02 party barge

Ryan42

Cadet
Joined
Aug 6, 2019
Messages
6
just purchased a 02 sun tracker with a 3l merc inboard. The oil drain plug somehow unscrewed and blew all the oil in the bilge. Once I got it home a fixed oil plug and added oil and new filter.
It starts and idles great and runs under 1500 rpms but over that its ticks, knocks and (squeaks)????? Looking for advice.
 

HotTommy

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Mar 15, 2013
Messages
1,025
Did it run without odd sounds before the oil drained out? Was it run without oil? How long?
 

Ryan42

Cadet
Joined
Aug 6, 2019
Messages
6
Yah ran great before. Dip stick was dry when I checked. Oil pressure dropped fast, I Would say ran dry for 5 mins. It idles and runs great low rpms. Over that and under load is when the tick knocking and squeak starts
 

havoc_squad

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
739
Motor's got to come out and be disassembled by a qualified mechanic or engine machinist to see how much damage you actually have.

Sounds like you're describing connecting rod knocking, which means your motor has the equivalent of congestive heart failure for a person.

You might do a compression/leak down test to see how much damage it did to the cylinders, piston rings, and heads just to be sure.

Some of the experts may want you to check a couple of things before it's pulled.

You're probably in for a full engine rebuild or swap it out with a re-manufactured 3.0L 4 cylinder ready for install. Might have to go up a size in jets on the carb, would be worth getting the experts opinion here.


Oil drain plug coming loose? It's hard to see that happening if the people removing and installing it knew what they were doing. Not making any assumptions here on who is to blame, just doesn't add up if it was put in correctly without being stripped.

Stripping the threads and leaving it too loose are probably the two most common mistakes I can think of.
 
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