I'm very worried and feel like an incompetent a$$!

[scot71]

I am reluctant to even tell you all this story, but I could really use everyones collective knowledge to know what to keep an eye out for now.

So Sunday we went to the lake for the day. Although the water was cold my nieces went tubing and a fun day was had by all. That's the good part.

When we got ready to leave. I backed the truck down the ramp then went and got the boat so I could load it. I have to take care of everything myself. My wife doesn't feel comfortable enough with the truck or boat yet to help with that. So, I got the boat on the trailer (powerloaded it like I always do) and left the engines running and throttles in forward while I went to hook up the winch strap. As I was doing this my wife got out of the truck and asked if there was anything she could help me with. In the process of talking with her and tightening the winch down I completely forgot the engines were running. I could not hear them either because of the noise at the ramp. We got back in the truck and drove through the park to a parking lot so we could get things ready to head home. As I was pulling into the parking lot I suddenly heard the engines running and my anxiety went thru the roof. I yelled to my nieces who were riding in the boat to shut them off and as I walked back to the boat I could smell them. The smell was not extremely strong but it was there.

The engines ran out of the water for probably 2 to maybe 3 minutes before we got them shut down. Now I am so worried about what I may have done to them. When we got home about an hour and a half later. I started them up for a second just to make sure they would start, and they did. If I can today I am going to dunk it in the river near our home to make sure everything is OK.

My question for all of you is. What kind of damage could I have done and what should I look out for when I run them again (besides water out the pee holes and such). I'm hoping that all I did was prove the durability of the MR-1 engines but I'm still very worried.

 

[itsdgm]

@scot71 I can totally understand your concern and I can see how it's easy to slip up on your normal routine with the stress at the ramp. That being said, you did the right thing afterwards by letting the engines cool down naturally before attempting anything else. The temptation for some might be to run the engines immediately on a hose to cool them down which would bring the increased potential to do damage by cooling down too quickly.

Do you have a YDS cable & software? It might be useful to check and see what the software had to say. Also, I might change the oil, or at the least check the condition of the oil. Then head back out on the water and repeatedly check the engine oil while running around on the lake looking for signs of any water in the oil (indicating a cracked head), and keeping an eye on the gauges for any warning indicators (h2o, oil, etc).

Good luck, hopefully you'll be just fine. Keep us posted

 

[scot71]

I have to admit @itsdgm, the thought of putting it back in the water did cross my mind but I knew that would be the absolute wrong thing to do when they were that hot.

I don't have a YDS cable or software nor do I know anyone that does. So I'm out of luck there. My first plan of attack is to do as you suggest and change the oil and watch for water getting in the oil.

My fingers are staying crossed until I feel confident all is well.

 

[Ronnie]

@scot71 , I did the same thing once in an '06 230 ho, although I dont think the engines were running out of the water (over a minute but less than two) as long as your engines did, it did not cause any damage to them that I know of. I didn't have yds either but I had the hours read by the dealer long after the incident and before I sold it, in addition to the hours the print out indicated every warning each engine threw while it was in service and "overheat" / "low oil pressure" only came up once in the history of one of the engines and that was before I owned the boat.

Hopefully, you will have the same result. I don't think you need to put the boat in the water to check it but rather run it on the hose in your driveway and look for engine warnings that you didn't see pre-incident.

Good luck.

 

[scot71]

Thanks @Ronnie , your reply makes me feel a little better about the situation.

 

[ar240owner]

I would think it would melt the rubber exhaust couplings before it hurt the motors , I think you will be ok

 

[BoaterGuy]

When you change the oil, smell it and see if smells "burnt." If they were overheating they would go into limp mode and throw a warning. You could ask your nieces if the boat starting beeping at while your driving back.

 

[scot71]

I don't think anything was beeping or trying to get their attention. They never even noticed that it was still running. Of course that could just be because it's three teenage girls and they were in their own little world.

 

[veedubtek]

I bet you're just fine. I run my engines probably a full minute when I pull out to pump any water out, including revving them a few times.

 

[Glassman]

When you change the oil, smell it and see if smells "burnt." If they were overheating they would go into limp mode and throw a warning. You could ask your nieces if the boat starting beeping at while your driving back.

That would be the first thing to do on my list. Change the oil. Hopefully that oil did it's job well and you'll be OK.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

If the alarm didn't go off for overheating you should be ok the alarm is very loud so someone would hear it and wonder what was about to explode. I would be sure to inspect the exhaust hoses and make sure the clamps are tight.

 

[scot71]

Thanks everyone for your optimism. I'm still going to be a little apprehensive until I get the chance to run them again. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[buckbuck]

Zero problem, scot71. Those motors can idle for a long time without cooling water. The only thing that would concern me is if you just came off the water after a 10,000 rpm run and didn't allow the engines to run water through the jackets for a bit.

 

[scot71]

So I finally got the chance to get back to the boat today to make sure everything was alright.

I checked the oil for a burnt smell, didn't smell anything. I drained as much oil as I could and replaced with fresh. I also changed the plugs since I hadn't done that yet.
Both engines fired right up and idled really good. I didn't notice any leaks or water in the oil, I'll keep an eye on that though. I think I dodged a bullet this time. I'm so glad these engines are as durable as they are but I'm not gonna let it happen again, believe me.

Thank you everyone for your positive comments. They really made me feel a little more at ease about the situation.

 

[buckbuck]

Glad to hear you can relax on the water again.

 

[scot71]

Ok, so now that I know everything is alright. I feel ok in telling everyone about another mishap I recently had.

A couple of weekends ago (2 weeks after leaving the engines running) a couple buddies and I took the boat up to Chicago to do the half loop. The whole trip was great. We had a beautiful day, very sunny but not to hot, and the boat ran great. I did have to stop once to clear an impeller but otherwise no problems, or so I thought.
When we got back to the ramp and got the boat loaded. I pulled up into the parking lot and proceeded to get things ready for the ride home. When I pulled the plug water poured from inside the boat and there were no signs of it stopping (I have never had water come out before). Immediately my anxiety pegged and I jumped in the boat to check the engine compartment. When I opened the hatch I was greeted by water that was up to the bottom of the engines. As I went to pull the plugs inside I quickly found that the water was hot (exhaust water), my heart sank. I looked for any obvious clues to where the water had come from but nothing stood out as the culprit. Since I didn't have time to deal with it more I continued to get everything locked down and put away, then headed home.
I calmed myself down on the ride home and decided that I wasn't going to let it get to me. I would just find the problem and fix it if I could or in the case of something major the boat would just have to sit until a fix could be made.
Well, I'm happy to say that the problem was a very simple one. A couple days before our trip. I changed out my scupper and it turned out that I had just forgotten to tighten down the clamps on the rubber exhaust hose. Once again making me feel like an incompetent ass.

So now everything is tightened back up and the bilge pump has been replaced (because even though it had been on, it wasn't working) and i'm happy to report that after a trip to the lake last weekend, NO WATER and everything worked great. Chock it up to another lesson learned.

 

[sysinu]

That's great news that you figured it out.

 

[Scottintexas]

@scot71 did you have your bilge pump on during the loop cruise ? I'm guessing not or at some point somebody would have noticed the continuous stream of water coming out,

If you on the water ALWAYS have your bilge pump on, it saved me one time when I forgot to put the transom plug in before launch, luckily while still at the dock after parking the truck I noticed it running and thought it was strange causing me to realize my mistake,

 

[scot71]

@scot71 did you have your bilge pump on during the loop cruise ? I'm guessing not or at some point somebody would have noticed the continuous stream of water coming out,

If you on the water ALWAYS have your bilge pump on, it saved me one time when I forgot to put the transom plug in before launch, luckily while still at the dock after parking the truck I noticed it running and thought it was strange causing me to realize my mistake,

Yeah, I had it on but it wasn't working. When I took it out to replace it I found that the impeller was locked up.

You're absolutely right though. Always make sure you've got it on. You never know what's going on in your boat that you can't see.

 

[buckbuck]

Well, you are certainly getting to know your boat. They can take a beating and our occasional lapses and keep on working. Glad to hear you're back on the water.