dazed, confused, and overheated

[jenoble01]

So I tried the outboard J225TLERK the other day after re-building the VRO, still have the same issue engine stalling in gear at idle speed. I purchased a large storage tote and filled with water today to run the engine in as opposed to using the muffs. I noticed the engine overheating. My first thought is stuck thermostats. Pulled both stats heated them up in water, both stats opened. I noticed there is no water in the little port below the stats on the back part of the engine. It was dry as the Sahara. I have a good stream out of the tell-tale which leads me to believe the water pump is working. I also got a steady tone with an oil light. I'm going to assume the warning system was hooked up to this light(who knows why) because when I grounded out the wire for each temp alarm that light came on again. I've suspected a fueling issue all along but according to the manual a steady tone at or near WOT is a fuel restriction. Have any of you found this to always be the case, or is it for sure an overheat condition. I tired putting my hand on the cyl heads, could leave it there briefly on the port side, and not very long at all on the starboard side, also near the top it was much hotter on both sides. I intend to do a compression check tomorrow afternoon to verify I don't have a blown head gasket or other issue. I've been planning to do one anyways for awhile now I just keep forgetting to bring my compression tester home from work. Will post on this thread those results. Anyways, would running lean(my suspected fuel delivery issue) cause the engine to run very hot? I'm assuming it could. Could running very hot cause the engine to stall, and be able to start back up almost immediately. If you were in my shoes how would you proceed? Continue to follow fuel problem path, check cooling system, or both? I also found one cylinder to not be firing, middle cylinder on Starboard side. When I removed the plug wire with engine running zero change in Revs, hence the compression test, also checked spark on that cylinder and jumped 7/16th's gap. I squirted some pre-mix into the carb on that cylinder and the revs picked up slightly, then I started getting the overheat alarm so had to stop before I could proceed further. Could someone explain the cooling system operation(passageways, flow direction, etc) as the factory manual has no information on this. Help me please.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: dazed, confused, and overheated

The cylinder you are referring to is #3. If you have good spark as you say, and the engine respond's slightly to a fuel mix down the carb, you have a compression problem. Hopefully, a blown head gasket, that could also cause the over-heat.

 

[jenoble01]

Re: dazed, confused, and overheated

Checked compression this evening, all readings were between 95 and 100. not quite as high as I was hoping for but on a 13 year old engine not to shabby. At least I know I have compression. Now, I'm still overheating, top cylinder head on starboard is getting hot quick. Running lean cause this? I'm going to redo all fuel connections, found a couple I suspect are possibly leaking. Also I found alot of fuel that had dribbled down the carbs on the starboard side, they were all covered. I'm thinking rebuild the three on that side and proceed from there. I suspect some sticking floats. If I could ever find something to drain them into I would drain them to find out what I have in there. The engine is idling around 1100 to 1200 rpm. Does this seem a little high to anyone else? I also noticed a little bit of black goo under the flywheel on the front of the engine, I've read that this is a symptom of a stator/rectifier(don't remember which it was now) that is impending on death. There isn't much, but you can see where it has dripped down a little. I think I'm fighting multiple issues with this engine. What has me perplexed is that it was fine one season and the next this issue showed up on first outing. Which had me leaning towards a fueling issue. GRRR, head spinning many directions right now on which issue to go after first. Overheat, possible ignition problem, and possible fueling issue. I'm wondering if one isn't causing the others. Since I haven't seen any indication of an ignition problem other than the black goo I'm not really certain on that yet. However I believe the engine running lean could cause the overheat condition.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: dazed, confused, and overheated

A compression test on a 2 cycle engine can be very unreliable. There is a problem on that #3 cylinder. The best test on a 2 cycle is a leak down test. Lacking a leak down tester, I would suggest removing the head to look at the cylinder, and gasket. I have found that a high compression reading on one cylinder, can later prove that is the bad cylinder with a scuffed piston, and cylinder walls. I would bet that the other tech's on this boatd have had the same finding's.

 

[johnson1989]

Re: dazed, confused, and overheated

I would look into your overheat issue first to get that corrected.

What year is this 225?

 

[Windykid]

Re: dazed, confused, and overheated

You might try running with the thermostats out and open to see water flow through block, or is there blocked passages.

 

[Windykid]

Re: dazed, confused, and overheated

After you figure out the overheat problem, try some seafoam to see if you can get the compression back up some.

 

[jenoble01]

Re: dazed, confused, and overheated

You might try running with the thermostats out and open to see water flow through block, or is there blocked passages.

The engine is a '94. Ran engine briefly with thermostat covers off. There is some water flow, however I also have exhaust smoke, at least what looked and smelled like exhaust smoke. HMMMM This is interesting.

 

[jenoble01]

Re: dazed, confused, and overheated

Oh yeah, I pulled the plugs and checked them again. They all look normal. None were clean as one would expect with water intrusion into a cylinder.

 

[robert.barnes]

Re: dazed, confused, and overheated

i think we have the same prob. i have 120 looper that is doing the same thing i put new carbs on the thing for the year and i can make about 5 min on the lake and port side gets real hot sets alarm off took thermos out same prob i think i will look to see if i am getting the flow with the covers off to see if i have a blocked passage i will let u know what i find to solve the prob if u do the same

 

[jenoble01]

Re: dazed, confused, and overheated

i think we have the same prob. i have 120 looper that is doing the same thing i put new carbs on the thing for the year and i can make about 5 min on the lake and port side gets real hot sets alarm off took thermos out same prob i think i will look to see if i am getting the flow with the covers off to see if i have a blocked passage i will let u know what i find to solve the prob if u do the same

I actually found my head gaskets are leaking. Pulled both heads off after I noticed exhaust coming out of my stat housings. Decided to pull the heads. Could see where water has been leaking into the bottom cylinder on both sides. I'm sure if water can get in, combustion pressure/exhaust gas can get out. I wouldn't necessarily say they are "blown". As a blown head gasket is pretty well disintegrated, to me it looked more like the sealer that was used had just worn out over the years. I also found both gaskets to be dimpled out and I suspect that's where the leak was from, looked like it had conformed to a water jacket. I think the hot exhaust gases are what was causing my engine to overheat so quickly, and the water was probably causing my stalling issue. Have new gaskets on order will send you a note once I receive them and get the installed as to the outcome. I hope it takes care of my issues. I'm ready to hit the lake.