Do I need to look for a new engine?

[mjdh_80]

Took the boat out today for the 1st time this season. While going slow in the channel, on the way out to the lake, I smelled something hot. Popped up the engine cover and there was quite a bit of smoke. Upon quick search it seemed to be coming from the exhaust manifold on the port side of the engine right at the front. The smoke didn't smell like oil or fire so we hoped it was just gunk heating up from winter storage. We did turn around to head back just in case tho.
Shortly after I noticed the temp gauge was very high. Wife was driving so I didn't notice right away. Also the oil pressure gauge was flat lined, but I'm fairly sure that was like that at least at the end of last season too and figured it was a bad gauge. We slowed down even more to try and limp back to the launch and it stalled and would not fire again. My guess is the oil pump went bad and we were running without oil the whole time.:facepalm: probably about 15-25 min.
Is it possible that I can replace the pump, maybe get some oil into the pistons and make it work again? Or is it toast?
Oh yeah, the engine is a 4.3L Mercruiser 205.
I was also wondering if it could be a non working cooling system and it just overheated.

 

[achris]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

Dead cooling system won't flat-line the oil pressure... Sounds like you killed you engine. Personally, a crate long block, and transfer all the good gear across... They're not that expensive, unless you live in Australia, and it's probably the quickest and cheapest way out of the situation you're in...

JMHO,

Chris.......

 

[mjdh_80]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

Oh boy! It seems like everyone agrees with Chris. Not that I disagree I was just hoping for a few different opinions/options. Thank you Chris! Hopefully I can start working on it tomorrow, Otherwise Wednesday. If anyone else has an idea feel free to shoot it my way. I've rebuilt car engines before but for some reason this intimidates me.
Thanks again.
Matt

 

[achris]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

.... I've rebuilt car engines before but for some reason this intimidates me...

It's a car engine with water cooled exhaust manifolds, nothing much else....

 

[markheck1]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

Hard to say but I doubt it would last 15 to 25 minutes with no oil pressure, I'd lean more towards serious overheating.....
That being said, not sure it changes thing much, still probably some serious damage by running it till it died.

 

[81 Checkmate]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

Pull the oil filter of an dump it out and look at it's contents! That tell ya something........

 

[Bondo]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

Took the boat out today for the 1st time this season. While going slow in the channel, on the way out to the lake, I smelled something hot. Popped up the engine cover and there was quite a bit of smoke. Upon quick search it seemed to be coming from the exhaust manifold on the port side of the engine right at the front. The smoke didn't smell like oil or fire so we hoped it was just gunk heating up from winter storage. We did turn around to head back just in case tho.
Shortly after I noticed the temp gauge was very high. Wife was driving so I didn't notice right away. Also the oil pressure gauge was flat lined, but I'm fairly sure that was like that at least at the end of last season too and figured it was a bad gauge. We slowed down even more to try and limp back to the launch and it stalled and would not fire again. My guess is the oil pump went bad and we were running without oil the whole time.:facepalm: probably about 15-25 min.
Is it possible that I can replace the pump, maybe get some oil into the pistons and make it work again? Or is it toast?
Oh yeah, the engine is a 4.3L Mercruiser 205.
I was also wondering if it could be a non working cooling system and it just overheated.

Ayuh,... Ya probably oughta start with puttin' in a new impeller, 'n checkin' the motor's oil....'n fix the gauges....

Motors run for only Seconds, with 0 oil pressure...

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

It's a car engine with water cooled exhaust manifolds, nothing much else....

and brass freeze plugs. also marine specific fuel and electrical systems

 

[89sandman]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

first off i'd hook up a manuel oil pressure gauge and crank it over and see if you have any oil pressure. if you do then you need to find out why the engine won't fire. a compression test would be a good thing to do also. check your oil for signs of water, if theres water in there it will look kind of like a milkshake. would do some serious testing before spending thousands of dollars on a replacement engine. also if you do decide the engine needs replaced you need to find out what happened to the old one so the same thing doesn't end up happening to your replacement. always better to do the troubleshooting on the old motor instead of the new.

 

[mjdh_80]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

Thanks a ton guys! I am going to tear into it tomorrow. We looked at the oil while we were being towed in and it was full and looked brand new. We changed it beginning of last season. Didn't do it yet this year.
How can I tell if part of the cooling system is bad? When I am in neutral or the trim is all the way up there is a vibration type noise coming from the outdrive. I jade some work done to the outdrive since it has been doing this and the mechanic didn't say anything about it.
Again thank you all very much!
Matt

 

[achris]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

... When I am in neutral or the trim is all the way up there is a vibration type noise coming from the outdrive. ...

NEVER run the engine with the drive all the way UP, you'll kill the unis. And that's probably where the noise/vibration is coming from. Try trimming the drive DOWN and see if it's gone.

Having run the engine with the drive all the way UP, I would be pulling the drive and checking to make sure the uni circlips are all still in place. If you managed to flick one off (possible when doing what you did) you are not far away from a catastrophic failure...

Chris........

 

[26aftcab454]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

or something looking like this could be the issue.Sorry but like a Turd in your punch bowl!

 

[mjdh_80]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

Holy crap that would be like a turd in my punch bowl! At least that would make future decisions easier. Lol didn't get to check anything out today. Hoping for tomorrow.

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: Do I need to look for a new engine?

With the engine being full of oil, I would be looking at the cooling system failure as the cause. If you did loose oil pressure your lifters and rockers would be rapping like crazy before you siezed the engine. You would have heard it first.

Something as simple as trash in the water blocking the inlet could have caused it. You really may want to install an audible alarm connected to oil PSI and temp down the road.

You never mentioned how old the impeller in the drive is in your post?