FishFarmer
Cadet
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2013
- Messages
- 15
Hi everybody. Glad to finally become part of the family. (sorry for the long first post)
Made a trip over to Catalina, (26 miles) the boat ran good all the way there, seemed to use a lot of fuel though. While sitting at idle the motor suddenly starting making a slight knocking type sound; I ran the boat for about 5 more miles, it felt like the boat had lost some power. I shut the boat down and restarted it several times without issue, fires right up just as it always had, it idled fine while making the same knock. I was concerned and didn’t want to potentially damage anything further so we anchored the boat and used our kayaks for our three days there. I was pretty well convinced I had something serious such as a piston or cylinder head issue and didn’t want to run the boat fearing I’d cause further damage and or damage to the bottom end / crank...etc. I considered calling for a V.A. tow from the island when we were ready to head home. Anyway, after much consideration and confirming my electronics and radios were all working properly we decided to run the boat back across the channel at first light (26 miles). The boat seemed to run fine while still making the slight knock and seeming to have less power. We got to 3 miles outside the harbor when the boat lost almost all power and the knock got much worse. I decided to shut the boat down and make the call to V.A. for the tow.
The motor is not seized; it still starts and idles while making the loud knock. I got it home, did a compression check; the #5 cylinder (bottom on starboard side) has zero compression while the other five cylinders show between 90-96psi. The #5 plug shows a little more carbon than the others but not too bad. Looking down into the #5 cylinder through the head I cannot see any damage to the top of the piston and I can’t really see the cylinder walls. I’m now debating on whether or not I’ll pull the head to inspect further or take it in to a shop. I may be able to identify the damage but that’s only half the battle as I’d then need to troubleshoot and find the cause which is probably beyond my mechanical skills.
I’m sure no one can diagnose it through this post, I’m just curious to hear some opinions as to what you guys think as I begin to prepare my mind to accept the dollar figure that I’ll hear for the repair after I take it in for complete diagnostics. Could I simply have a blown head gasket that got worse as I ran the boat? If the block is damaged is it typically more cost effective to buy a remanufactured powerhead complete with top and bottom end or have mine rebuilt? Is there a supplier of remanufactured powerheads that you would recommend?
p.s.- The impeller seems to be fine as the motor is still turning over water, I was running 91 octane and never ran the boat out of oil. This is a 1997 2-stroke 150hp Evinrude with about 600 hours.
Made a trip over to Catalina, (26 miles) the boat ran good all the way there, seemed to use a lot of fuel though. While sitting at idle the motor suddenly starting making a slight knocking type sound; I ran the boat for about 5 more miles, it felt like the boat had lost some power. I shut the boat down and restarted it several times without issue, fires right up just as it always had, it idled fine while making the same knock. I was concerned and didn’t want to potentially damage anything further so we anchored the boat and used our kayaks for our three days there. I was pretty well convinced I had something serious such as a piston or cylinder head issue and didn’t want to run the boat fearing I’d cause further damage and or damage to the bottom end / crank...etc. I considered calling for a V.A. tow from the island when we were ready to head home. Anyway, after much consideration and confirming my electronics and radios were all working properly we decided to run the boat back across the channel at first light (26 miles). The boat seemed to run fine while still making the slight knock and seeming to have less power. We got to 3 miles outside the harbor when the boat lost almost all power and the knock got much worse. I decided to shut the boat down and make the call to V.A. for the tow.
The motor is not seized; it still starts and idles while making the loud knock. I got it home, did a compression check; the #5 cylinder (bottom on starboard side) has zero compression while the other five cylinders show between 90-96psi. The #5 plug shows a little more carbon than the others but not too bad. Looking down into the #5 cylinder through the head I cannot see any damage to the top of the piston and I can’t really see the cylinder walls. I’m now debating on whether or not I’ll pull the head to inspect further or take it in to a shop. I may be able to identify the damage but that’s only half the battle as I’d then need to troubleshoot and find the cause which is probably beyond my mechanical skills.
I’m sure no one can diagnose it through this post, I’m just curious to hear some opinions as to what you guys think as I begin to prepare my mind to accept the dollar figure that I’ll hear for the repair after I take it in for complete diagnostics. Could I simply have a blown head gasket that got worse as I ran the boat? If the block is damaged is it typically more cost effective to buy a remanufactured powerhead complete with top and bottom end or have mine rebuilt? Is there a supplier of remanufactured powerheads that you would recommend?
p.s.- The impeller seems to be fine as the motor is still turning over water, I was running 91 octane and never ran the boat out of oil. This is a 1997 2-stroke 150hp Evinrude with about 600 hours.
