200 EFI Overheat Warning - Is it Dead?

[zeeno98]

I just bought a 96 GW with 2 200 Merc EFI's. The marina where I bought the boat said they checked both engines thoroughly and showed me compression tests that indicated no problems. In fact, one of the engines has a new powerhead. Today we were heading back to the marina at 4500 rpm and a warning horn started beeping on the starboard engine, went to a steady tone and the engine shut down. The temp gauge went off the scale (hot). We limped back in one the good engine and waited for the engine to cool somewhat. We backflushed the engine to see if there were any clogs and the water ran freely and had no trace of oil or gas. We waited about an hour but when we attempted to re-start, the engine wouldnt turn over. is it fried?

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: 200 EFI Overheat Warning - Is it Dead?

Why in the world didn't you shut it down as soon as it sounded the alarm? That's what it's there for! To tell you to stop the engine and find out what's wrong BEFORE you fry it. You had the second engine to get you back, but you kept on running both anyhow. The dealer might not have a whole lot of sympathy. Cross your fingers, but you almost certainly ruined it. If you're lucky, the dealer might go halves on repair. But you had warning and you wouldn't have been stranded since you had one running fine. You heard the warning and ran it anyhow. As the operator, you have the duty of mitigating damage and you didn't. You had a logical alternative and you did the worst possible thing.

Beep beep beep is an oil problem. Beeeeeeeep is an overheat problem. One won't usually cause the other. Have the dealer determine what happened. Maybe they screwed something up. Did the motor with the new powerhead die? If so, you might have some hope of warranty coverage. But continuing to run it til it seized is going to throw a monkey wrench into the terms.