Engine died sudddenly need advice please

[danzee]

I just bought an older Trojan with twin Mercs in her and she was running fine at 2000 rpms as we were just picking her up. We got a mile down the waterway and a loud clanking sound and the engine cut off. I went below and the engine was smoking out of the breather caps.

Now the motor will turn over but no fire and 2 cylinders have perfect pressure on one side and the other two are dead. I took off the valve covers and cranked the motor and the 4 rocker valves are not moving on the dead cylinders. At that point I didn't even bother checking the other side.

The motor did not overheat and had plenty of oil.

Is my motor shot? Full rebuild?? Top end? I can't believe a week after we sea trial this happens the day we take delivery....

Thanks for any advice.

Dan

 

[Bondo]

Re: Engine died sudddenly need advice please

Is my motor shot?

Ayuh,... Welcome Aboard,....

What motor are We talkin' 'bout anyways,..??

Until ya do some more diagnostics, it's hard to say What happened to Whatever motor it might be...

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Engine died sudddenly need advice please

...

Now the motor will turn over but no fire and 2 cylinders have perfect pressure on one side and the other two are dead. I took off the valve covers and cranked the motor and the 4 rocker valves are not moving on the dead cylinders. At that point I didn't even bother checking the other side.
...

Well, generally speaking, that means you have a camshaft issue. Might mean the motor is junk, it might also mean it just needs a camshaft.

 

[danzee]

Re: Engine died sudddenly need advice please

They are mercruiser 255 engines. If it is a full rebuild what is a ballpark cost?

 

[danzee]

Re: Engine died sudddenly need advice please

Does anyone know if the broker is liable for this? We did not even make it one mile and had to make the rest of the trip on one motor.

What other diagnostics can we do... I know this is a lot of questions but i am pissed off to have spent all this money and have a dead motor the first day.

Dan

 

[robert graham]

Re: Engine died sudddenly need advice please

Go back to your broker to check on any possible warranty....dead motor first day out really sucks! Good Luck!

 

[Pete104]

Re: Engine died sudddenly need advice please

Should have used the good motor to go back the mile!!!

 

[Don S]

Re: Engine died sudddenly need advice please

Does anyone know if the broker is liable for this?

That is not for this forum to determine, no one here knows the terms of the sale or anything else.
We can help you with engine and drive repairs, but not legal issues in this forum.

 

[Don S]

Re: Engine died sudddenly need advice please

They are mercruiser 255 engines. If it is a full rebuild what is a ballpark cost?

How much is impossible to say on a 35+ year old Ford engine that blew up, until it gets taken apart, inspected and the problem found. Then you will know what it's going to take to fix it, and then you stand a chance of a ball park figure. It may take a complete new long block.

 

[solareclpse2000]

Re: Engine died sudddenly need advice please

with no spark issue and no rocker arm movement on 2 dead cylinders it narrows it down somewhat. you will not know for sure without a full disassembly but to me it sounds like either a popped timing chain ( if ALL rocker arms are not moving ) or sadly it may be a snapped camshaft ( which sounds more likely with no cylinder compression ) now with that being said if its a good day and you only broke the camshaft not too big of a deal to fix, however you need to fully tear it down to see what other damage the failing camshaft has done. IE. borken piece or pieces contact other moving parts at initial failure, cracking the block, cam bearing supports fractured and webbed. this could be a very nasty situation. your first step to accurately diagnose this is to pull it apart. at least get the timing cover off and see how much damage is done on the cam and/or timing set. you may be on the market for a new engine. get it apart and we can help you from there

im no expert. especialy on boats, but im learning. i am however experienced on car engines and from this discription it sounds like the cam has snapped ( im also assuming the 2 dead cylinders are the 2 at the rear of the engine. ) if that is the case the other side will look the same. the other side may still have compression though. it sounds like the cam went and took the 2 cylinder walls with it, or possibly the connecting rods.

also check for water in the oil, metal chunks in the oil,