Has anyone ever heard of this? ...
Mercruiser 220hp V-8 w/ Alpha One outdrive. 120 hours. Serviced about 20 hours ago. Engine oil and outdrive oil are full and good.
Anyway, so I woke up at 6am this morning and hit the lake. We cruised away from the marina while the sack was filling and the engine was warming up. OK, it was time to go so I shut off the engine and my friend jumped in the water.
All set...turn the key...bam! (clang, bang, whack...whatever you want to call it). That thing wasn't turning over. I tried it a couple more times after fiddling with the shifter...neutral, forward, reverse, wiggle, wiggle....bam!
So...what's up?! I'm suspecting the outdrive because I don't think the engine seized (I had oil pressure plus it happened after shut-off, not while running) and I can't imagine how I could have gotten enough gas in a cylinder for hydraulic lock (but who knows?).
The only clues are:
1. The engine dieseled a bit when I shut it off. This has happened before but mostly only when shutting it off after cruising somewhere quickly.
2. The transmission has been kind of hard to get in gear a few times. I had to wiggle the lever and pull up on it a bit. I figured this was just a cable adjustment thing.
Other than that, there was nothing out of the ordinary. I'll have a mechanic check it out next week but I thought I see if anyone has any thoughts. Whatever it was, it didn't sound cheap.
Oh, and to add insult to injury, there were no other boats out at 7am so we had to swim/paddle the boat about 3/4 of a mile back to the marina.
P.S. If anyone knows a really good Mercruiser mechanic in Austin, let me know.