Motor died...

[glastron86]

86 glastron, 170 Mercruiser, stern drive OA691198, engine A655479, Drive Unit OA686508, took it out for the first time this season and unloaded from trailer and drove it about five minutes to favorite cove and it ran fine. Got back in boat after setting about 10 minutes and idled out of cove and started up to speed of about 15 - 20 mph and motor just died. I had been watching water temp, oil pressure, gas guage, etc. to make sure all was okay and the temp had just reached about 115 when it died. I opened up the back of the boat to check out engine to see if any obvious wiring had come loose and didn't see any but there was alot of water (up to just touching bottom of motor) in the bilge. I turned on bilge pump and it took care of water and no more was coming in. I checked gas level and everything else and retried motor. Engine would turn over but not start. Anyway after a long wait and friendly tow by the park ranger, I got the boat back home. After cleaning it all up, I decided to see if there was any gas getting to carb when turning engine over, and it started first time. I shut it down immediately and hooked up hose to muffs and restarted motor. I then found water leaking at the back of the heat exchanger. Sorry about the long story, but here is my questions: What is involved changing the cover gasket at the back of the heat exchanger, what are possibilities that caused motor to quit and not restart until 2 hour wait out of water? I appreciate any direction that I can get! Thanks in advance!

 

[glastron86]

Re: Motor died...

I have found the information on the heat exchanger gaskets, does anyone have some direction for me on why the engine died? I am guessing electrical, but not sure. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Glastron_V210]

Re: Motor died...

The engine died because the water reached the heavy +12V cable coming from the battery, which attaches to the starter, shorting out your electrical supply. This in turn eliminates you spark. Engine toast. Not a good feeling eh? happened to me in almost the same way, busted coolant hose.

Do yourself a favour and pull your starter dissasemble and clean it. Otherwise you will need to replace it due to corrosion in short order. Assess other auxilliary devices if they got near the water as well.


C

 

[gadget73]

Re: Motor died...

Pull the fuel filter off and dump it. If this is an old filter, or your first run of the season you may have some water in there. I used to have fuel problems with the RInker due to faulty gas caps, and it would suck a load of water up and just shut down. Dumping the old filter into a cup always showed a dose of water with the gas.

Also, don't re-use the filter, once they're contaminated its just not worth trying to use one again.

 

[glastron86]

Re: Motor died...

Thanks for the help, I really do appreciate it! I will use both of the good suggestions and hopefully that will keep me out on the water longer next time...until the next thing!

 

[glastron86]

Re: Motor died...

I have replaced the gasket and fixed the leak, still not starting. I am getting gas to the carb, and getting good spark from the coil to the distributor. Have not checked at the plug yet. I have taken the distributor cap off and it looks good, just changed less than 10 hrs ago. Any ideas?