www.iFourWinns.com

cross posted to the engine forum for looks

Well my luck finally ran out after 8 years or so with my boat....here's the story.

I let my friend use the boat whenever he wants and while it happened on his watch I am pretty sure it could have happened to me. Only thing I wish is I could have been there to understand a few more of the symptoms leading up to the failure.

He had been cruising the lake stopping and starting a few times just admiring the leaves late season. Last stop he turned off the motor without pulling it out of gear ... not the way I would have done it but I have done it that way as well. sounded like it dieseled quite a bit (running on) then shut off. 20 minutes later no start...said it would turn and stop sounding like a dead battery....was close to the dock and got towed in.

I went to boat 2 days later and it would turn over followed by a loud metallic clunk and stoppage of engine...I felt the flywheel/starter was the issue. oil was clean and no obvious external engine damage or leaks noted

Pulled the plugs today and rotated motor by hand, water came out of a few cylinders, others smelled of raw fuel and were wet....the starter is actually broken (see photo) suspect the torque from attempting a start after it was locked caused that..

So I don't really know all the systems of hydro-lock but it sure seems like thats what happened. Questions are where to go now.

I figure best case scenario water came in after stopping the boat. Worst case water getting in through manifold/gasket. The boat has not been overheated and was running pretty darn good prior to this.

I think a compression test to rule out any major cylinder damage...with clean oil I am fairly confident I may be ok there. I fogged all cylinders and pulled the engine through again to try and get rid of any moisture...I doubt I will run the motor this year which concerns me a bit..time will tell if I can get it back together and run it before winterizing.

To top it all off and what sounds like the most troubling issue is I broke a $#)!T%@ starter bolt removing the starter. I will research some videos and such but that seems like it will be a royal pita to remove the stud.....I heated it up and took my time knowing it was a problem and still F'd it up...argh. flywheel looks good as well.

Thanks for reading my ramble....open to all thoughts and opinions.

Untitled by Jon Miller, on Flickr

_________________
Jon Miller
1998 four Winns Horizon H200
Volvo Penta 4.3 GL
Newtown, CT

untitled-545 by millerjont, on Flickr

Sucks that it happened, but it sounds like you have a winter project now! If you pull the motor out to work on it in the off-season, then do you really have to worry about winterizing?

I have my own project to work on this winter...rebuilding a metal-chewing lower unit!

_________________
1999 180 Horizon OB Fisherman Pkg (SOLD)
2013 Grand Cherokee 4x4 w/ 5.7 Hemi
San Antonio, TX

Actually Jon fixed the starter & got it up & running see the other thread for the whole story. I did a partial rebuild on my 4.3 three years ago. Both head gaskets had blown (previous overheat) so I installed a set of reman cyl heads and at the same time installed upgraded 2 piece exhaust vs the old one piece OMC manifolds. Those engines are very simple to work on and the parts are cheap.

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

LoL!
Lou, I saw that thread after I posted here.

_________________
1999 180 Horizon OB Fisherman Pkg (SOLD)
2013 Grand Cherokee 4x4 w/ 5.7 Hemi
San Antonio, TX