Overheating!!! Where do I start??

jetheadracer · 09-09-2009, 02:52 PM

I had my boat at a sandbar all day last sat @ Torch Lake in northern Michigan, boat ran flawlessly all day. After I left the sandbar it started running very hot I was near the dock shut it down and got towed in. It is a Baja Outlaw 25 with a 502fi, the bravo one has the low water pickup and I think that is probably where the problems stem from. So my question is what do i look at first, thermostat, impeller, maybe backflush the system??? Any help would be great help, I'm a new boater so I don't have a ton of experience. Thanks

Brent

baja bailey · 09-09-2009, 03:14 PM

I had this happen to me before. Had to back flush thoroughly put in new impeller and new thermostat to cure the problem. Good luck.

jetheadracer · 09-09-2009, 04:34 PM

What exactly is the process of backflushing? It may seem like a stupid question but i've never owned a boat before.

c_deezy · 09-09-2009, 04:53 PM

Pull the inlet house to your seawater pump and backflush back out through the drive. Leave that off and pull the outlet hose from your sea-water pump, then pull the inlet hose to the thermostat housing off and backflush through the coolers and watch the sea-water pump outlet hose and see if any junk comes out and verify you have good flow as well. While your at it, pull the sea-water pump and inspect the impeller, if it looks good then re-assemble. If its missing vanes, get a new impleller and then re-assemble. After that hook all the hoses back up, put muffs on your drive and open your block drains. Run the motor on the hose and this should empty out any sand you may have gotten in the block. You may have to poke at the block drains a bit if there is any sediment that is clogging them. Lastly, verify your thermostat hasn't failed and is sticking closed.

jetheadracer · 09-09-2009, 04:56 PM

^^^^ Alright thanks for the advice man, I'm gonna go dig into this thing, hopefully it is fairly painless.

c_deezy · 09-09-2009, 05:33 PM

And for all the time you spend driving up to Torch you could be out on Lake Erie. That Baja can handle the western basin no problem.

jetheadracer · 09-09-2009, 05:48 PM

Ya I know I normally go to erie, but I like to go to torch a couple times a year. If you've never been to torch it is def worth a four hour drive, the lake is amazing and the sand bar is a blast. Check it out some time if ya get the chance.

topfueleb · 09-09-2009, 08:08 PM

dont feel bad did the same thing myself this weekend, burned the impeller cracked pump housing and drive still full of mud and sand. just like every body said back flush very good and if impeller is gone double back flush, the key word is flush.

Griff · 09-09-2009, 09:46 PM

Pull every water hose one at a time and keep backflushing small sections at a time. That way you will be able to tell where any blockage is. After that, change the impeller. Restart it on muffs and make sure you have good water flow out the exhaust. If you do, then shut it down and pull the engine block drains. The drains are probably plugged with sand as well. Use a small screwdriver to punch through the sand in the block drain holes. With the drains plugs out, restart the engine on the muffs and let it run with the drain plugs out for about 10 minutes to help get any sand out. reinstall drain plugs and you should be good to go.

jetheadracer · 09-14-2009, 12:33 PM

Thanks for all the help boys, the thing was had tons and tons of sand in it, i mean everywhere. Put a new impeller and thermostat in it and flushed the crap out of everything. Good news is I think i'll name the boat sandy.