boat sank.what do i do now?

[BEKO1212]

1984 johnson 155 water got half way up the motor.i took the plugs out and let the water shoot out while trying to start.
i put the plugs back in and it started for a few second and stalled. tried to start it again and wont start now. im guessing water mixed in gas tank and thats the reason it wouldnt start back up.any special steps i should take?

 

[AirborneSRT]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

Personally from working on small ATV engines that have drank H2O,

Pull the plugs or if possible and you don't mind the $30-$40, pull the heads off and let it set in the garage preferably not a moist environment or use a space heater if possible to try and dry the water up.

Secondly pull the carbs and drain/flush them with fuel and then do it again, check the floats and check everything over to see if it needs to be rebuilt, personally I'd rebuild it anyway as it's pretty cheap for the kits.

Spray electronic cleaner on all the wiring connections to help remove moisture and prevent bad connections/rust and it's non flammable so no worries there and also non corrosive.

Lastly, get rid of all the old fuel as it's probably crap now, grab a portable container and and get some good fuel and I'd go first off a bit richer oil mix than normal because of the combustion chambers being dried out, so probably 60:1.

Sorry to hear about the boat though, that's my worst fear with mine... Hope everything turns out well for you!

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

60:1 is not rich its very lean in fact 30:1 is rich. And from what little I know flush out the fuel system and get it running as soon as you can from a portable tank.

 

[jbjennings]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

1984 johnson 155 water got half way up the motor.i took the plugs out and let the water shoot out while trying to start.
i put the plugs back in and it started for a few second and stalled. tried to start it again and wont start now. im guessing water mixed in gas tank and thats the reason it wouldnt start back up.any special steps i should take?

You want to get your motor started as SOON as possible.
Every minute it's not running, rust is starting.
Drain the fuel bowls on all the carbs. Drain the fuel lines. Set up a remote tank with fresh oil and fuel. BLow compressed air in the plug boots and under the flywheel. Get it started and run it for a good long run to get it warm and evaporate any water that might be inside the crankcase.
GOod luck,JBJ

 

[AirborneSRT]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

60:1 is not rich its very lean in fact 30:1 is rich. And from what little I know flush out the fuel system and get it running as soon as you can from a portable tank.

I'm sorry you are totally right, I'm not thinking very clearly right now. Bit early in the AM here and I'm sleepy but can't sleep.
Surgery pains suck and the pills don't help, plus my boat is itching away at my brain so I am hunting down answers lol.
Thank you for correcting my mistake

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

You want to get your motor started as SOON as possible.
Every minute it's not running, rust is starting.
Drain the fuel bowls on all the carbs. Drain the fuel lines. Set up a remote tank with fresh oil and fuel. BLow compressed air in the plug boots and under the flywheel. Get it started and run it for a good long run to get it warm and evaporate any water that might be inside the crankcase.
GOod luck,JBJ

Yes, I second this as well. You want to get that motor running ASAP. I don't care if the carbs are fouled. Spray fuel mix into the venturi and run it anyhow. You definately want to get it out and run it good if possible, to purge out every last drop of water, so it doesn't sit in the needle bearings and watermark your internal parts. No engine of any kind, should sit with water in the crank case.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

I'm sorry you are totally right, I'm not thinking very clearly right now. Bit early in the AM here and I'm sleepy but can't sleep.
Surgery pains suck and the pills don't help, plus my boat is itching away at my brain so I am hunting down answers lol.

It aint no big thing we have all been there.

 

[BEKO1212]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

well this is what i did.took out plugs,turned engine over till i didnt see water shooting out,sprayed some WD 40 to each piston,added some 2 cycle in the pistons and turned flywheel by hand.got 2.5 gallon gas portable gas tankadded alittle extra 2 cycle in there and added a bottle of dry gas in there as well. took a minute to start.sputtered a little to i had to turn the throttle up just a tad so it would not stall out. let it run for 1 hour until the idle smoothened out the last 10 minutes. crossing my fingers.i hope i saved the motor........

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

Good job!
Running it for an hour probably saved the motor from an early death. It should have got hot enough to evaporate all of the water off of it and you got the insides all covered with 2 stroke oil.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

I have a merc 9.8 that has sunk three times.. I did what you did and runs like a champ. Its been 2 years since the last dunking..

 

[Jlawsen]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

60:1 is not rich its very lean in fact 30:1 is rich. And from what little I know flush out the fuel system and get it running as soon as you can from a portable tank.

Actually the term rich refers to fuel not oil and 30:1 is leaner than 60:1.. I know, a technicality but true none the less.

You should mix your oil at 50:1 and mix in a tripple dose of Stabil. This will help to remove the moisture from the crank case and bearings. Once it warms up the water will turn to steam so it's important not to rev the engine at all for the first 15 min at least. Let it run rough, it will smooth out. If it stalls just keep starting it back up. Your plugs and piston tops will decarb from the steam and you may see a lot of black gunk comming out of the exhaust but that's o.k..

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

Awesome job. Good to hear that you got it running again. The ideal thing to do, is take it out and jet across the lake at WOT and run out every last drop. I know a guy that had one dunked and got it running again. Unfortunately, he didn't run it long and hard enough to get all the water out completely. Water damage still destroyed his lower crank and bearings, sadly enough. The more run time, the better assurance.

 

[BEKO1212]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

do u think the lower end unit could've got any water in it?

 

[Jlawsen]

Re: boat sank.what do i do now?

Doubtful, it's pretty much surounded by water most of the time anyway.