Am I ok? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

[sw6416]

Thanks in advance for any info and advice. Today I prepared for a outing on the lake pulled the boat out of the garage and as usual my daughters highlight of getting ready is to climb in and turn over the motor to ensure we have power and the boat will start before head to the lake. She turned the motor over and let go, and immediately fire it again and the engine sounded kind of funny almost like it made it hick up. As soon as she did it it didn't sound right and told her to stop. I got it and spun it over it hit once, it turned over very sluggish and sounded like the battery didnt have enough power to properly turn it over. Tried again and got the click but nothing, again click, again click, again click. My first thought was the battery was dying. I didn't think much of it as the battery was almost dead time before last trip and I had to charge it, I assumed the battery was failing as its almost 5 years old. So we loaded up and headed to the lake and pit stopped at Walmart and got a new battery. Installed, turned over the key and CLICK, with nothing. I researched a little went home tested battery connections, ground lines, slave sylanoid and starter all seemed fine from meter readings. I even pulled the starter and tested with jumper cables and it fired right over like a charm. At this point I did some serious head scratching and internet searching and friend came over with a little more engine knowledge than me. We then determined it could be hydrolocked, pulled the plugs and sure enough #4 cylinder had water in it, manualy turned over the crank and water came out of #4. At this point panic set over and was certain something was terribly wrong. I then found the mercury service bulletin on water intrusion. Put the starter back in and turned over a few times and purged the water from the cylinder. Checked oil and no signs of water. Oiled the tops of the pistons and fired over a couple of times installed new plugs, buttoned everything back up and hooked up the flush mount, turned the engine over fired right up and ran like a champ, shut off, checked oil again still paranoid but no signs of oil. Fired back and ran it at 1400 RPM till temp rose to normal operating range for prob 15 minutes and it's ran as good as it ever has, still no water in the oil.


With all that said here is my questions and previous info on my lack of knowledge that might have caused this.

First off it has never been ran hot, never beached it, never picked trash that I know of, but when researching this I stumbled upon the service bulletin about engine run on and dieseling and how to prevent it. This has happened to me in the past a few times mildly, but have learned to not shut off as soon as stopped after running at high RPMs, however the last time out it did this when I trailered and shut off the engine, carried home and parked and fast forward to today this happened.

My question is do you think I'm ok? Do you think I should do anything else? Is it possible it pulled water back into the exhaust and I don't have any under lying damage that needs to be addressed?

FYI its a 2006 Mercruiser 3.0


THANKS in advance for any help, long time lurker on here joined a few days ago and really needed the help today, couldn't have gotten this far today with out the forum!

Signed Paranoid in Alabama!

 

[makonnen]

Re: Am I ok? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

2006 trailer boat ... sounds about the right time for a riser / elbow / manifold job. Has this ever been done? When was the last time you checked this? Do you know how this stuff works?

I highly doubt its a head gasket issue being a 3.0 means iron head + block ... unless maybe if its raw water cooled.

 

[makonnen]

Re: Am I ok? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

2006 trailer boat ... sounds about the right time for a riser / elbow / manifold job. Has this ever been done? When was the last time you checked this? Do you know how this stuff works?

I highly doubt its a head gasket issue being a 3.0 means iron head + block ... unless maybe if its raw water cooled.

 

[Jmunk]

Re: Am I ok? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

What kind of water do you boat in, fresh or saltwater? Pull the riser as stated previously and see how the ports look. Not sure what area of the country your in, but have you ran the boat on the water since it was de-winterized? Might have been a bad job on winterizing and cracked the exhaust manifold and/or block. Start with the riser and go from there.

 

[sw6416]

Re: Am I ok? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

I will look into the riser suggestion, what exactly are you looking for in the ports? Boat isn't winterized it stays indoors when not in use. Has only been used in freshwater.

 

[Jmunk]

Re: Am I ok? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

Looking to see how much material is still left in the wall between the water and exhaust ports. Also looking to see if the surfaces are pitted or warped. I found mine to be pretty much plugged up, the walls were thin and possibly leaking water and the gasket surface was not flat, mine risers were original after 14 yrs.

 

[jack black]

Re: Am I ok? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

2006 trailer boat ... sounds about the right time for a riser / elbow / manifold job.

Is trailered boat worse for riser corrosion?

 

[81 Checkmate]

Re: Am I OK? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

Re: Am I OK? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

Jack - Trailering a boat doesn't have anything to do with the risers being bad.

WHen you say you had it last time.... when was this... last year or a few weeks ago?
If is was last year....... Did you drian the block before you stored it? ie ..... pull the blue hoses

If you did then i would say your block isn't cracked.... seeing that we had a mild winter and you live in Alabama

If last time (This Year) you had it out...... It did the dieseling thing.. Did it shut off on its own and die and then you turn the key to off... or did you stop it with the key?

When an engine diesels i believe the motor is running backward and this would cause you engine to suck water into the cylinders and cause it to hydo-lock.

Just trying to elinmate a few things for the experts.

 

[sw6416]

Re: Am I OK? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

Re: Am I OK? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

Jack - Trailering a boat doesn't have anything to do with the risers being bad.

WHen you say you had it last time.... when was this... last year or a few weeks ago?
If is was last year....... Did you drian the block before you stored it? ie ..... pull the blue hoses

If you did then i would say your block isn't cracked.... seeing that we had a mild winter and you live in Alabama

If last time (This Year) you had it out...... It did the dieseling thing.. Did it shut off on its own and die and then you turn the key to off... or did you stop it with the key?

When an engine diesels i believe the motor is running backward and this would cause you engine to suck water into the cylinders and cause it to hydo-lock.

Just trying to elinmate a few things for the experts.

Last time out would be 2 weeks ago before it hydrolocked, as far as draining the block I did not it is stored in climate controlled garage so no chance of freezing I do not winterized because it's use it maybe once a month during winter months if weather permits so just regular maintenace. The run on dieseling happened when I turned the key off. Thanks

 

[81 Checkmate]

Re: Am I OK? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

Re: Am I OK? 3.0 Mercruiser, Hydrolocked,

climate controlled garage.... No chance of freezing then.

Well 1 of 2 things?

You hydro locked when it dieseled and you sucked water in #4 and didn't know it. Need to fix the dieseling problem - Start a new thread!

Your riser elbow gasket is leaking.... Pull it off and inspect... the gasket and surface as noted before. This will be the easiest.

Next i would check your exhaust/intake manifold bolts to see if they are tight, where it bolts onto the head.

If all looks good replace riser gasket with mercruiser gasket and try and keep an eye on your oil.

This is just a guesstamation from my experience.

Good Luck!

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