Boating Blues
 

Well its just the start of the summer and my boat has been down for three weeks now. I was at the Ozarks and my port motor went south on me with low oil pressure, upper motor noise and started getting warm. I knew there was a pretty good problem and shut it off right away, and ran on the starboard motor to get me in. I suspected valve spring problems but the motors only have 175 hrs on them. I just bought the boat three months ago at Shogrens in Chicago and they have been pretty good in working with me, and have taken it back to work on it in thir shop and found out that it has 8 broken valve springs in that motor but none in the other. Has any one else had this big of a problem with springs in motors with such few hours? I have a 99 382 with 500hp EFI's

This is in no way a dig at Shogrens, just a question that needs to be asked.......did you get a survey done? 175 hours on a 1999 boat doesn't seem right.

No survey, on the boat but I had the motors scanned and they did just have 175 on them, and the rest of the boat is in very good condition. I think Shogrens is being fair with me so that is not in question, I am just baffled as why that motor only.

Don't feel like the lone ranger here! The spring deal on the 500's has been around for a long time, it appears to be just a side effect of a hydraulic roller cam being run in the marine world. With my 500 carbs, a somewhat lesser quality spring than your EFI's, one engine went south at 160 hrs. I decided to freshen up both engines, and out of 32 springs 20+ had broken dampers or inner springs. Hydraulic rollers are a lot of weight being thrown around at some constant, and higher revs and the springs just plain chit out after a while. I went with springs from Isky and never had any issues after that. Sold the boat and the new owner is still going strong. They were a little bit more money than the stock replacements but in the long run well worth it. Firm believer in the fact that you get what you pay for in life.

Be glad to dig out the part numbers for you if you're interested, carb or EFI are the same specs on the springs, and the Isky's were a perfect match to what was called for with the cam.

One thing to remember with Hi-Perf boating is that the amount of chit you broke is relative to the amount of fun you were having at the time! :D There are those days you have to ask yourself "Was I having that much fun?". I've said "Not" more than once. :eek:

I thought the valve springs issue was only with the carb 500s, maybe that motor idled more than the other and was in the middle of the change over

When you had the motors hooked to see the hours on them did you get the hrs in RPM range numbers? My guess is this boat was run hard. Most 500 EFI guys haven't experienced this with a lot more hours than you had.

Thanks guys, I knew they had spring problems but I also thought it was in the carb motors more than the EFI's, When I had the motors scanned the scanner we used was an older one and I could not get the RPM ranges for some reason. I was hoping when I bought this that I could get 300 hrs out of it, but thats how it goes I guess. The other motor is getting the top half freshened up also, so when I get it back I should be good for a couple more years.

As most have said, it is an ongoing problem with all 500's.

It sounds to me like it was run pretty hard in the past. That is relative to the wear. Just took apart a motor with near 300 hours and found no broken springs. I'd chalk it up to either a bad batch of springs or improper valve adjustment. That can cause premature wear. I'd also spend the money on lifters now too, if to plan to go a few hundred hours more.

Dave

Heed the words of AXA on this one, not many have his level of knowledge in this area. When it's time for mine to be done, I'll definitely be leaning on him for advice, (and probably wrench help as well)

Come to think of it, i have an "Upstate" resource within a couple miles real familiar with the tear down