2001 Sea Doo Islandia motor

[mhanks03]

Per Dr. Honda's request, this is my PM I sent him...

It seems from what I have been reading on the site is that you know your way around Islandia's. I really hope you can help me....

My wife and I recently (about a month ago) purchased a 2001 islandia. I know nothing about boats, and this was my first. I took a buddy of mine to knows a lot about boats, but nothing about jet drive boats. He did a lot of tests on the boat (including compression) prior to us signing the paperwork.

The first trip out was awesome. The boat ran great!

Today, we take it out. I throttle up and about 10 seconds after that the but starts to loose it's power as if I am throttling down (yet the throttle was all the way forward). I bring it back down to an idle. Everything seemed fine. I throttled up again and right before reaching max throttle, I felt something "pop" in the lever, and the motor began making a very weird noise and we lost all throttle on the boat. We barely made it back to the ramp by idling, in fact it almost died on us.

Once we got it on the trailer, my buddy opened up the motor compartment and saw a piece of the engine that had broken off.

Any idea of what the issue could be?

Thank you for your help

I am sad to say this is my first post on this forum, but I really need some help and advice.

New block? New motor? And does anyone know if there is a VRO on this motor? Please excuse my ignorance, as I am brand new in the boat world....and yes, my friends have said BOAT= Break.Out.Another.Thousand.

While I was writing this post, my friend (who has my boat at his house) called me and said that I threw a rod in the lower left. I have read that this is a common problem.

 

[500whp335i]

Per Dr. Honda's request, this is my PM I sent him...

It seems from what I have been reading on the site is that you know your way around Islandia's. I really hope you can help me....

My wife and I recently (about a month ago) purchased a 2001 islandia. I know nothing about boats, and this was my first. I took a buddy of mine to knows a lot about boats, but nothing about jet drive boats. He did a lot of tests on the boat (including compression) prior to us signing the paperwork.

The first trip out was awesome. The boat ran great!

Today, we take it out. I throttle up and about 10 seconds after that the but starts to loose it's power as if I am throttling down (yet the throttle was all the way forward). I bring it back down to an idle. Everything seemed fine. I throttled up again and right before reaching max throttle, I felt something "pop" in the lever, and the motor began making a very weird noise and we lost all throttle on the boat. We barely made it back to the ramp by idling, in fact it almost died on us.

Once we got it on the trailer, my buddy opened up the motor compartment and saw a piece of the engine that had broken off.

Any idea of what the issue could be?

Thank you for your help

I am sad to say this is my first post on this forum, but I really need some help and advice.

New block? New motor? And does anyone know if there is a VRO on this motor? Please excuse my ignorance, as I am brand new in the boat world....and yes, my friends have said BOAT= Break.Out.Another.Thousand.

While I was writing this post, my friend (who has my boat at his house) called me and said that I threw a rod in the lower left. I have read that this is a common problem.

do you know how lucky your are you even made it back? lol you put a rod through your black and the motor stilll ran lol... yes you will need a new motor as your block is no longer good... pics of the block would be great too..

 

[Seadoobuddy]

yes you are lucky, in the sense that you ran it without more damage to the boat or your family.

Doc just went through this repair. Does he want to do it again?????? You are not that far from him.

 

[Dr Honda]

Welcome, and thanks for makeing a post.


WOW... that's UGLY !!. And, I'm very sorry for your loss.

As above... you are lucky to make it back to the dock on your own power. And... your buddy is right... you threw a rod. Since it is completely out of the block... the damage is going to be bad. Unfortunately, that engine isn't even going to be worth the "Core" price from most of the rebuild companies. They want to see a clean crank, and an undamaged block.


Now... you will have to excuse my ignorance... but what is VRO?


As far as your comment about the "Thrown rod being common".... it is... and it isn't. Since the 240 engine spins up to 6200 RPM, they do have a tendency of braking rods. The lower HP engines seem to just melt down without breaking parts. But, they only spin 5800 rpm.


One question... were you out in salt water? That rod looks very rusty if the damage just happened.


I did revive an engine with sever damage, so it is possible to bring it back to life. If you have a buddy who can help you with the removal, and install... I may be able to fix what you have. But... if you decide to just buy a rebuilt powerhead... I would be interested in buying your blown engine. (since it wont' be good as a core)


Whatever you decide to do... we are here to help.

 

[mhanks03]

Thanks everyone for your responses! And yes, we were lucky. This all happened right out side of the no wake zone. Another 20 minutes we would have been out in the middle of the James River.

Dr. Honda, yes, we were in salt water. The guy we purchased the boat from said he owned it a little over a month and ran it maybe 6 or 7 times. The owner before him lived somewhere in North Carolina and only ran it in fresh water. My buddy said that it appeared that the part that broke did not have any signs of oil whatsoever on it.

 

[mhanks03]

Also, from my understanding, a VRO is what mixes the gas and oil. But I could have misunderstood my friend when he was talking about it???

 

[Dr Honda]

OK... yes... VRO is "Variable Rate Oil". It's an older term for seadoo... and I guess I just don't see it enough to keep it in mind. Around here, we just call it the oil injection.


With that said... the Merc engines do have a nasty habit of eating the drive gear for the oil injection system. When that happens... no oil. And... since the 240 makes so much power... if you stick a piston... it has the "Umph" to just mash the rod on that bad cyl. And... as you can see... it has the power to keep running with one rod missing.

On the crank shaft... there is a plastic gear... and it drives a metal worm gear on the pump. That metal gear is supported by bronze bushings, and if you overheat the engine... the bushings lightly seize to the shaft... and that extra drag, chews up the plastic gear. At one time... Merc had a warning system that watched for shaft rotation, but they took it off if the Sportjet's, but left it on the outboard. (FYI... It's almost the same engine)


Now... the visual "Lack of oil" could be, because it was sitting in the salt water down in the bilge. It would have washed it clean... and started the rust. The real truth will be when you take off the intake manifold. Oil has a tendency of pooling there. (That's what all the extra hoses are for. To suck that oil back into the engine)


If your buddy helps you remove the engine... save all the broken aluminum parts you find in the bilge... and take some pictures. Like I said before... I may be able to weld up your block, if you decide to rebuild it.

Oh... also... have your buddy pull the heads off, and take a picture of the piston crowns.