After a day of running with 8 people on my Doral 360SE I came back to port. My guests retired from the vessel. I brought it to the fuel dock and filled it with fuel. When I went to start the engines the starboard engine did not start and then turn over with a mechanical "ticking" sound that accelerated with the throttle... It was two bent piston rods! Now if the problem is bad - it could mean a new "long block". <br /><br />The dealer is telling me "out of warranty from Mercruiser and "as is where is" from dealer" and likely caused by sudden stop underway and water being pushed back through the exhaust on the Bravo III over the Riser, past the manifold and into the cylinder. The solution , after many thousands of dollars, is, the dealer suggests, to put taller risers on in the hopes of avoiding the backwash and also modifyiong how I come off plane to prevent stern wave from washing up against transom (accelerating after coming off plane to keep pressure in the exhaust and avoid the sternwave at the same time). <br /><br />Am I crazy or does this seem like a 1:1,000,000 problem? I had come off plan nearly 25 minutes before docking (the harbour speed is 8 mph and it is a 25 minute trip in from open water). The problem only occured after the engine had been shut down for fueling and at that point no guests were onboard. The dealer believes that the weight of the guests (8 at 180 per on the stern seating area) followed by the weight o the fuel (125 gallons added at dock) may have casued the engine and risers to sit below the normal water line of the boat. This would be a design error for Doral and for Mercruiser in specing that level of riser.<br /><br />1. What can I do to avoid the Problem in the future?<br /><br />2. I just bought the boat(used 2 years old with 198 hours on the engines but no Mercruiser extended warranty) but no warranty from the dealer - can I recover from Doral or Mercruiser for the design flaw?<br /><br />3. This could be anywhere from $4000 (pull and rebuild engine) to $20,000 (new long block - at which point you might as well drop a new engine in)repair.<br /><br />Help!!!!!!
