I bought a boat with not much known about it's history.
Previous owner winterized the boat (verified in the fall by me) and he abandoned the boat with a sheered starter motor boat. No other history is known. I left it in dry dock until now.
I didn't try to repair the starter and turn over the boat until today. I discovered it was hydrolocked. Two rear most cylinders... Surprised that after I pulled the plugs, hand cranked cleared it, sprayed WD40 in the cylinders, replaced plugs and a few other basic maintenance items, she fired up and runs smoothly on muffs. Compression also passes with flying colors.
I'm amazed the motor isn't shot given the water coming out of those two cylinders- was orange- as in rusty. Even spark plugs were rusty.
I suspect manifold/riser leaks- the manifold/riser joint is pitted and rusty on the outside and I will inspect and likely replace them. My guess is they are crap inside.
The question is- is it plausible that the owner last shut down the motor and the two rear cylinders exhaust ports were naturally partially/open at the same time when the motor was shut down- and that's why these two cylinders filled up with water. And because the ports were open, even if the water froze it wouldn't cause major damage because the water had a place to go? There is also the possibility the water came in from the outside. The top of motor and carb also had a lot rain water on them because the boat was left uncovered for a time before I bought it- so it's possible this was also just external water inflitration so I'm not sure whether this was riser/manifold leaking or just external rain water. The plug was out so the bilge did not fill up with any water.
Surprisingly compression is strong and consistent and motor starts and runs beautifully- purrs like a kitten. Oil is also fine.
Because the motor starts and runs, other than completing seasonal maintenance and replacing risers/exhaust manifolds if they are junk, I'm wondering if I should then just put the boat in the water, gently put it on plane- watch my guages, and then shut her down, and hand crank her to make sure there isn't water getting back in the cylinders before I engage the starter motor, and repeat several tiems. And if no water infiltration- continue to watch her carefully.
Or does a situation like this require that I tear further into the motor before I put her on the water.
My fear is even though she has consistent strong compression, and starts and runs great on the muffs, that the first time I put her on plane at near WOT on the lake she's going to blow. Do people actually survive what I'm describing, or is my motor singing it's last song on my driveway only to die a horrible death if I put her on the water without doing more than basic annual maintenance and new riser/manifolds.
Does this demand I visually pull the heads and inspect from the top or even pull the motor- or can I take the good compression and easy starting/running as a sign that I may have escaped serious damage and worst case just taken some years off those cylinders.
Previous owner winterized the boat (verified in the fall by me) and he abandoned the boat with a sheered starter motor boat. No other history is known. I left it in dry dock until now.
I didn't try to repair the starter and turn over the boat until today. I discovered it was hydrolocked. Two rear most cylinders... Surprised that after I pulled the plugs, hand cranked cleared it, sprayed WD40 in the cylinders, replaced plugs and a few other basic maintenance items, she fired up and runs smoothly on muffs. Compression also passes with flying colors.
I'm amazed the motor isn't shot given the water coming out of those two cylinders- was orange- as in rusty. Even spark plugs were rusty.
I suspect manifold/riser leaks- the manifold/riser joint is pitted and rusty on the outside and I will inspect and likely replace them. My guess is they are crap inside.
The question is- is it plausible that the owner last shut down the motor and the two rear cylinders exhaust ports were naturally partially/open at the same time when the motor was shut down- and that's why these two cylinders filled up with water. And because the ports were open, even if the water froze it wouldn't cause major damage because the water had a place to go? There is also the possibility the water came in from the outside. The top of motor and carb also had a lot rain water on them because the boat was left uncovered for a time before I bought it- so it's possible this was also just external water inflitration so I'm not sure whether this was riser/manifold leaking or just external rain water. The plug was out so the bilge did not fill up with any water.
Surprisingly compression is strong and consistent and motor starts and runs beautifully- purrs like a kitten. Oil is also fine.
Because the motor starts and runs, other than completing seasonal maintenance and replacing risers/exhaust manifolds if they are junk, I'm wondering if I should then just put the boat in the water, gently put it on plane- watch my guages, and then shut her down, and hand crank her to make sure there isn't water getting back in the cylinders before I engage the starter motor, and repeat several tiems. And if no water infiltration- continue to watch her carefully.
Or does a situation like this require that I tear further into the motor before I put her on the water.
My fear is even though she has consistent strong compression, and starts and runs great on the muffs, that the first time I put her on plane at near WOT on the lake she's going to blow. Do people actually survive what I'm describing, or is my motor singing it's last song on my driveway only to die a horrible death if I put her on the water without doing more than basic annual maintenance and new riser/manifolds.
Does this demand I visually pull the heads and inspect from the top or even pull the motor- or can I take the good compression and easy starting/running as a sign that I may have escaped serious damage and worst case just taken some years off those cylinders.
