Hi everyone,
Though i'm new here, i've been using the iboats forums as references for many years. I used to have a '98 Campion Allante 525 Sport with 3.0L mercruiser and I successfully navigated through many years with that boat with the help previously posted topics on this board (thanks google!). That boat has now been passed on, and I have another Campion now that's slightly larger with a larger engine to follow. It does have a few issues to be sorted out, and even if the engine is garbage i'm still pleased with the trade. I'll try to provide as much background as possible. Now on to the issues.
Recently I picked up a 2003 Campion Allante 545i Super Sport on trade that still looks gorgeous, with 155 hours on the boat. It has the throttle body injected Volvo Penta 4.3GXi-a engine with SX outdrive. The previous owner had bought the boat from an auction knowing it had a cracked engine block from lack of winterization. He pulled the engine and replaced the block and risers, using the original cylinder heads, intake manifold and (I THINK) exhaust manifolds. The water pump (crank pulley mounted) has also been reused, however it leaks.
I received the boat in running condition, but not 100% perfect; he got the engine running by winging the ignition timing. The boat fires up immediately and idles beautifully at 600rpm. The oil pressure is where it should be. The audible alarm does beep while idling: "beep beep..................beep....................beep beep....................beep..." and so on. When revved up in neutral, it beeps without pause: "beep beep beep beep beep..." and so on, returning to the double beep, pause, single beep when brought back to idle. The engine revs up readily and will rev to 4000rpm+ in neutral, though if from idle blipped to wide open throttle, it will stumble/backfire. I'm assuming that's from the ignition timing being set incorrectly. It will idle perfectly from cold for about 10 minutes or so, or until it warms up sufficiently at which point the idle starts to roughen out eventually to the point of almost stalling.
Now, the last time I ran it was the longest i've run it, being that 10 minutes or so when it began to run rough. I shut it off for 5 minutes and left the water running on the muffs. As I went to fire it up again to see if anything changed, the starter couldn't turn the engine. I assumed that a cylinder or more has filled up with water. So I disconnected the water from the muffs and pulled the hoses off of the water pump and left it for 10 minutes or so. I came back to it, attached the water again and attempted to start it up again: It started up no problem. After shutting down again, I checked the oil to find that it was above the crosshatched safe area by half an inch or so. This is as far as i've gone with it. I haven't really touched it since thanks to bad weather
My assumption is that water is leaking into the cylinders some how, which caused that hydrolock symptom when I went to start it. I also believe that the water is eventually draining down through the rings into the oil pan, which is why my oil level has risen, and also why I was able to restart the engine after some time. I did pull the spark plugs to check for differences in them and they all smell of fuel and are dark'ish, but when wiped off all of them stayed sutty looking except for one, which wiped off to look metally and new. I'm assuming that's because of the steam cleaning effect of water in a cylinder? If this is true, then I can say that this is the cylinder where water is getting in.
I'm not too concerned of the rough running when warm yet, i'm more interested in the water in cylinder/oil which is obviously the bigger issue. I'd love to dig in and figure out what's up, but i'm not sure in what order I should do things, and how I should approach it. I've read that leaking riser to manifold gaskets can allow water in to the cylinders, also leaking head gaskets, but what else can? And how can I test to eliminate what it isn't? Is anyone able to provide a bit of guidance as to a path to follow? Part of me wants to pull the exhaust manifolds + risers and have them tested for leaks, but i'm not sure if that's even doable? Would a compression test reveal anything crucial? HELP!
I've posted a few videos just to give an idea of what we're working with here; one of the boat running with the audible alarm at idle then when revved, and one of trying to start the engine with the cylinder full of water.
Thanks a million in advance, and I appreciate the input of everyone who's contributed to these forums over the years. It's an amazing database now.
Audible beep when running: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKOfG-Lzbpo
Starter labouring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pk3bEL3HHA
Though i'm new here, i've been using the iboats forums as references for many years. I used to have a '98 Campion Allante 525 Sport with 3.0L mercruiser and I successfully navigated through many years with that boat with the help previously posted topics on this board (thanks google!). That boat has now been passed on, and I have another Campion now that's slightly larger with a larger engine to follow. It does have a few issues to be sorted out, and even if the engine is garbage i'm still pleased with the trade. I'll try to provide as much background as possible. Now on to the issues.
Recently I picked up a 2003 Campion Allante 545i Super Sport on trade that still looks gorgeous, with 155 hours on the boat. It has the throttle body injected Volvo Penta 4.3GXi-a engine with SX outdrive. The previous owner had bought the boat from an auction knowing it had a cracked engine block from lack of winterization. He pulled the engine and replaced the block and risers, using the original cylinder heads, intake manifold and (I THINK) exhaust manifolds. The water pump (crank pulley mounted) has also been reused, however it leaks.
I received the boat in running condition, but not 100% perfect; he got the engine running by winging the ignition timing. The boat fires up immediately and idles beautifully at 600rpm. The oil pressure is where it should be. The audible alarm does beep while idling: "beep beep..................beep....................beep beep....................beep..." and so on. When revved up in neutral, it beeps without pause: "beep beep beep beep beep..." and so on, returning to the double beep, pause, single beep when brought back to idle. The engine revs up readily and will rev to 4000rpm+ in neutral, though if from idle blipped to wide open throttle, it will stumble/backfire. I'm assuming that's from the ignition timing being set incorrectly. It will idle perfectly from cold for about 10 minutes or so, or until it warms up sufficiently at which point the idle starts to roughen out eventually to the point of almost stalling.
Now, the last time I ran it was the longest i've run it, being that 10 minutes or so when it began to run rough. I shut it off for 5 minutes and left the water running on the muffs. As I went to fire it up again to see if anything changed, the starter couldn't turn the engine. I assumed that a cylinder or more has filled up with water. So I disconnected the water from the muffs and pulled the hoses off of the water pump and left it for 10 minutes or so. I came back to it, attached the water again and attempted to start it up again: It started up no problem. After shutting down again, I checked the oil to find that it was above the crosshatched safe area by half an inch or so. This is as far as i've gone with it. I haven't really touched it since thanks to bad weather
My assumption is that water is leaking into the cylinders some how, which caused that hydrolock symptom when I went to start it. I also believe that the water is eventually draining down through the rings into the oil pan, which is why my oil level has risen, and also why I was able to restart the engine after some time. I did pull the spark plugs to check for differences in them and they all smell of fuel and are dark'ish, but when wiped off all of them stayed sutty looking except for one, which wiped off to look metally and new. I'm assuming that's because of the steam cleaning effect of water in a cylinder? If this is true, then I can say that this is the cylinder where water is getting in.
I'm not too concerned of the rough running when warm yet, i'm more interested in the water in cylinder/oil which is obviously the bigger issue. I'd love to dig in and figure out what's up, but i'm not sure in what order I should do things, and how I should approach it. I've read that leaking riser to manifold gaskets can allow water in to the cylinders, also leaking head gaskets, but what else can? And how can I test to eliminate what it isn't? Is anyone able to provide a bit of guidance as to a path to follow? Part of me wants to pull the exhaust manifolds + risers and have them tested for leaks, but i'm not sure if that's even doable? Would a compression test reveal anything crucial? HELP!
I've posted a few videos just to give an idea of what we're working with here; one of the boat running with the audible alarm at idle then when revved, and one of trying to start the engine with the cylinder full of water.
Thanks a million in advance, and I appreciate the input of everyone who's contributed to these forums over the years. It's an amazing database now.
Audible beep when running: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKOfG-Lzbpo
Starter labouring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pk3bEL3HHA
