Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

[RubberFrog]

I have a 1987 Bayliner 1952 Capri with a 4.3 OMC. After about ten minutes on the water, the engine dies and will not restart. Sometimes I get a click or even a few slow turns on the motor but no restart. Sometimes I get absolutely nothing. I put in a new battery and alternator. Today I took it out with two fully charged batteries. The boat barely got off the dock before the engine died. It would not turn over when I tried to restart it. I connected my second battery and still nothing. Eventually I got a few slow turnovers but no start. <br />I am considering replacing the solenoid and redoing all the connections for ground and power. The boat runs great in my driveway with the hose connected (of course. <br />Any ideas? Anyone ever heard of this? Should I just sink it deep in the channel? Thanks in advance!<br />PS: I'm new here.<br />George

 

[Don S]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

Bad starter, bad battery cables, loose battery cables (Positive and Negative and BOTH ENDS), faulty connection at the main engine harness plug, bad battery switch. Just to name a few places to check.

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

Don, thanks for the quick reply. Those all sound like great things to check out. I didn't realize that a bad starter could actually make a boat stop running.<br />My wife will be transferring flights in Ketchikan on the 13th!

 

[Don S]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

A bad starter won't, but bad electrical connections on the starter (where the rest of the system gets it's power from) will.<br /><br />Obviously you wife is flying on Alaska Airlines.... It's the only airline that comes here. No wonder it costs almost $400 to fly 700 miles to Seattle from here 800 round trip. And it's only a 1.5 hour flight.

 

[lhenk]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

This is probably not your current problem but it is something to put in the back of your mind for future use. My 88 capri would die sporadicaly on the water. It would always start back up but would die after 5 minutes one time and after 25 minutes the next, just randomly. After much frustration someone told me it was the deadman switch. I got rid of the deadman switch and it got rid of the problem.

 

[KaGee]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

Any chance you are experiencing a hydrolock?

 

[trog100]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

one thing that always goes thru my mind with these bad battery connection threads is this..<br /><br />i think or a least in my experience they fail in a certain way.. they dont just pass half the current they should.. its more a case of one minute they work and the next minute they dont..<br /><br />starter connections have to pass anything up to 300 amps.. thats one hell of a lot of current.. such connections break down instantly with a quick fry and a sizzle.. very often a tap or ziggle gets em going again for a while..<br /><br />if they only half break down.. they would get very hot indeed.. basically they would be acting like a 200 amp resistor and shouldnt take a lot of finding..<br /><br />kaygees hydrolocking does seem a possiblity..<br /><br />trog100

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

I'm leaning away from a hydrolock simply because the engine always starts again after sitting for a few hours. Can a hydrolock react this way?

 

[trog100]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

it could if the water was slowly draining to your oil pan.. it all depends how long this problem has been going on.. check your engine oil level.. all the water dosnt have to drain away either just enough not to fill the combustion chamber.. the rest gets pumped out the exhaust as the engine rolls over..<br /><br />water is none compressable.. if the volume of water in a cylinder is greater than the combustion chamber (space left when pistion is at top dead center) it will lock and not turn over.. take away a small amount and over it goes and out goes the rest of the water on the next exhaust stroke..<br /><br />trog100

 

[jawzzy]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

I had the same problem last year to start the season too,hoping I don't this year. Would run fine till I hit 2000rpm, then the engine would choke and die, and wouldn't turn over with 2 brand new batteries. After a bit of time, it would turn over again, start and run for hours until I hit 2000 rpm again, then it died. I ended up changing plugs, cap and rotor, and it seemed to go away for the summer, but I think for whatever reason it hyrolocked too. The not turning over is the key here when brand new batteries are involved. Good luck!!!!!!!

 

[waterone1@aol.com]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

Sometimes I think we have "thrown around" the term hydrolocked too much....and some people think it is kind of like "vapor locked". Hydrolocked means that your engine has water in it's cylinders.....that is not supposed to be there ! If, indeed your engine is hydrolocked, then water is filling the cylinders and stopping the engine from turning. The only way for this condition to relieve itself is for the water in your cylinders to go somewhere else....such as past the rings into the oil pan. This is not a "casual thing" and needs immediate, skilled attention or you will face motor failure.....thousands of dollars!

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

Originally posted by RubberFrog:<br /> The boat runs great in my driveway with the hose connected

Wouldn't that seem to suggest that it's a problem related to forward motion. The starter motor/battery connections don't know that the boat is in the driveway. In the driveway you are in neutral, leaving the dock you are in gear. I don't know OMC, is there some sort of forward interupt switch?<br /><br />That being said, the connections are often at fault when faced with no crank.<br /><br />Aldo

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

Thanks, everybody, for the suggestions. I'm still leaning away from the hydrolock (wishful thinking?) for two reasons: 1) the oil level has not risen, 2) the oil looks like nice fresh oil, no milky or frothy appearance. I went through all my electrical connections and cleaned/tightened everything.<br />Another idea I am considering is overheating. I will put a new impeller in the outdrive tomorrow and then check the water pump on the motor to see if it is pushing water through the hoses after it warms up.<br />Also, I am an idiot. I don't have a 4.3, I have a 3.0. More wishful thinking I guess....<br />George

 

[Don S]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

With a hydrolock, when you try to crank the engine it will come to a sudden hard stop when you try to compress the water (and it won't compress).<br />In the original statement he said:<br />

Sometimes I get a click or even a few slow turns on the motor but no restart.

That says to me it's not hydrolocked because it's turning over slow (and any engine when turning real slow will not start) or not at all and he also said "Sometimes nothing at all" not even a click.<br />That is an electrical problem. Not getting full power to the starter. <br />Out on the water you have vibration and movement you don't have sitting in the driveway.

 

[trog100]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

for an engine to overheat to the point it wont turn over is bad news.. possible thow not likely.. lots of possibilites in fact..<br /><br />the only one of all these possible causes that should cause any problem finding is some kind of intermittent starter motor fault..<br /><br />swopping batteries about should rule out the battery terminal connections.. tightening and checking should rule out the starter motor end..<br /><br />being as it sometimes turns over slowly rules out the ignition side of things..<br /><br />before it wont start it first of all dies.. why.. it could take on a small amount of water.. enough to quench the spark on one of those four cylinders.. four bangers aint happy with a cylinder out.. a V8 might not notice but a four will..<br /><br />the small amount of water could be just enough to sometimes hydralock somtimes not.. its possible.. praps not likely but possible..<br /><br />a bad starter connection dosnt explain why it dies.. just why it wont crank over..<br /><br />out of half a dozen possibilities none of em exactly fit the bill..<br /><br />trog100

 

[Mahoney]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

Maybe as your engine warms up on the water its creating a coolant leak at the head gasket, which you dont notice in the driveway because your engine never gets hot enough? If enough coolant leaks into the cylinder it could kill the engine, and depending on how much got in there and what stroke the cylinder was on, you would have slightly different reactions from trying to crank it. No movement it could be on its compression stroke, turns slowly maybe it was finishing its intake stroke to compression.<br /><br />Have you noticed your oil level rise at all with all these running and starting problems?<br /><br />Just trying to troubleshoot.

 

[Mahoney]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

ahh, I saw your oil level hasn't risen, thats very odd. Sounds like 2 problems. Something causeing it to die(sounds like a classic plugged air intake to tank) on driveway you never use enough gas for the engine to create a vacuum in the tank, but you do on the water.<br /><br />Maybe during running that short time your starter is heating up and just acting funny. Have you tried a new starter yet?

 

[waterone1@aol.com]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

Do you have a battery switch ? if so have you unscrewed it and looked at the connections on the underside ? While we can all guess at what it might be, or you can replace parts till the cows come home, it is time to do some troubleshooting.<br />This is most likely an electrical problem (I have never seen fuel cause a starter not to turn). I do not think you have two problems, I think you are losing 12V to your primary ignition circuit and the starting circuit. To me that means it is "early on" in the wiring. Battery wire and connections though battery switch to starter terminal, or wire on starter batt terminal going to main breaker and to ignition switch. Get a test light and or volt meter. When the problem occurs, get them out and follow the power...it should take ten minutes to find.

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

I have a meter, and everything checked out OK (especially with the new alternator). I'm replacing one ground and one hot cable just because they look like they could go bad this season- why wait?<br />At this point I am chasing my own tail. I have a new impeller and a new thermostat ready to install in the hopes that it is an issue with overheating. She was running a little hot although I didn't think it was enough to cause problems. No water in the cylinders or in the oil so no hydrolock....

 

[ozarkjeep]

Re: Boat dies after a few minutes on the water and will not restart

it doesnt sound like hydrolocking to me either.<br /><br />it actually sounds like multiple problems to me.<br /><br />for the engine dying, youll need to check immediatly after it dies, if you have fuel in the carb bowl ( push the throttle by hand and look for the acclerator pump to squirt.<br /><br />and you need to also verify ignition spark, a spark tester is the safest way, otherwise make sure no fueul fumes, remove a plug wire, stick a plug in it, ground the plug to the block ( use gloves so you dont get zapped) have a helper turn teh key ( the engien might start careful!)<br /><br />if you have fuel and spark at this point its going to get really interesing!<br /><br />the slow starting sure sounds like its getting hot and the piston ring clearance is closing up ( getting tight)<br /><br />I would also make sure all of your connections are clean and tight, also verify the circuit that feeds your ignition system has good consistant power.<br /><br />the only other thing I can think of is really advanced timing can make the engine hard to turn over, but im not sure how that would be changing.<br /><br />do you know what type of ignition system you have?