Bought my 2004 Formula 34 PC 7-8 weeks ago, boat has run great. 225 hours when I bought it, 270 now, always fresh water.
Boat sat for a week, came down to marina, it started right up like normal. 30 min run across the lake, dinner for 2 hours, come out and starboard won't start. Turn key, nothing. I know the batteries are old (was going to replace this winter), so I flip the battery parallel switch. Still nothing, and then the starter starts whirring like it won't engage. Go home on one engine. Mechanic goes down and replaces starter, boat still won't start, engine is locked up. He "puts a breaker bar on it" and gets it to turn over a few times, slowly. Says he "should hear air puffing out when he turns it by hand, but thinks he hears squirting noise like water squirting out". After he turns it over by hand a few time and lets it sit for a couple minutes, he's able to start the engine like normal.
They are going to go down and pull the plugs today after letting the boat sit overnight to see if there is water or antifreeze in any of the holes.
Previous owner owned the boat since 2005, but has only put about 25 hours on it from 2016-2019. I know he had the impellers done last August, and my mechanic is the same one who did the work, claims they were replaced due to an overheat.
What should I look for in each of the following situations:
1. water in the plugs
2. anti-freeze in the plugs (unlikely since the antifreeze is full)
3. nothing in the plugs
Anything else I should look out for, or ask?
Boat sat for a week, came down to marina, it started right up like normal. 30 min run across the lake, dinner for 2 hours, come out and starboard won't start. Turn key, nothing. I know the batteries are old (was going to replace this winter), so I flip the battery parallel switch. Still nothing, and then the starter starts whirring like it won't engage. Go home on one engine. Mechanic goes down and replaces starter, boat still won't start, engine is locked up. He "puts a breaker bar on it" and gets it to turn over a few times, slowly. Says he "should hear air puffing out when he turns it by hand, but thinks he hears squirting noise like water squirting out". After he turns it over by hand a few time and lets it sit for a couple minutes, he's able to start the engine like normal.
They are going to go down and pull the plugs today after letting the boat sit overnight to see if there is water or antifreeze in any of the holes.
Previous owner owned the boat since 2005, but has only put about 25 hours on it from 2016-2019. I know he had the impellers done last August, and my mechanic is the same one who did the work, claims they were replaced due to an overheat.
What should I look for in each of the following situations:
1. water in the plugs
2. anti-freeze in the plugs (unlikely since the antifreeze is full)
3. nothing in the plugs
Anything else I should look out for, or ask?
