Did I Kill it??

[SHickey]

Hello,

I took my 19' Bluefin 2.3 for the first ride this evening. I launched her in the NYS Barge canal and it ran great all the way to the restaurant.
On the way home it felt a little logie but your not supposed to open her up on the canal so I just kept watching the gauges. Water temp @ 180 and oil pressure @ 65 nothing seemed to be amiss. After about 15 minutes of travel we hear a snapping sound then a loud thump and that was it, he motor stopped dead.

I raised the OD to see if something got tangled in the prop but it was all clean. I went to restart the motor and started turned for an instant and stopped.

Needless to say I paddled it back to a dock and I am just sick over it.

I tried restarting the motor after it rested about an hour and it turned over but did not sound or feel smooth so I turned off the ignition switch immediately.

With working obligations, I will not be able to get the boat home until Sun am. When I get it home, does anyone have any advice they could give me as to how I can evaluate what ever the problem is and whether or not this motor is toast.
Take care and Happy Mothers day

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Did I Kill it??

double post

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Did I Kill it??

sounds like it dropped a piston or connecting rod. just googled 2.3 0mc motor and theres video of one in your area for 1700

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Did I Kill it??

check drive fluid level/condition

 

[SHickey]

Re: Did I Kill it??

Howard,

I had just replaced the fluid before I took her out. I filled the drive fluid from the bottom skeg screw until it came out of the vent screw above it. I did not check the dip stick on the top of the OD because I assumed full was full. Now I'm kicking myself for not checking the dip stick.

oh boy, do you think the OD may have seized causing the motor to suddenly stop??

 

[LAC_STS]

Re: Did I Kill it??

Howard,

I had just replaced the fluid before I took her out. I filled the drive fluid from the bottom skeg screw until it came out of the vent screw above it. I did not check the dip stick on the top of the OD because I assumed full was full. Now I'm kicking myself for not checking the dip stick.

oh boy, do you think the OD may have seized causing the motor to suddenly stop??

What drive do you have? A cobra?

Do you mean you filled the oil through the bottom screw until it came out of the middle screw? You do know that there are two screws and then the dipstick on a cobra right? So a total of three.

If you just filled it until it came out of the middle screw then its gonna be bad. That would only be like less than half of the oil your supposed to put in it. Filling it until it comes out of the middle screw leaves the entire upper unit with no oil in it. Oil coming out of the middle screw does not mean full at all. Your supposed to fill the entire drive from the middle screw not the bottom screw. But even if you did fill it through the bottom screw everything above that screw needs oil too. That's why the dipstick in on the top of the drive.

I cannot think of a reason not to check the fluid level after you fill it. We all make stupid mistakes sometimes. If this is indeed what happened it sucks that it is an expensive mistake though.

 

[Idlespeedonly]

Re: Did I Kill it??

If you did refill incorrectly, Pull the cover off the top, 4 bolts, This is where your upper gearset lives. Hopefully everything looks good in there.

 

[Walt T]

Re: Did I Kill it??

Maybe drive, or water got in engine. Remove spark plugs and spin it over. I suggest buying a borescope from Harbor Freight and peeking in the cylinders. This may help point to motor or drive. Hey one time had a guy do that and he decided to have his wife turn the engine over while he looked inside the cylinder. He posted a picture of a whopper of a black eye. Told every one he was one of those ultimate fighting competitors. I'm not making this up. The guy was as nuts as I am. Stupider than me too.

 

[SHickey]

Re: Did I Kill it??

Guys,

I feel like the biggest dope!! I believe what happened is that LU got all of the oil and the Upper unit was dry. The Upper unit most likely over heated and seized shutting everything down.
My son and I will get her home tomorrow am and I can pull the top cover off and look inside.

Is there any hope the upper unit may resurrect after overheating or do you think the big thump I heard was a mixture of gears blowing up!!

Oh I feel nauseous again!!

 

[Lou C]

Re: Did I Kill it??

Yep that could certainly be it, its really too bad, that people don't ask on here how to change the gear oil on these. The 2.3 four cyl model takes 60 oz of gear lube. So you should have been putting almost 2 qts into it. The way you filled it is the way you'd fill an outboard lower unit that is half the size of a complete Cobra upper+lower.

OMC Cobra Outdrive Lubricant Filling - Crowley Marine

 

[Walt T]

Re: Did I Kill it??

If it has seized and the engine can't turn over then no, there is no hope. You're screwed. Actually you aren't, but your bank account is.

 

[duped]

Re: Did I Kill it??

Yeah, the upper is not going to "come back"...you're going to find all sorts of shavings and bearing chunks when you pull the top cap. And those bits have also worked their way down into the lower unit. Both should be replaced/rebuilt or you could very well have much more trouble ahead.

You can rest assured you aren't the first person to ruin a Cobra this way, I can even recall some "mechanics" doing this to people on here before. Not a huge deal, find a cheap drive on craigslist and go boating again. Fill the next one from the middle plug though.

 

[LAC_STS]

Re: Did I Kill it??

Get yourself an OEM factory service manual.


It will pay for itself.

 

[LAC_STS]

Re: Did I Kill it??

I know your probably bummed out over all of this but if you could post a pic of what your upper gears look like it would be great. I would like to see what they look like.

 

[Walt T]

Re: Did I Kill it??

Be glad you aren't paying for this one..

 

[Georgesalmon]

Re: Did I Kill it??

Just use some JB weld on that little Diesel,,,,,,,

 

[Walt T]

Re: Did I Kill it??

It actually runs on methane produced by landfills.

 

[SHickey]

Re: Did I Kill it??

Well,
Last night I removed the upper drive cover to see how bad the damage was. The sides of the housing and the gears were Lt brown to black. These was no visible sign of broken gear teeth or pieces of metal in the upper part of the drive. I filled it with oil and bumped the motor 2-3 X's to see if it would turn over and it did.

Tonight I would like to put the muffs on it and see if will start and shift.

I am not sure if I should dump all that oil out and replace it with new oil for the test. Would there be any recommended procedure for "flushing out the upper and lower unit before I go any further??

Any suggestions??

 

[Lou C]

Re: Did I Kill it??

For sure change the oil and take a REALLY good look at the magnetic drain plug, if you see big chunks, you have to decide if you want to chance running it or have a shop take it apart and clean out all the metal flakes. Its hard to believe that the gears/bearings are not damaged but see what it looks like. BTW, a good Cobra running on the water muffs is basically dead silent. No gear noise, whining, etc at all. So if you do run it and hear whining, howling then you know you have to have it re-done.

 

[SHickey]

Re: Did I Kill it??

Well,

I checked the two magnetic plugs and found no flakes, chunks or bits. I drained out the oil and replaced it correctly this time, put the muffs on and started her up. I held my breath. The 2.3 fires up smoothly and idles nicely after about 20 seconds.

I go to the back of the boat and lean over the transom listening for ticking, whining or unfamiliar vibration. I hear none except for the water and exhaust running through the LU. After about a minute or two I decide to shift the LU. I shift the LU into forward and go back to see if the prop is turning. It is turning and I am listening very closely to the LU. It is sounding "normal" to me but I am no expert. I shift it into reverse and listen again. It sounds normal. I shifted it back and fourth a few times and it seems normal maybe even a little smoother than I remember from last year.

My next test is in the water to see if it can push me around without over stressing the components. That test will have to wait for a few days.

I want to thank everyone who contributed to my tale of disaster and as I tell my students, I always learn more from my failures than my successes.

Stay safe on the water and keep the LU and your motor filled with fluid.

SH