My boating season is over (long)
 

Saturday was the impromtu Port Huron fun run .
We ended up having 5 boats.
Well we were heading to the middle channel from the launch to meet one other boat and we all were running pretty hard (4800-5000 with and occasional 5700rpm ) and my boat was running great , oil pressure,water temp and oil temp was fine.
We see our buddy floating at the entrance to the channel so we stop, well at WOT I was running around 48lbs of oil pressure (normal for this motor) when I got off plane I see the oil pressure drop to 10lbs and the siren went off, so I shut the motor off look under the hatch and check the oil. Everything looked okay , there was plenty of oil and it was still clear (the motor has 4 hours on it since the rebuild) so I fire it back up , it still has 10lbs and nothing seems to be wrong, no noises or anything. I trust my gauges , oil pressure is a mechanical and the siren picks up at a different place so I'm positive that those readings are right.
I'm hoping it is just a problem with the pickup , but I doubt it the only other thing it could be would be a spun main bearing.
So I got towed the 5 or 6 miles back to the launch. NOT a good way to end the season.

Dude that totally sucks. Is there any chance that you just cooked the oil? Did you fire after you got back to the dock and see if the preasure was ok?

Jon

"So I got towed the 5 or 6 miles back to the launch"

It should read

"So we got towed the 5 or 6 miles back to the launch":cool:

Chuck that sucks dude. Hopefully it isn't anything too bad. You are making a strong case this last little while for me to leave me motors stock! :(

Hey Chuck, lets hope its another quick fix!! I saw you saturday on I-94, by north river rd. I was going to metro towing my boat, and I'm guessing you were going to selfridge towing yours. Just wondering iof you was me or not.

James, Stock is good!!

Chuck, Sorry to hear that.

By the way...The moot was good on Saturday!

Sorry Lee ,
Your right it should read "we"!:)

The oil temp never went over 160 so it wasn't that and yes I did restart it ..still low pressure

James,
I've seen plenty of stock motors blow up too, How do you think Lenny makes a living:D

yes I saw you Rob, I'm surprised you launch at Metro instead of somewhere closer to your house

Boatchic,
Thanks for reminding my about the Bay:rolleyes:
Lee and I did catch a pretty good buzz on the tow back to the launch:D

That's no way to end the season!

Still sorry we missed the outing though.
The idle back would've probably been a good "get to know ya over a few beers" type thing.

Good luck with the motor.

Better to end this season that start next year at the end of a rope.

sorry to hear that !! HOpe it works out OK for you .

At least you have all WINTER to fix it and not all summer...That would really suck:mad:. Hope you find something minor:cool:

Chuck,
Man oh man.. that really sucks. But 4hrs and you were running for that long?? What kind of clearances are you running on the bearings? You should have more psi at wot.. more like 60psi. What weight oil are you running? I am runing a 15w/40 synthetic and see 60/70 when cold and 60 when hot.. it does go lower when it is hot but usually to about 40 at an idle...
I hope it isnt serious.. and having more time this winter you can take your time and find out what happened and make it right..

Good luck and dont give up.. when it does run, you will forget the grief!!

Dick

Man I feel for you, let us know what you find on the pressure problem, hope it is a simple fix

Chuck

That really sucksd. Last time I broke was on the way back from Port Huron. I had just entered the South channel at the North end of Harsens when the timing chain gear on the crank broke (stupid Comp Cams). When we left that morning the guys in the other boats asked why I had so much beer and I told them "you never know what's gonna happen." needless to say 12 miles and 4 hours later on one motor I too had a pretty good buzz going. Good Luck.

sorry for you..
but just to make you feel better: there are some people here who has not started ''season'' yet....
:mad: :mad: :mad:

I hate to say it but it sounds like a Main Bearing went
south. Same thing happened to me with a 455 Olds.
The bearing was bad and TRW never backed it....New
crank and Clevite bearing set for me in a 71 442 Olds
4 speed.....I hope I'm wrong in your case, Mike.

I had the same deal this summer after chasing an water leak (into the oil) for a couple weeks the 2 front mains washed out ... I pulled it hanged the head gaskets intake gaskets sealed all the bolts I could think of flipped it over pushed a set of mains in and bolted the thing back in....Ran the rest of the summer so far!!I'm taking it back out to grind the crank in October.
Good luck!

Just curious 26Scarab... what is your oil temp normally? My engines run about 220F after fully warm and I try like hell not to get into them hard until I get a least 200*. This takes 5-10 miles at 3200rpm usually. Is it possible you got into it (them?) too quickly and starved the mains? The only other thought would be an oil contol problem in the pan. Of course, the first step now is to cut open you oil filter and start fact finding.

Keep your chin up... and good luck, hoping it's something simple,

BT :cool:

Mr. Gadgets,Blue Thunder,
This combination has been together for over 80hours. I just recently had to go thru it do to a lifter problem. When I took it apart for that I decided to ring and bearing it. The original bearings looked fine but I figured it's this far might as well change them. My engine guy checked the clearances and I did the assy. I really don't know what they were since it wouldn't mean anything to me, I'm not an engine builder.
Before I took the motor apart it would run around 48-50lbs of oil pressure at WOT (hot 170) and at an idle it would be around 30 (hot) , I was told this was due to rod side to side clearance which was high but not excessive. (Eagle crank)
Everything was the same after I put it together, I did notice about a 10 degree rise in the oil temp (still never over 180)but I'm running 15w40 instead of 10w40 like last year so I figured it was just the thicker oil.
My engine guy seems to think it is something stuck in the oil pump bypass thing. This is because when I fire the motor up there is oil pressure and if I give it a little throttle the pressure will climb. I don't know and don't really have the time to dick with it (55 hours at work)so it will sit until I can find the time to pull it.
I had a good season, now this time I can dyno it before it goes back in.

26scarab... seems to me your oil temp is too low. I would consider an oil thermostat system to get the temp up to around 220*. Other than that, I tend to agree that the pressure control valve could be failed in the oil pump.


BT :cool:

Chuck,
Real Sorry to hear about the oil pressure problem. Lee called me Saturday Morning to run with you guys, but I had a comittment I couldn't get out of. I don't think I could have kept up anyway. I had been looking for a post on your run, and somehow missed this one until today. Call me at work. 734-458-2300
Larry

Been there, done that. Mine turned out to be that I broke the crank in half. Still ran fine, just no pressure do to the big leak where the oil passage passed across the break.

Hope your luckier.

-Greg

Chuck, did you put a manual gauge on it ?

Well Saturday I pulled the motor , dropped the pan and found that a corner of one of the gears in the oil pump had broken and lodged itself in the oil bypass.
I installed a new System 1 oil filter , put it together and was on the water by 4:00pm !!
I ran the **** out of it with no problems, I went about 6 miles with the rpms between 4800 and 5700 so I think if it was going to break it would have then !!
I had a great day ... met up with the OSO fun run in Muskamoot . I just wish I could have ran with everyone .

Sparky,
I run a mechanical gauge and the screamer picks up in a different location.

I busted my to get the boat running and then Sunday it get cold !!!

EXCELLENT !!!! Glad it worked out cheap for ya !!!!!!!!

26 scarab,

Good to meet ya on Saturday. That must have been one Hell of a wrench session in the A.M! I'll have to bum a ride from you next time, I'd like to feel the ride you get out of that Scarab with some speed under it!

Thats great news Chuck


That sunday weather was horrible!!

I'm glad that I was wrong!.....Sounds like you can enjoy the rest of the Fall, Mike.

Chuck, I thought I saw you on Saturday between Metro and the Clinton River (we had just left Metro and were zipping to the Clinton to pull out and hit the boat show) about 4:30 +/-. I asked Bill if that was you and he didn't think so because he thought you were done for the season.

Congrats on pulling it and putting it back together so quick!

Christine

Christine,
yes that was us.. we stopped there for a celebratory(is that a word?) beer:D