The question that I have is should I rebuild my powerhead, or just keep running it? Here is the story below:
At the end of last season were were at the lake as usual, wife was skiing and engine seemed to have just a little less power but I didnt think much of it at the time. Finished skiing and were idling back to the dock when the 'No Oil" light came on and the engine quit. The fuel ball was soft, pumped it and started it again. It started right up with the oil light now off, idled for about 10 seconds and the "No oil" light came on and it quit again. We got towed back to the ramp and took it home. I went through this start up process a few more times while trying to figure out the problem. I eventually traced it back to the VRO pump, I replaced that and it started right up, smoked, and idled fine and the "no oil" light stayed off. When we went back to the lake it seemed to idle a little rough (although not bad, just seems to "cam" a bit in gear) and had a slight miss at take off at about half throttle. It ran pretty good otherwise.
I am a paranoid sort so I thought I had better look into it further to make sure I hadnt screwed something up since I technically ran it for a short time with no oil. I checked the compression and the starboard bottom cylinder had 90lbs, while the others had 110lbs. I pulled the heads so I could look at the cylinders and they all looked OK except the starboard TOP cylinder had scores. No metal was welded to the cylinder walls. The cylinder that was a little low looked ok.
Should I just keep running it until the problem makes itself obvious, maybe decarb the low cylinder and rebuild carbs. Or should I go ahead and bite the bullet and rebuild it before any more damage is done? Thanks in advance for the help!
Jason
At the end of last season were were at the lake as usual, wife was skiing and engine seemed to have just a little less power but I didnt think much of it at the time. Finished skiing and were idling back to the dock when the 'No Oil" light came on and the engine quit. The fuel ball was soft, pumped it and started it again. It started right up with the oil light now off, idled for about 10 seconds and the "No oil" light came on and it quit again. We got towed back to the ramp and took it home. I went through this start up process a few more times while trying to figure out the problem. I eventually traced it back to the VRO pump, I replaced that and it started right up, smoked, and idled fine and the "no oil" light stayed off. When we went back to the lake it seemed to idle a little rough (although not bad, just seems to "cam" a bit in gear) and had a slight miss at take off at about half throttle. It ran pretty good otherwise.
I am a paranoid sort so I thought I had better look into it further to make sure I hadnt screwed something up since I technically ran it for a short time with no oil. I checked the compression and the starboard bottom cylinder had 90lbs, while the others had 110lbs. I pulled the heads so I could look at the cylinders and they all looked OK except the starboard TOP cylinder had scores. No metal was welded to the cylinder walls. The cylinder that was a little low looked ok.
Should I just keep running it until the problem makes itself obvious, maybe decarb the low cylinder and rebuild carbs. Or should I go ahead and bite the bullet and rebuild it before any more damage is done? Thanks in advance for the help!
Jason