FountainCS

Had a problem with my 502 in my Fountain. I was cruising along when I felt it loosing power. I looked down and the oil pressure was at 0. I shut it down and pulled the dipstick. Showed no oil. I later found out there was about 3 quarts in it. I put 4 more quarts in it and it would turn over but sounded like it could not create enough compression to fire.

It sat over night, then it started just fine, idled great, seemed like no problem. I pulled the boat out, changed the oil and plugs. Oil was black, but no flakes or anything. I ran it on the muffs for a while even ran it up to 2000 rpm's and it ran fine, kept the oil pressure up and everything.

So I put it back in the water, fired up fine, idled away from the dock, everything looked good. That was until I put the power to it...it ran fine for a second, but then I could tell I was loosing power again. The oil pressure dropped back to zero and then shut down.

Any suggestions. I am not familiar with the 502 at all, it's my first big block, let alone EFI.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

Shawn

jdnca1

If you truly had no oil pressure then the motor HAS to come out for all new bearings. With only 3 qts in the pan there likely was not enough oil to circulate through the motor and get back into the pan before it was needed again. If the motor is loosing power you're bearings are getting hot and likely spinning...which can ruin an entire block quickly. On the trailor there is no load on the motor so thats why its giving the appearance of operating normal until you put a load on it in the lake. Wish I had a better news for you, but the motor has to come out immediately. I would not even think about running it again.

What did your oil filter look like? Did you cut it open?

FountainCS

Thanks jdnca1, kind of what I thought. I did not check the oil filter. I will though. So as far as $$$$ what do think?

Shawn

jdnca1

Depends on damage and who does the work. You will only have a few hundred in parts if you're lucky (bearings, caps) mostly labor. Hopefully it didn't get into the crank or rods and/or a ton of debris went through the motor to scuff pistons, etc. As you can imagine, the latter case will get costly.

If the motor is shutting off because it can't run with the load on it that is NOT a good sign. If your ECU is shutting it down due to lack of oil pressure then you may be ok.

Did the oil you pulled out smell burned?

rjcardinal

Main Bearings!

Hopefully you can save the crank.

Ron

FountainCS

The oil did smell burned. Thanks for all the help. Look like I going to have to get it taken apart and see how bad the damage is. At least it didn't happen in the Spring. Wish me luck.

Thanks again.

Good excuse to make it bigger and faster now....