brazosboater
Cadet
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2007
- Messages
- 23
Hello all, thanks in advance for the help, and I'll try and give as much info as I can. 1987 Beachcraft by Reinell 16 footer 3.0L GM OMC. Have owned less than a year, have not done anything to water seperater or carb. Usually runs great though. New head, valve job, gaskets, etc. Patched block with marinetex, good compression last I checked ~ 7 months ago. Block leaks water out of side of motor, but not into, needs a little more marinetex I think. Oil is good, not milky, not gaining fluid level. Ran boat all summer, thanks to Iboats. Went on a 70 mile round trip boat ride from our cabin on the brazos to the dam at lake granbury, TX, a month ago. School got in the way of boating for 3-4 weeks.
Apparently I left the battery switch on, during this time. Dual batteries are several years old. Put boat in water, little hard to start, could tell that batteries were a little weak. Had to prime several times, eventually fired up and ran and idled well. I idled out of the no wake zone, ran at about 3700 rpm or so for a minute or two down river. eased back on throttle and then cut off motor, it dieseled(I think that is the term for it when it chugs a few more times then dies). It doesn't normally do this, but it has before when I first got the boat and turned the motor off when a friend decided to jump in water while underway at medium to low rpms (stupid friends). So, I jump in the water and go for a swim for a minute or two, the waters getting a little cold even here in Texas. I get back in, go to start it, starter engages and my heart sinks. It acts like the motor is stuck, doesn't turn over, and I'm thinking that I just killed my poor old boat again.
I check oil, same color, condition, level as when I checked it not 1 hour earlier. I tap on starter...nothing, just engages starter to flywheel and doesn't spin at all. I take the key out of ignition, raise lower unit, check prop. Spins freely in neutral, catches in forward, catches in reverse, etc...
tap on starter again and try it, and I get a little bit of chug, then locks up again. I tap a little more, nothing, no spin just engages to flywheel. I tap some more and nothing. I see a boater coming so I wait and he sees us in need and changes course to assist. I've got another minute to get here so I tap it again and try it, it chugs the engine over a little, so I tell him to hold on one second. Try it again, it locks up again. Try it one more time and it turns over "freely" but with a funny sound to it, sounds weak or quieter than usual with the motor cover open. I prime it, it fires, dies, prime it, it fires, stays up, I keep the rpms at about 2000 for a few minutes and watch gauges and listen to motor. Sounds fine to me.
I tell the nice boater thanks, and he goes on his way. I let the boat run up the river for a little while, then stop at the sandbar where there are other boaters in case we need a tow. We play frisbee and relax for a good hour. Get back in, fires right up as if nothing was wrong. Went back to dock, no other problems. I've had two opinions, some sort of marine vapor lock, and weak batteries. what do you think? Sorry for such a long story, but I thought it might help to know exactly what happened, because it was just weird. Also, I know that mechanical failures and issues usually don't fix themselves (in my experience, but I'm no longer a teenage driver), so I wanted to try and prevent this from happening again. Thanks for reading, and for any help in the matter.
Jeff
Apparently I left the battery switch on, during this time. Dual batteries are several years old. Put boat in water, little hard to start, could tell that batteries were a little weak. Had to prime several times, eventually fired up and ran and idled well. I idled out of the no wake zone, ran at about 3700 rpm or so for a minute or two down river. eased back on throttle and then cut off motor, it dieseled(I think that is the term for it when it chugs a few more times then dies). It doesn't normally do this, but it has before when I first got the boat and turned the motor off when a friend decided to jump in water while underway at medium to low rpms (stupid friends). So, I jump in the water and go for a swim for a minute or two, the waters getting a little cold even here in Texas. I get back in, go to start it, starter engages and my heart sinks. It acts like the motor is stuck, doesn't turn over, and I'm thinking that I just killed my poor old boat again.
I check oil, same color, condition, level as when I checked it not 1 hour earlier. I tap on starter...nothing, just engages starter to flywheel and doesn't spin at all. I take the key out of ignition, raise lower unit, check prop. Spins freely in neutral, catches in forward, catches in reverse, etc...
tap on starter again and try it, and I get a little bit of chug, then locks up again. I tap a little more, nothing, no spin just engages to flywheel. I tap some more and nothing. I see a boater coming so I wait and he sees us in need and changes course to assist. I've got another minute to get here so I tap it again and try it, it chugs the engine over a little, so I tell him to hold on one second. Try it again, it locks up again. Try it one more time and it turns over "freely" but with a funny sound to it, sounds weak or quieter than usual with the motor cover open. I prime it, it fires, dies, prime it, it fires, stays up, I keep the rpms at about 2000 for a few minutes and watch gauges and listen to motor. Sounds fine to me.
I tell the nice boater thanks, and he goes on his way. I let the boat run up the river for a little while, then stop at the sandbar where there are other boaters in case we need a tow. We play frisbee and relax for a good hour. Get back in, fires right up as if nothing was wrong. Went back to dock, no other problems. I've had two opinions, some sort of marine vapor lock, and weak batteries. what do you think? Sorry for such a long story, but I thought it might help to know exactly what happened, because it was just weird. Also, I know that mechanical failures and issues usually don't fix themselves (in my experience, but I'm no longer a teenage driver), so I wanted to try and prevent this from happening again. Thanks for reading, and for any help in the matter.
Jeff
