rhillman75
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2010
- Messages
- 176
I am sorry for posting an additional thread from a prior post (even though it is a very STRONG question we all may or may not ask at sometime), I have to ask it. Long story in a short version, with questions following. I had just done the bellows replacement with all parts replaced. The only thing I questioned, which has caused the issue at hand, was the old water tube that was connected to the upper housing nipple had no previous clamp on it. It was the original and I simple cut a vertical line in the hose to pull it off when doing the bellows. The new water tube had a clamp for the transom side, but then again, no clamp for the upper drive side. I simply pushed it on the nipple on the upper housing with, what I called, a semi-easy push on effort. I did not use any bellows adhesive on the exhaust tube at either end and it seemed to hold while it was in the trailer position. The first time out after the install, it did GREAT, there were no issues. On Wednesday of last week, I put a new prop on (while in trailer position, never thinking about looking at the exhaust boot or the water tube. When I put the prop on I inadvertently turned the wheel to make the prop on the right side (starboard) and left it there for the remainder of the week. For the first and only time I did not bring the boat to my house to pre-test it prior to dropping it in the water. With that said, we took it out on Sunday, and there was an "issue" at the dock with another boater (medical). While idling at the dock I did not look at any guage (curious about the paramedics tending to the other boater). We finally got out of the dock and idled out to about 50 yards from the dock when I went to top of the drive oil tank and noticed a MAJOR amount of heat from the motor. I then looked at the temp guage to see 240 degrees and climbing. I shut it off, let it cool for about 20 minutes (hatch up, blower running), started it and boated to the dock. I let it cool down for about 4 hours then started it to get it to the trailer. When pulling out I noticed the water tube and exhaust tube were literally hanging out from there location. My guess is that in trailer position, the "stretched" forced of being in starboard location, pulled the exhaust tube and water tube off. So the question is..... "what damage has happened?" I checked the oil tonight and it is still at full capacity with no contaminates or "metal" particals. I visually checked the block/intake/hoses, and nothing sticks out that looks bad! So where do I check for damage? I am so worried to start it that it makes me sick to think about it. Is there damage to the heads, head gasket, rings, crankshaft, bearings, block, water pump, etc. I am also questioning the the fact of proper trailering height when moving the boat. Did I get it up to high, did turning it starboard make the "stretch" enough to cause the damage (obviously something did), or was there clamp that should have been on the water priorly? LIke I said..... "would 20-30 minutes of up to 240 degrees in idle rpm @ 2,000 be enough to be worried about?" I keep hearing that these vortec V6's can take ALOT, but how much can they take. Furthermore..... when I do start it, "what can I be and what do I NEED to look out for!" At this point point..... I am simply WORRIED about my investment as anyone would be!
