2000 Islandia 240 EFI problem

[TR11]

Hi All,

I'm having serious problems which I'll outline below.

I was driving the boat for about 1hr. Everything was fine. Docked for awhile. On the return trip home, I had to go through a 9mph channel for 10 minutes. Someone was stopped in the center, so I wandered to the very sideline of the channel. After this, gradually accelerated to full throttle for approx 2min. Ran great. As I smoothly backed off the throttle, it was reducing power at a faster rate than me backing off throttle. I then brought it to idle, and tried to accelerate back up. It didnt want to. It only went to 4100ish rpms and sounded rough. Opening the engine bay, there was a very loud rattle, which increased with rpm. The sluggishness felt like not all cylinders were firing, or bad plugs etc, but there was the bad metallic rattle/banging.

I drove at about 2000rpms for 5 min to get to a pull out, and now the boat is on its way to a shop to check it out.

From the noise, I would guess that it is a spun bearing, but have never heard one personally before, this is just from youtube.

I had no alarms, both oil tanks were at full. Before it happened the boat was running great and very smooth, and was running 38mph with 7 on board. Some smoke for 2 min at startup, but none after it's warm. I always stay on top of service each year, so it isn't from neglect. Are these engines prone to throwing a rod or spinning a bearing?

Could sucking something into the pump cause a similar vibration / rattle / unbalanced noise?

Only other problem I had recently was starter was spinning and not popping up to the flywheel. A whack from a hammer fixed that. No problems since.

 

[Dr Honda]

Yes.... sucking somthing into the pump will cause rattling, and no power... but it doesn't nomaly cause loss of RPM's.


Since your engine is 13 years old... I'm going to guess than you lost a piston. A quick compression check will tell use the story.

No reason to spend the $$$ to let a shop check it out. We can walk you though the diagnosis.


What part of the world are you in?

 

[El Toro 33809]

Dr. Honda is on top of it...

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about your troubles. The Mercury engines were known to have oil injection failure. If you search the forum, you would see lots if discussion about that.

I would suggest a compression test to start with.

I'm sure that Dr. Honda should be by soon and give you his thoughts. He's the expert here on the Merc's, and just about everything else. He did a compete engine rebuild in his Islandia. You need to check out that thread as well.

Good luck.

 

[TR11]

I'm up in Ontario Canada.

Unfortunately, I left the boat with a friend because I didnt have a tow vehicle. He has taken it to a seadoo/merc shop and they will do the compression test and look at the pump.

I wouldn't have guessed it was debris, because there was no cavitation.

Is this a job I could tackle myself once I get the potential diagnosis back? They're saying up to $5000 for a rebuild and $7500 for a new powerhead. I know this sounds high but in canada we're about 50% more expensive on parts.

If they havent looked at it by next weekend, I may trailer it to my place and can go from there. Compression tests seem very simple. I would have to get the shop to pull the motor for me though I imagine if I have to get at the bottom end.

 

[TR11]

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about your troubles. The Mercury engines were known to have oil injection failure. If you search the forum, you would see lots if discussion about that.

I would suggest a compression test to start with.

I'm sure that Dr. Honda should be by soon and give you his thoughts. He's the expert here on the Merc's, and just about everything else. He did a compete engine rebuild in his Islandia. You need to check out that thread as well.

Good luck.

Ive seen his rebuild. Very impressive.

I've also seen that you can also bypass the injection system and go to mix. Is this recommended truly? Are there any negatives?

 

[El Toro 33809]

Ive seen his rebuild. Very impressive.

I've also seen that you can also bypass the injection system and go to mix. Is this recommended truly? Are there any negatives?

Let the good Dr. address this. I would guess that if you're doing a rebuild, you'd install a new gear ring that would be reliable. The injection is a more efficient system when it is working correctly

 

[Dr Honda]

Yep... what he said. (lol)


If the engine is still in good shape, and you find something jammed in the pump... I would suggest removing the oil system. The gear that drives it is plastic, and fails eventually. But... if it's time for a rebuild... then put in the new style gear (much stronger) and leave the system on. As El Toro said... It's more efficient. (less smoke, easier fill ups, burn less oil overall)


If you are good with tools... yes... A rebuild is feasible by the "Home" mechanic. If it's as ugly as my engine was (with a huge hole, blown sleeve, cracked block, bused reeds, and a crank that was beat to death)........... I'm not sure you would want to try. (without owning a machine shop) But... if you just lost a piston... it's not a big deal. For a few hundred $$$ you can have the block sent out to be bored to the next size. Then... a "Rebuild Kit" will cost you around $850. The rest is your labor. IF... you want to save a few $$$... then you can just oversize the one piston... and replace it. But I would personally do the rebuild right.

 

[TR11]

thanks for all the advice. Ill post up what I find.