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New Boat - Something ain't right!


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OK, so I just picked up my new 2002 Sunscape LSV 23 with the Monsoon motor. Everything was fine yesterday on it's maiden voiage, until the end of the evening. I took it out for a spin prior to purchasing, and everything felt fine. We rode in it all day yesterday, and all was well. Did some wakeboarding, dropped the wedge, everything was really good. Untill...

I was zipping accross the lake at WOT for the return home, and all of a sudden the RPMs started dropping off slightly (maybe 200RPM). I could feel the boat loosing a bit of power, and just about the time I uttered WTF, it started picking back up again. However, when I got to the Marina, the boat was idling really rough. Then I dropped my GF off to get the trailer, and I putted back out to wait. Still iding rough, I decided to pop the motor cover. Everything 'looked' OK, but I noticed smoke coming out of the exhaust. Bluish white smoke, but it was pretty thick. I pretty much turned it off, and let it sit. Started it back up, same, but not quite as much smoke. Rough idle, vibration, lots of exhaust.

Here's my thoughts... I'm getting ready to pull the dipstick, and look for a chocolate milkshake. I'm hoping it's not a head gasket. Maybe all of a sudden I lost a ring on a piston? Maybe it's something simple like bad gas? The only thing I remember having occur prior to the loss of power, (neither of which I think would have an impact, but they were all that happend more than just driving in a straight line). 1) I did feel a small stick, or piece of bark go under the boat. It was small though, and I barely heard it hit the hull. 2) I pulled a full speed right hand turn, (just to feel how it handled).

Anyone have any ideas? Common problem? The motor has 192hrs on it.

Thanks in advance,

Keith

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Once you have the spark plugs out, do a compression test on each cylinder and record the readings.

I had this happen once where a push rod slipped off/out of the rocker arm causing the same symptoms.

The cylinder that has the low(abnormaly low) reading will be the one to look at. Kind of a big leap I know, but since it happened at WOT it's a possibility.

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what did the temp gauge read. could it be something as simple as blown impeller?
How's your impeller? Did you happen to check your temp gauge while all this was going on?

Great minds think alike! Thumbup.gif

Unfortunately I did not... What could I do now to check?

Easiest way is to unhook the water hose on the inlet side of your trans oil cooler, then look for gobs of rubber chunks trapped there. Might also find a bunch of trapped weeds/leaves that can restrict water flow.

Edited by SunriseH2OSkier
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Start simple. I would change the fuel filter first and take a look at the distributor cap and rotor. If it was an overheat problem the ECM would have dropped your RPM's more than just 200. A WOT run might have caused some crap in the gas tank to get into the fuel line and plug the filter. A mechanical problem on a 192 hr motor would have reared its ugly head by now, so I doubt it is mechanical on these bullet proof GM engines.

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what did the temp gauge read. could it be something as simple as blown impeller?
How's your impeller? Did you happen to check your temp gauge while all this was going on?

Great minds think alike! Thumbup.gif

Unfortunately I did not... What could I do now to check?

Easiest way is to unhook the water hose on the inlet side of your trans oil cooler, then look for gobs of rubber chunks trapped there. Might also find a bunch of trapped weeds/leaves that can restrict water flow.

Fools seldom differ!

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Found something...

P1010002.JPG

P1010003.JPG

P1010004.JPG

Looks like someone forgot to put the cap back on the valve cover. However, not too much oil was lost, still full, and clean, looking on the dipstick. Which is good news. Sucks about the carpet on the cover.. Could be a plug. Checking those now. Damn they're hard to get to.

Crawled under the boat, intake looks good & clean. No signs of blockage (like from the stick).

post-6206-1209321527_thumb.jpg

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Start simple. I would change the fuel filter first and take a look at the distributor cap and rotor. If it was an overheat problem the ECM would have dropped your RPM's more than just 200. A WOT run might have caused some crap in the gas tank to get into the fuel line and plug the filter. A mechanical problem on a 192 hr motor would have reared its ugly head by now, so I doubt it is mechanical on these bullet proof GM engines.

I appreciate that feedback. Makes me feel better, and was part of my justification for the boat in the first place.

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All of what you described may be a result of what you found. However, without the other symptoms, it almost sounds as though you were hitting the rev limiter. Did you happen to notice your RPM @ WOT?

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All of what you described may be a result of what you found. However, without the other symptoms, it almost sounds as though you were hitting the rev limiter. Did you happen to notice your RPM @ WOT?

Well, I know it wasn't me, but perhaps you were right. Just not sure how it could have happened.

Looks like the #6 piston is shot, and the wall is scored pretty good. Seems a piece of the the plug electrode actually came off (just replaced from UWS in Fairfield) and has managed to do some damage on the piston. In addition to that, the valve is mushroomed, so deffinately some over heating. Bottom line: Motor is bad, needs to be pulled. The PCM showed an overrev of 11,000RPM. No idea of when though. How the hell does that happen?

My options:

1) Rebuild. The upside of a rebuild is since I'll have to do a little boring on the cylendar to fix the scoring, I end up with a stroker, and more HP. Could likely turn this into a 383, and make it much more powerful. Not sure the cost though, nor have I got any indications this would come with a warrantee.

2) Replace. New Indmar long block is running about $3250 + $1500 in labor. Upside is it comes with a 2yr warrantee. Downside? The power for the weight of this big boat didn't excite me. Especially compared to the giddy up of my Echelon in comparison. Understand there is a HUGE weight difference.

First confersation with the seller sounds promising. He said he wishes he would have known this was an issue prior to selling, as he would have fixed it first. My quick response? "I understand, and as dissaopinted I am that I'm not driving my new boat, as long as I feel you'll fix it 'after' we're still in good shape". He's going to call UWS in the morning, but I've already talked to them, and they're pretty quick to deny any responsibilty.

We'll see. If he doesn't step up, I'm going to be seriously hurtin.

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11,000? Hodychit. Can that even be right? I mean even in neutral that sounds high, and the rev limiter would stutter way before it got close to 11k I'd think...

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Yeah, somethings not right. I'm not even sure these engines are capable of 11k rpm, even if the rev limiter was disconnected. I don't think it would ever get there.

You'll have to do a lot more than a bore job to end up with a "stroker". You'll need new crank and rods as well and appropriate block clearancing. Be aware that if you do something like this, you'll need to have a plan for tuning the ecm for it. I'm not sure what options are out there for marine tuning, but I'm sure there has to be something. I toyed with doing something like this once and decided it would be a hassle and to just stick with a stock build.

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You don't "need" to go with an Indmar longblock, you can get a marine longblock for quite a bit less than that. Plus you may be able to get it much quicker.

I would go with a new longblock, but I think the $1500 in labor seems a little low, it's alot of extra work pulling a V-drive motor vs a DD.

-Chris

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Crawled under the boat, intake looks good & clean. No signs of blockage (like from the stick).

Thats not where any blockage would be. IT would be "in the system" and it doesn't sound like you have checked yet. Have you looked at the impeller yet?

Just out of curioscity, how long were you at WOT, and why?

Sorry for yourn luck. What is it you're looking for the seller to do?

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Not sure about the tuning of the EFI but the change over to 383 should not be that expensive.

Local paper where I live, a reputable machine shop has 383 longblocks advertised for $2700 (exchange).

Pretty reasonable considering the machine work and parts to rebuild your current engine.

The 383 has also become very popular in the Hotrod/Performance car circles and many crate engine companys

sell kits or complete mail order engines. This will be the route I take when my 93 Echelon packs it in.

Back in the 80's I had a race car with a 331 sbc engine that I launched from the line at 10,500 rpm and finished at the

end of the track at 9600 rpm. The cost and special parts ( aluminum connecting rods, roller cam,rocker girdles,etc.),required to turn 10000 rpm are significant. Very unlikely that you ever reached 11000 rpm

with your 'stock' powerplant.

Edited by malibucanuck
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