erikgreen
Captain
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2007
- Messages
- 3,105
21 foot Sea Ray with a 350 mercruiser and pre-alpha drive.
I was driving my boat on Lake Superior yesterday when I started hearing a repeating sound... hard to describe, kind of like the engine was missing on one cylinder... cyclic sound, speed up as throttle increased.
I listened to it for a few minutes trying to figure out what it was... no luck, didn't seem to be anywhere in the engine, and I'm still not used to all the sounds the engine makes, even though it's nearly new. I figured something might be going bad, but I was planning on servicing the drive soon to replace the lower shift cable anyway, and this is the last trip for the year, so I decided to not stress the engine for that day.
I wanted to make one last trip to my favorite wreck to try and get some good pictures of it with the sonar (been trying all summer).
Got up to about 17 knots (max WOT is 35) and heard a bang... the way I describe the sound is like when you get a free game on a pinball machine.. it makes that hammer noise and the whole machine shakes. I lost power immediately, so I dialed the throttle back to neutral. The engine was still running, but I had a new, not good noise happening, so I shut it off and opened the doghouse to look.
No water coming in (well, no more than usual) and no gear lube. No puddle of lube spreading behind the boat, either. So far so good.
So I radioed my friends with boats for a tow... too far away. Tried the cell phone, and they said they'd be down as soon as they unloaded people.
I decided to try limping back at 3-4 kts if I could. Tried to start the engine twice, it turned over, then locked up. At that point the starter wouldn't turn it over any more. Plenty of battery power though.
I figured the drive broke and was holding the engine stuck, and didn't try the starter any more for fear of ruining the Bendix or flywheel.
So two hours later after getting a tow I got it back on the trailer. Nothing obvious wrong, the bellows are intact (whew). Tonight I pull it apart and see what's going on.
My own guess is going to be U-joint, because of the noise it was making plus the fact the drive seized up. I'd think gears would grind instead of sieze, and I know the clutch was working after the big bang (I shifted).
I'm lucky the bellows didn't get torn.. I'd have survived a while in the 55 degree water, but maybe not long enough to get picked up. The shore there is a cliff, and I didn't have a dry suit with. Although if it had been a typical day I'd have had 40 degree water, in which case I'd definitely have been toast.
Erik
I was driving my boat on Lake Superior yesterday when I started hearing a repeating sound... hard to describe, kind of like the engine was missing on one cylinder... cyclic sound, speed up as throttle increased.
I listened to it for a few minutes trying to figure out what it was... no luck, didn't seem to be anywhere in the engine, and I'm still not used to all the sounds the engine makes, even though it's nearly new. I figured something might be going bad, but I was planning on servicing the drive soon to replace the lower shift cable anyway, and this is the last trip for the year, so I decided to not stress the engine for that day.
I wanted to make one last trip to my favorite wreck to try and get some good pictures of it with the sonar (been trying all summer).
Got up to about 17 knots (max WOT is 35) and heard a bang... the way I describe the sound is like when you get a free game on a pinball machine.. it makes that hammer noise and the whole machine shakes. I lost power immediately, so I dialed the throttle back to neutral. The engine was still running, but I had a new, not good noise happening, so I shut it off and opened the doghouse to look.
No water coming in (well, no more than usual) and no gear lube. No puddle of lube spreading behind the boat, either. So far so good.
So I radioed my friends with boats for a tow... too far away. Tried the cell phone, and they said they'd be down as soon as they unloaded people.
I decided to try limping back at 3-4 kts if I could. Tried to start the engine twice, it turned over, then locked up. At that point the starter wouldn't turn it over any more. Plenty of battery power though.
I figured the drive broke and was holding the engine stuck, and didn't try the starter any more for fear of ruining the Bendix or flywheel.
So two hours later after getting a tow I got it back on the trailer. Nothing obvious wrong, the bellows are intact (whew). Tonight I pull it apart and see what's going on.
My own guess is going to be U-joint, because of the noise it was making plus the fact the drive seized up. I'd think gears would grind instead of sieze, and I know the clutch was working after the big bang (I shifted).
I'm lucky the bellows didn't get torn.. I'd have survived a while in the 55 degree water, but maybe not long enough to get picked up. The shore there is a cliff, and I didn't have a dry suit with. Although if it had been a typical day I'd have had 40 degree water, in which case I'd definitely have been toast.
Erik
