Couldn`t even go one season without a break down
 

So today I invited some friends to go check out the air and water show in Chicago.
We took the river in since downtown was a madhouse with no parking anywhere.. Marine was full by 8:30am, they open at 8:00am
Cars lined up at 6:00 am already waiting.

me and the wife got scoped out a route yesterday.. everything went fine.. had teh boat up to 78mph per GPS till it started rocking back and forth.
Anyway, today my friends come in .. one couple had a 1 hr. ride in.

We get going, oil temp seemed a bit higher that normal, but nothing critical.. got better when I slowed to 50MPH. Water temp fine. Water pressure around 27ish and fluctuating a bit. Oil pressure a bit under 60psi.

Then I start to hear just the slightest abnormal sound, keep checking gauges, all normal.
2 minutes later BOOOM! as if I hit something.. engine immediately dies.
I check the prop, no problem, check motor; nothing obvious. try to restart and it sounds like a bunch of rocks in the motor.

Now were starting to drift to a very nasty, all jagged rocks, shore.
Wave down a guy on a jet ski who pulls us to middle of river again.
He does us a HUGE favor and tows up for about 20 minutes to a launch, he was really great.

I get a ride to our original launch, grab the trailer, drive to the launch.. a couple hours later we`re home.


Not a good day.. I try the motor again, at first try ( ears slid down) it sounds like a rod knock again... shut it down, try again with more water pressure, then runs perfectly fine, so i`m confused.
Right side header is hotter than left, I take the exhaust apart to make sure nothing is blocking water flow since teh river is full of crap.. but it`s all fine.

Maybe Gimbal bearing is shot?

That sucks, hopefully its not too bad.

Is rocking back and forth, side to side or front to back?
What is your "normal" oil temp?

78 Is nice! :boat:

Normal is around 225*.. for a bit there it was 250* cruising at 60mph.

Started rocking back and forth..

Do a quick Compression test & leakdown and start narrowing it down ....

It going in to have the shift bellows replaced, so I`ll have em take a look at it since they`ll have the drive off.
More I think about it its gotta be, coupler, ujoints or Gimball, we`ll see.

I thought about this and you know what sucks, is that I have no reference. Before this I had a Jet ski that did 75mph and when youre so close to the water it seems like youre doing 100.. its exhilarating.\

I should have got a slower boat first then I`d appreciate this one more, my buddy who has a 23' Rinker was like holy crap man this thing is fast. I gotta look around for one for sale he sais.

To me 75mph in the boat on flat water just seems kinda slow.. I know thats bad..:angry-smiley-038:

78 is sweet in that hull, best I've seen is 67.5 this year.

Get some more seat time, then go play in some 2,3,4 footers....with some nice 8-10ft holes,that'll get your blood pumpin!!!:drink::drink:

Sorry to hear outdrive problems, first winter mine needed a refresh, wish I could make it one season just buying gas and oil!!

if it was a coupler you would smell it and see black black rubber all over the place, what motor and power do you have a friend had a 500hp merc it did between 68 and 70 gps on the 28footer. I had a bang it was a roller rocker that the stud broke easy fix , I have a 650hp 509.

Did the oil pressure go down while this was happening??

Check pick up tube from oil pump. If pick up tube is leaking, or fell out, you are not pulling oil at high rpms. Lifters do not stay pumped up. valves don't open all the way. Detonation occurs. Oil temp skyrockets, and it sounds like your engine is full of rocks.

Did you try and start it back up while you were being towed??

Let the oil drain back into the pan and see if the noise goes away. Rev p the rpms, and see if the noise comes back.

Had this happen once, so I am throwing that out there.

Jeff... good info.

ICDEDPPL... That jet ski is going to slow down if it gets rough and your AT wont, you might go a little faster. Are you trimmed out at 78 b/c I thought it would be faster than that with a SC600?

I think everybody has a buddy with a 23' Rinker