wasn’t any blow by, but I’m a bit worried if the oil pump was failing that there could be some excessive engine wear. Would it be worthwhile to get a compression test?

Both engines were replaced in 2021 which was a big selling point for this boat. I was hoping we’d be able to avoid major engine repairs. However, my understanding the previous owner replaced both of the blocks and reused some original engine components so I’m sure the oil pump was original.

Any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.