I think I cooked my motor... <BR> <BR>I left a bung out the other night when we went riding. Thought something was odd when she wouldn't pull out with 7 people on board. It's not that heavy for her. Turns out the whole floor space was full of water. I would guess around 2000# plus 7 people on board plus the 500~600# ballast tank up front. Wake was massive but it got real choppy on the way back to the ramp so we had to go slow. Obviously didn't go slow enough... <BR> <BR>The motor started to get hot so we shut it down for a while. Started it back up to try to limp in since we were getting blown the wrong way and it stayed hot then sort of sputtered and died. Had a go at it yesterday and it seems hard to turn by hand (with the plugs in, haven't tried with them out) the starter motor doesn't really want to turn the motor over, but it isn't stuck solid, it is moving and sometimes it will do a full rev or 2. Won't start though. <BR> <BR>The motor is a 350 Chev, Edelbrock Performer 320 hp tune. <BR> <BR>The oil doesn't seem to be burnt, there is no water in it either. <BR> <BR>If anyone could offer any advice on where I could start with trying to fix it, or figure out if it needs to be torn down I would greatly appreciate it. <BR> <BR>I'm planning on going back tonight to try the motor with no plugs in it to see how freely it will turn then. <BR> <BR>Thanks.

First thing to do is a compression test. It will give you a chance to look at the plugs. Let us know what the numbers are before you pay for a rebuild. Which bung did you leave out?

Boat has 3, one on each side and one in the middle. I left the port one out. I put in the first 2 then got distracted half way through realising I'd just torn a hole in my foot jumping off the boat. At first I thought I'd stepped on some glass and got caught up looking for it. Not uncommon to find broken glass at the ramp we ride at, apparently people go down there to drink and smash their bottles.

Normally "hard to turn" is a bad sign but you might as well get compression numbers first because it's very very cheap compared to a tear down and everyone can do it themselves, and should, every once in a while anyways. <BR>Good luck.

Sweet, Thanks for that John. Hopefully I will be able to test it tonight.

FYI i like bung. and your boat. <BR> <BR>How hot did it get? I don't think a compression test will tell you much, but borrow a guage and do it yourself. Like John said, good to know anyway. <BR> <BR>Go spin it with no plugs. if it spins fine, then your bearing and internals should be good. <BR> <BR>Also make sure your batt is charged all the way. and tighten all your connections. sounds stupid, but with water up to the floor you don't really know what went on with electronics. sounds like weak juice to me...

Oh yeah, there are no oil leaks either. Not entirely sure whether burning the mains bearings out would burn the seals out too, but I imagine it's quite likely. Hopefully this is a good sign. I will be checking for water in the bores tonight too. Can't get any compression testing gear, so I might have to take it to a shop for that.

Yeah the bilge pump had to work for about 20 minutes with the bungs all out to get most of the water out of her... so the batteries may be a little low. <BR> <BR>She got to about 110*C, 250*F or thereabouts before we shut her down the first time. Limping in after that it didn't get any hotter, just shut down. <BR> <BR>I think the starter may have gone underwater though, it had been taken out and cleaned up earlier the same day, so that sucks... There is a spare starter at home I can try out but it's not in the best condition.

I'm trying to figure out how water in the bilge could have caused any kind of problem making it need a rebuild. I doubt you sucked any water thru the intake. And if water got inside thru the "bung" then you would have found water in the oil. But I doubt it could make it into the cylinders from there. <BR> <BR>Most likely the starter was under water. And the ignition was soaked. <BR> <BR>Make sure your battery is charged, connections are clean, etc. Change the oil &amp; filter. Pull the distributor cap, all the plugs &amp; plug wires. Give everything a good cleaning with WD40 &amp; let them dry out. Pull your ECM connectors, clean with WD40, apply some dielectric grease, then plug it back in. Spin the motor with no plugs installed &amp; see if any water comes out. Do the compression test..... check a manual for what the compression should be. All the cylinders should be within about 10% of each other. <BR> <BR>My guess is you probably cooked the starter. Pull it &amp; take it in to a shop who can test it. I imagine it'll take some ungodly amount of amperage to turn it, which means it's time to rebuild just the starter motor. A rebuild will be a LOT cheaper than a replacement marine starter..... maybe $100 - $200. <BR> <BR>Good luck &amp; let us know what comes up.

The motor already had cooling problems, due to hitting the bottom and sucking up mud partly, but also because the cooling system sucks. The raw water pump leaks and it will sometimes get hot for no definable reason. <BR> <BR>We did take on some water over the top, ran into some decent waves and that pretty much stopped the boat since we were going so slow, wake washed over the back. Some genius previous owner cut a hole in the sun pad because he thought the motor wasn't getting enough air, funnily enough when the wake washes over it goes straight into the hole all over the carb and intake manifold. We're usually quite careful not to let the wake wash over the back. Couldn't really avoid it this time unfortunately. <BR> <BR>Thanks for the advice Bill. I will definitely add your suggestions to my list of things to do.

Cheers Nacho. I will take a look at the connections and make sure they're good too.

So you have a hole cut into the back of your sun pad that lets water directly pour over your carb? Are you sure you didnt experience hydrolock from water getting into the motor?? <BR> <BR>Why would you never the raw water pump leak fixed? Thats asking for problems.

I'm not sure about hydrolock, that's why I'm going to take the plugs out tonight to check for water in the bores. <BR> <BR>The raw water pump doesn't leak too badly, although it has been getting worse. We were planning on changing it this winter when the boat won't be used much (It's Summer here) <BR> <BR>The reason it leaks is because the belt is the wrong length. In order to tighten the belt you have to pull the pulley/shaft out of the pump, which screws up the shaft and makes it leak. I am planning on making an adjustable bracket for the new pump. <BR> <BR>The pump still flows a good volume of water as it is, just leaks around the shaft due to the grooves in it. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by jtnz on February 06, 2008)

She lives! <BR> <BR>Had water in the motor, but we got most of that out and put the plugs back in. She's running rough but running at least. <BR> <BR>Going to change the oil tonight and fingers crossed it's all good. <BR> <BR>Thanks everyone for your help and advice. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by jtnz on February 07, 2008)

lets hope you didn't do a partial hydro lock.

Partial meaning bent rod or cracked piston? It could still run, but run like crap. <BR> <BR>So where was the water in the engine? Top end blowing out of the spark plug holes? Bottom end in the oil? <BR> <BR>Running rough could be wet ignition too. Did you dry out the distributor cap &amp; plug wires? WD40 will help. <BR> <BR>The hole in your engine cover really needs to be covered. And the cooling issues fixed for good. Sounds like the boat is barely patched together.

She's not new by any stretch of the imagination, still chucks a nice wake though <img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/proud.gif" border=0> <BR> <BR>I agree she does need some attention... Hopefully she will get some more now. <BR> <BR>Water all came out the top end. No water at all in the oil so I reckon that's a good sign that nothing is cracked or broken. Changing the oil tonight.

Took all the plug wires off when we pulled the plugs, don't look too bad, they still hang onto the plugs like champions. I will give the dizzy a shot of CRC (WD40, same thing really) tonight too. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by jtnz on February 07, 2008)

Probably washed/scored the cylinders too, so it is going to burn more oil than ever before.

How does it turn over with a freshly charged battery?

It turns over great. Runs great. 2 new oil filters, 1 engine flush, 3 oil changes, 1 new air filter, bled the radiator and went riding for 2 hours last night. Ran awesome, not a single problem, never got above 200*F dropped back to around 180 at idle. <BR> <BR>Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Looks like I have been very lucky this time <img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/biggrin.gif" border=0>

I poped both of my head gaskets on my 99 Supra. You would have never known it either. It ran smooth even though they were both bad. Water got in you're cylinders some how. I would do a compression test/leakdown test just to be safe.

Probably not a bad idea, even if it just tells me there is nothing wrong. <BR> <BR>There doesn't seem to be water in the oil any more (I'm pretty sure what water was in there leaked past the rings) no massive piston blow by so it seems like the gaskets are still good. It's not drinking radiator water either. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by jtnz on February 10, 2008)