Splash Day. Ended badly for us.

I had both shut down within minutes when both of my impellers went a few years ago. But there was no fluid in the bilge, so this one has me wondering. Outside of oil, the only other fluids in there are power steering, trim tabs and Gear Lube. Since the engines won't turn over, I'm wondering if the gear lube alarm isn't working and that's the cause. The wiring for that alarm is notoriously bad and given the age of the boat, wouldn't surprise me if there's no gear lube left in the legs.

Hope you find out soon.

Mark
 
guessing inboard or V drives? No shut-downs on those motors. Hi temp. low/no oil and low/no drive oil (if equipped with drives)
 
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If neither motor will turn over then you seized both of them although I have never hear of such an incident. Check the engine oil levels and report level and condition. If no oil,
loose oil filters, remote oil lines, etc.
Verify battery condition and charge, try to crank the motors , If nothing, remove all the spark plugs and test again ,report findings.
Might have to be pulled to verify drive condition and oil level.pull drive to isolate the condition.
 
It's an 87, so assuming factory install, its not a Gen II, so no lube reservoir. Bad batteries could explain the clicking when trying to restart, and could explain the smoke if there was a loose connection (possibly from summerizing) Or a frozen battery exploded and the fluid you're seeing is electrolyte. What were the engine temps when you were running? What did it smell like? What did the fluid look like? Colour? Smell? viscosity?
 
Letting the mechanic handle it. We did check the oil level on both engines right after the incident. Down less than a quart and clean in color. Not black not milky. why I don't believe it was engine oil in the transom. It was dark. But I am no mechanic.
 
I would think FWC engines can go further without cooling water since there is still coolant flowing through the internals. You'd fry the hell out of the impellers but other than that, you'd probably be able to go a mile, maybe 2.
 
on that note, any trim lines, power steering lines or any rubber hose close to /in contact with the Y pipes would melt.
 
I hate to admit it but the sunrise was so beautiful and I was cruising out on Lake Erie and it was glass. I wasn't paying attention to the water temp gauges. I know another newbie mistake. The transom area below the engines had black/dark fluid. it smelled like oil to me but these motors were 1 new and 1 rebuilt and I was told only 10 hours on them. When we pulled the dipsticks after the incident the oil was down a bit but was clean oil in color making me wonder why whatever leaked what it was. it felt like oil and smelled like oil. The viscosity was like a used oil. Not watered down somewhat thick.
 
Possible I guess. That is what I hope is what happened. Just some lines came loose and something made the engines power down. Praying it's something That's only another thousand and not 5 or 10. Couldn't absorb that right now.
 
I had an alpha 1 on my 1987 Regal and there was no lube reservoir. It was all contained within the outdrive itself.
 
We like to dump in at anchor point when we want to do some fishin. My in-laws used to keep there 270 at meinke's, nice marina.

Good luck on the issue, hope it ends well.
 
sounds like old burnt power steering fluid,perhaps one of the p/s pumps spun a bearing or a p/s hose blew and siezed,that would cause a lot of drag on a belt and a bad smell before shut down.both motors may shut down if one overheats,especially if the fire suppresion system was activated but the system didnt deploy ,did the belts still appear to be in one piece or off the pulleys?
 
Well my worst nightmare confirmed. Port engine seized. Starboard runs but has a rod knocking. Basically both engines toast. I am gonna go now so you don't see a grown man cry. Looks like a summer of sitting at the dock!
 
Something doesn't add up here. I'm not sure how one could toast both motors at the same time without it being temperature related. Which leads me to think the mechanic fouled up massively if he worked on it last weekend. Obviously I am no expert...

Either way that really sucks. I feel for you. Best of luck with things.
 
Newman said:
Something doesn't add up here. I'm not sure how one could toast both motors at the same time without it being temperature related. Which leads me to think the mechanic fouled up massively if he worked on it last weekend. Obviously I am no expert...

Either way that really sucks. I feel for you. Best of luck with things.
Click to expand...

+1 I agree. I'd be asking a ton of questions.

Mark
 
Tod...
Real sorry to hear that. But seriously, something is rotten in Denmark.
 
Freshwater or Seawater cooled? I am thinking along the lines of seawater cooled jackets not being winterized during this brutal winter. Freezing, expanding, cracking block then sucking in water during compression. Just a thought.
 
Wow, I am very sorry to hear about the miss fortune with the engines. Yeah, I too am confused as to how this could be the issue on "New" engines. I'd be doing some investigation on what was really going on there and what caused the failures?
 
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