Can any body tell me why these engines have a bad rap? Someone told me they overheat a lot. I am looking at a older Doral that has a pair of them. The broker told me that they were rebuilt and the recall fixed the overheating problem. Is this possible?

I have an 89 OMC 2.3 litre in a 19 ft aluminium v hull. Never had any major problems with the engine. The stern drive is easy to work on. The only critical thing with OMC pre 1991 is the shift cable. There was a recall for replacing the shift cable. The new cable has a red casing and the original was black. If over heating is an issue it could be the riser manifold is bad or the grommet in the stern drive were the pick up tubing connects the upper drive to the lower drive has melted. The grommet melting was the only time I had over heating issues. When the grommet melted not enough water was being pulled up to the engine.

The real problem I have it finding replacement parts. I only know of one dealer in salsbury.

this was a 1989 doral with twin omc cobra engines.

excuse me. not king cobras, but 5.7 cobras. They were rebuilt and have 200 hours on them.

pics of engine

350 chevys,, fairly simple. does it have those omc cobra drives?
lots o rust on the manifolds, looks like the risers were/are leaking.
not good, could be leaking down into the heads.
i'll go look at it with you if you want?