Not the perfect first outing of the season

[east tx skier]

Well, we got on the water and had some trouble this afternoon. Boat started up fine, but when we shut it down, we had some trouble starting it again. After some fiddling, I found a loose spark plug wire and it hesitantly started up. We ran it around a bit and I dropped in for a set. My wife gave it the gas and it wasn't long before I was letting go of the rope and she was idling back shouting that the check engine light was on and the temp. was 220! She also said she heard two pops. I like having a wife that will call out the temp unprompted. So I jumped in and we idled back. We had our five week old along or I'd have probably paddled.

Once home, I checked all of the spark plug wires and found another loose one at the distributor. I can guarantee that these are all on tight now (recent wire swap) though I'll probably check the plugs.

More concerning was the temperature spike. I took apart the water pump and the new impeller still looked flawless. The pump was oriented correctly. All I can speculate is that I may not have had the plate housing screwed in properly. Could this plate being not right have caused the impeller to not be such an efficient pump. I check the port side of the block and there was water in it. I haven't checked the manifold, but I figure I'll put it on a bucket and see if it's drawing water before I take it out again.

Any thoughts before I do so?

[Rick]

RE: Not the perfect first outing of the season

Check that the strainer is tight. If not it can cause an air leak that won't allow the pump to prime or an air leak can reduce the amount of water circulating.

[east tx skier]

RE: Not the perfect first outing of the season

I did check it and I can't say that it was totally tight, so that may have been it.

From the sounds of things, did I have any sort of significant overheat. We were on a small golf course lake and got back quickly. But with a 5 week old in the boat, I felt it was more important to idle back than to paddle.

[gride300]

RE: Not the perfect first outing of the season

does it have coolant? are all t he valves open?

[east tx skier]

RE: Not the perfect first outing of the season

It's water cooled, but there was water in the block, at least on the port side. I haven't checked the manifold risers yet. As for the valves, I don't know. I haven't gone that deep and would probably take it to the dealer if that's what needs to be checked.

[AirTool]

RE: Not the perfect first outing of the season

I think he meant the valve in the fresh water intake.

[bchesley]

RE: Not the perfect first outing of the season

ETS just ckeck all hoses and make sure they are tight. The slightest leak can cause an issue. The spark plug wires are weird though as they dont just pop off. Are they newer wires or are they original?

[east tx skier]

Re: RE: Not the perfect first outing of the season

I think he meant the valve in the fresh water intake.

Okay, I gotcha. I don't have a valve on the raw water intake.

[east tx skier]

Re: RE: Not the perfect first outing of the season

I think he meant the valve in the fresh water intake.

Okay, I gotcha. I don't have a valve on the raw water intake.

ETS just ckeck all hoses and make sure they are tight. The slightest leak can cause an issue. The spark plug wires are weird though as they dont just pop off. Are they newer wires or are they original?

Brad, I'll check them. I'm almost certain it was a combination of the strainer and the plate on the water pump not being aligned when I put it back together last week.

On the spark plugs, that's straight up user error. I replaced with new last week and apparently didn't get them to pop on like I thought I had. When I was having starting trouble, that was the first thing I checked. I found one, but didn't find the other. Being new, they just didn't go on as easy as the "old shoes" that were on there when I bought the boat.

Should I expect to find a fouled plug or two as a result of the "pops" Amy heard?

[TravisFling]

RE: Re: RE: Not the perfect first outing of the season

I would check them out just to be safe, but I had a similar issue where the RWP was installed backwards, and it got to about 180 and then I shut her down and we paddled back. We had 6,5, 6 and 4 year olds with us (with neighbor and his kids, too.), but just turned up the stereo and put on a cd of kids songs so they could sing while we worked... I about crapped my pants when "row, row, row your boat" came on... We weren't out of the idle only zone yet though, so it wasn't far to row.
I wouldn't think getting to 220 would be detrimental to the long term performance of the craft.

[east tx skier]

RE: Re: RE: Not the perfect first outing of the season

I have the orientation of my pump marked and triple checked that when I pulled it apart. If something was damaged by the overhead, what would it be. Where do I need to look. I've heard of blistering in the tailpipe being something indicative of an overhead. I will probably shine a light up the pipe when I get home. Other than the spark plug misfires, then engine didn't sound like it was missing. As mentioned, the impeller was still pristine and there was water in the engine. My father in law shredded his impeller once and ran higher than 220 for probably longer with no damage, so I'm hoping I got similarly lucky. But I want to know what to look for to be sure.

[j2nh]

Check the raw water strainer. Great setup except that dang rubber gasket that has a tendency to fall out when you clean it. Happened to a buddy, he cleaned it, replaced it and somewhere along the line the gasket was lost, subsequently his system wouldn't prime properly. Any kind of an air leak on the suction side will cause the system not to prime properly so check all of the hoses, especially around the transmission cooler.

My gut tells me you caught this in time with no permanent damage.

[SNMike]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Not the perfect first outing of the season

I have the orientation of my pump marked and triple checked that when I pulled it apart. If something was damaged by the overhead, what would it be. Where do I need to look. I've heard of blistering in the tailpipe being something indicative of an overhead. I will probably shine a light up the pipe when I get home. Other than the spark plug misfires, then engine didn't sound like it was missing. As mentioned, the impeller was still pristine and there was water in the engine. My father in law shredded his impeller once and ran higher than 220 for probably longer with no damage, so I'm hoping I got similarly lucky. But I want to know what to look for to be sure.

ETS, the chances that any damage was done, is almost nil. If you didn't smell anything out of the ordinary, that's a good thing. You weren't up for long enough when the engine basically cut out on you and you shut her down. IMHO, 220 degrees for a short period isn't enough to warp a head or crack your block.

I say you're good to go. Yellow_Flash_Colorz:

[east tx skier]

Check the raw water strainer. Great setup except that dang rubber gasket that has a tendency to fall out when you clean it. Happened to a buddy, he cleaned it, replaced it and somewhere along the line the gasket was lost, subsequently his system wouldn't prime properly. Any kind of an air leak on the suction side will cause the system not to prime properly so check all of the hoses, especially around the transmission cooler.

My gut tells me you caught this in time with no permanent damage.

The gasket was there when I unscrewed it last night. I will check all of my hose connections and will check the screen on the transmission cooler though I'm not sure how much is getting past the strainer to create a block there.

I'm hoping your right about my catching this quick. I need to buy my wife some flowers for keeping her eye on the temperature gauge and two kids in the boat at the same time. That, and it's our anniversary today, so flowers might be a good idea as a matter of course.

ETS, the chances that any damage was done, is almost nil. If you didn't smell anything out of the ordinary, that's a good thing. You weren't up for long enough when the engine basically cut out on you and you shut her down. IMHO, 220 degrees for a short period isn't enough to warp a head or crack your block.

I say you're good to go. Yellow_Flash_Colorz:

I sure hope you're right. It didn't smell awful, but it smelled like "hot." Of course, it was hot, so that figures. I'm usually one of those guys who will pop the motor box and give everything a look before that first outing of the season. But with the newborn on board and the sun setting, I got anxious and lazy.

I told my wife on the way home that I was going to make it a new practice to run it on the hose before the first trip to the lake. I might not have caught the spark plug wire problem that way, but I definitely would have noticed that the pump wasn't pulling the water from the bucket with its usual vigor.

Here's hoping for another lesson not learned the absolute hardest way!

[SNMike]

ETS, the chances that any damage was done, is almost nil. If you didn't smell anything out of the ordinary, that's a good thing. You weren't up for long enough when the engine basically cut out on you and you shut her down. IMHO, 220 degrees for a short period isn't enough to warp a head or crack your block.

I say you're good to go. Yellow_Flash_Colorz:

I sure hope you're right. It didn't smell awful, but it smelled like "hot." Of course, it was hot, so that figures. I'm usually one of those guys who will pop the motor box and give everything a look before that first outing of the season. But with the newborn on board and the sun setting, I got anxious and lazy.

I told my wife on the way home that I was going to make it a new practice to run it on the hose before the first trip to the lake. I might not have caught the spark plug wire problem that way, but I definitely would have noticed that the pump wasn't pulling the water from the bucket with its usual vigor.

Here's hoping for another lesson not learned the absolute hardest way!

Meh, rest easy budro, it's all good.

BTW, Happy Anniversary to you and wifey. Yellow_Flash_Colorz:

Mike