Improper trim and engine damage...
 

Hello,

I think I really messed up my motor last weekend. I just bought the
damn boat and it's already in the shop. It's a 96 glastron gs185 with a
volvo 4.3 gs. Anyway, we were cruising along and we heard a clang clang
noise and the engine stopped. I tried to start it again and it sounded
like the starter was getting plenty of power but it just couldn't turn
the motor over. Popped piston? Broken connecting rod?

What I want to know is... could the trim have that kind of effect? I
know it was only running around 3000 rpm at full throttle...
overtrimed? I'm really new at all this, so I have no idea. The boat was
handling fine and the speedo showed about 55mph, but 3000 rpm seems low
to me at full throttle. Any thoughts here or anyone else make the same
mistake? I also wonder if the boat was just overpropped? By the way,
the temp was ok at around 150 and the oil pressure looked fine.

One more thing.. I haven't heard back from the shop yet, but I'm
already assuming it's bad, really bad... so would yall suggest
rebuilding the current motor, exchanging it for a rebuilt motor or just
going with a crate engine from gm? I found a crate engine for around
the same price as the other 2 options.

I appreciate any guidance anyone can give me... and would love you for
life if you told me it didn't sound like anything major.. yeah right!

D

Improper trim and engine damage...
 

Yeah, it doesn't sound good at all. There wasn't any oil in the bilge
and I even checked the dipstick after a while and it was still good. I
think I might go with the crate engine if I can get somewhere around
the same price. But my fingers are still crossed that it's not that
major.

Improper trim and engine damage...
 

Anyway, we were cruising along and we heard a clang clang
noise and the engine stopped.

A relatively minor flywheel-vs-starter problem could produce this, so it is
not necessarily the worst.

But do let us know the true diagnosis.

Improper trim and engine damage...
 

I have to question your tach. I can't imagine that boat making 55mph with
any kind of prop at 3000 rpm and a v6. Check the back of your tach and see
if it has an 4-6-8 switch. If so it should be on 6.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Yeah, it doesn't sound good at all. There wasn't any oil in the bilge
and I even checked the dipstick after a while and it was still good. I
think I might go with the crate engine if I can get somewhere around
the same price. But my fingers are still crossed that it's not that
major.

Improper trim and engine damage...
 

"James" wrote in message
. net...
I have to question your tach. I can't imagine that boat making 55mph with
any kind of prop at 3000 rpm and a v6. Check the back of your tach and see
if it has an 4-6-8 switch. If so it should be on 6.


I thought of that as well, and it's a definite possibility. However, while
the tach is possibly suspect, the speedo certainly deserves an equal amount
of doubt. It could be that the tach was correct and the boat wasn't making
anywhere near the indicated 55 mph. Either way, I agree that 3000 RPM and
55 mph don't add. Of course, neither one of these possible problems are
anywhere near his biggest issue now.

Improper trim and engine damage...
 

Yeah, I figured that would be next to impossible. I wish that I was
driving at the time it happened, but my friend who was at the wheel
said he 'thought' he hit the kill switch right when it happened...
might explain the clang clang? Backfires? I guess it does little to
explain the engine not cranking over though... could it possibly have
sucked in water? I dunno, I wish I'd gotten to know the boat a little
better before anything like this happened.

Improper trim and engine damage...
 

wrote in message
ups.com...
Yeah, I figured that would be next to impossible. I wish that I was
driving at the time it happened, but my friend who was at the wheel
said he 'thought' he hit the kill switch right when it happened...


Oooh, possible major clue there. If the kill switch was hit while at cruise
it just might be possible that the engine sucked water and hydro-locked,
although I can't explain how.. Removing the spark plugs and turning the
engine over would have answered the question of whether the engine ingested
water.

Improper trim and engine damage...
 

I have read on a few other sites of people that have had the same
experience. Hydrolock at high rpm shutdown... I think I might just go
pick it up from the shop this weekend and give it a try. No harm since
they apparently are just going to have it sitting there for another few
days before they can even check it. Thanks guys, I'll let you know what
I find out.

Improper trim and engine damage...
 

Ok, I just (finally) heard back from the service center. It was in fact
hydrolocked. All 6 cyls. had water in them. They did a compression test
to see the extent of the damage and said that one cyl was reading 210
and another 140. Now I understand that this kind of variance is way
off, but how can one cyl be reading 210 on a 10 yr old boat with
probably 500 hrs on it?? The others were in the range of 150-170. Are
they pulling my leg or is a reading of 210 even possible? Any insight
would be much appreciated. I'm thinking I might just go get it and run
it a few hours and recheck the compression.

wrote:
I have read on a few other sites of people that have had the same
experience. Hydrolock at high rpm shutdown... I think I might just go
pick it up from the shop this weekend and give it a try. No harm since
they apparently are just going to have it sitting there for another few
days before they can even check it. Thanks guys, I'll let you know what
I find out.