help me narrow down what i could have broke

[momostallion]

1999 wellcraft with 5.0 volvo penta

while headed back to the boat ramp last night i was coming up on a sandbar. i slowed down and raised the trim some. i felt some surging so i thought i was running low on fuel (i was reading 1/4 to E) so i stopped the boat short of the sandbar and threw in 5 gallons. when i jumped out, i realized im in about 3ft of water and the outdrive is touching the bottom.

i push the boat back out some to a bit deeper water and raise the trim all the way and go. it takes 10-15 seconds to break free and i was off and kicked up a good amount of sand/dirt in the process.

i start to smell something so i cut the motor and check the engine bay. there was a fair amount of smoke and a puddle of blackish oil in the bilge. i figure i busted the motor and i wound up getting towed in.


i got a few ideas, but anyone have an idea of what could have happened?

stuck in shallow water on top of mud/pebbles/sand. powered out with trim all the way up.

the oil in the bottom i dont think is engine oil. my dip stick still registers the same oil and its clear in color. this stuff is dark, im guessing its outdrive/gear oil.

maybe i drew too much muddy/sandy/pebble water from water intake?

maybe i overloaded the outdrive?

is there an overflow on the outdrive? seal where the motor meets outdrive? maybe i blew that out.

im going to look tonight and see if i can't pinpoint where the leak came from.


what a nightmare.

 

[momostallion]

Re: help me narrow down what i could have broke

i havent yet. im going to pick up a manual since i have no outdrive experience. i dont even know where to check the level on the outdrive.

 

[momostallion]

Re: help me narrow down what i could have broke

is one book better than another?
clymers or seloc?

 

[momostallion]

Re: help me narrow down what i could have broke

ok i bought a clymers. nice book for sure.

i checked the outdrive lube. the level looks good, fluid looks fine. after smelling that i'm confident i didn't loose any gear oil otherwise i would distinctly remember that stench.

the water puddle in the bilge doesn't look like oil after all. there is no oil-water separation rather it appears to be muddy water, a bit shiny from a previous oil change and slimy to the touch from bilge cleaner.
looks like my bilge pump line is clogged with some mud which sucks, but that's a much cheaper and easier fix.

there is small but sizable amount of engine oil on the lower intake manifold. looks like crankcase pressure has pushed out some oil from the valve cover cap or pvc (or what appears to be a pvc). looks like some of this oil hit the right side exhaust manifold which cause the my smoke, localized to that one manifold.

so at the moment my guess is, powering out of the sandbar caused me to work the motor which generated enough crankcase pressure that some oil was forced out up in the valve cover vicinity which found its way to the exhaust manifold which created a bit of smoke. it probably didn't help that the guy who filled the oil last did put a bit extra. then to top it off, somewhere in the process of running the motor with trim all the way up, i took on muddy water which is whats in my bilge now.

does this make sense? i hope so, it's much cheaper than the initial thought of blown motor and the possible thought of dumping gear oil.

tomorrow i go wash out the bilge and drain it then i go hook up muffs and test the outdrive. i already started the motor and it sounded same old.

 

[jtybt]

Re: help me narrow down what i could have broke

I'd say you toasted your water pump impeller and got mud ans sand in the cooling system. I've seen boat fires when this happened. Good thing you stopped when you did. Flush out the whole cooling system. You may even have to pop the freeze plugs to. Pull the raw water pump, you'll probably have to replace the impeller and maybe the housing.

You didn't say if you have fresh water cooling(FWC) or raw water cooling.

 

[futz]

Re: help me narrow down what i could have broke

Charlie you think he can back flush the coolng system without pulling the
"Casting plugs"

 

[momostallion]

Re: help me narrow down what i could have broke

it's raw water cooling. looks like the raw water pump mounts on the crank pulley. at least that's easy to get to.

any good way to test it by running the motor?
i was going to run the engine with muffs on today let all the lake water flush out.

 

[momostallion]

Re: help me narrow down what i could have broke

so i ran the motor yesterday for about 15 mins. seems to be normal, it's taking in water and dumping it out just fine. engine temp is 140*, didnt get hot enough to open the thermostat. i touched all the hoses just to make sure there are not clogs or hot sections.

i am going to have to replace the bilge line, possibly the bilge pump. there is a clog in that line.

 

[Thad]

Re: help me narrow down what i could have broke

You may want to check the outdrive collar on the transom.
If it is loose, when you beached the boat on the bar, the outdrive would have been pulled away from the transom far enough to let water in. It does not take much, barely noticable to the naked eye.
Now, when I say loose, what I mean is that there are four studs that go through the transom that hold the collar/drive assy to the boat. The nuts could be backed off as little as 3/4 to 1 turn and this is enough to allow the drive to pull the whole assy away from the transom enough to allow large amounts of water to get by the seal in a short period of time.
To check this, lower your drive onto a block of soft pine at a slight angle. Raise the front of the trailer to put preassure on the drive. This will act just as the drive being in the sand. If there is ANY gap at all, it is loose.
If this is the case, use some 3M 5200 and fill the gap as far around as it goes and don't be shy with it. The more you get in the better.
Now, let the trailer down, raise the drive and clean the gooop around the collar. Get in the engine compartment and tighten all four nuts.
Sorry for rambling on especially if this is not your problem, but it seems to fit the water getting in.

 

[momostallion]

Re: help me narrow down what i could have broke

You may want to check the outdrive collar on the transom.
If it is loose, when you beached the boat on the bar, the outdrive would have been pulled away from the transom far enough to let water in. It does not take much, barely noticable to the naked eye.
Now, when I say loose, what I mean is that there are four studs that go through the transom that hold the collar/drive assy to the boat. The nuts could be backed off as little as 3/4 to 1 turn and this is enough to allow the drive to pull the whole assy away from the transom enough to allow large amounts of water to get by the seal in a short period of time.
To check this, lower your drive onto a block of soft pine at a slight angle. Raise the front of the trailer to put preassure on the drive. This will act just as the drive being in the sand. If there is ANY gap at all, it is loose.
If this is the case, use some 3M 5200 and fill the gap as far around as it goes and don't be shy with it. The more you get in the better.
Now, let the trailer down, raise the drive and clean the gooop around the collar. Get in the engine compartment and tighten all four nuts.
Sorry for rambling on especially if this is not your problem, but it seems to fit the water getting in.

that's perfect. i was looking for a good explaination on why i got water in and that seems to explain it. i'll try to check out the collar tonight.

 

[Thad]

Re: help me narrow down what i could have broke

It works really well with a second person. You do not want to put more pressure on the drive than nessessary to pull it away from the transom. If you are by yourself, lift a little, look and lift a little more. Be sure to leave some angle to the drive itself as to replicate being in/on the sandbar.

Also, if you find it is loose, the top two nuts are reachable by an average sized person. The bottom two require a small framed person with the ability to feel the nut in lieu of seeing it. Leverage is your freind in getting them tight. The bottom two are behind the lower exhaust elbows. You should be able to see the top from oposite sides of the motor. Once you find them, it is all by feel.
Hope that is the problem. Easy, inexpensive fix. Good luck.

 

[jtybt]

Re: help me narrow down what i could have broke

Testing condition of raw water impeller on the muffs doesn't di diddly. The hose pressure alone can keep the engine cool as long as no broken rubber impeller parts are clocking any passages.

No foolin' ya gotta pull the pump/impeller and check...better yet, just replace it and the body if it's plastic. Doesn't sound like you'd know what a bad impeller would look like.

...and don't forget to flush the whole cooling system.

About the freeze plugs. It's very possible to have 3-4 inches of mud in the bottom half of the block that won't flush out by just running water thru the cooling system. It's raw water cooled...no problem with draining anti-freeze.

Just not worth taking chances.