As Shane stated, it doesn't appear to be lubrication related. The small metal piece that we initially found on top of the piston, was actually part of the piston skirt. It appears as though water got in, and essentially shortened the rod, as you can see in the last picture. Its amazing that the rod didn't just break... either way, the shortening of the stroke in that cylinder caused the skirt to crash into the case and crankshaft assembly. All those pieces shattered down into the lower crankshaft area, and basically the motion of the crank caused the lower case to crack. Quick a catastrophic end to the bottom end of the engine. The good news.... the cylinders are still good, no scratches that could even catch a finger nail.
What is strange, the XP sucked water in at low speed a few weeks ago, we got it back to shore, pumped all of the water out, and got it running fine, no issues. A week later Shane took it out and it ran fine again. A week later, he took it out, and it wouldn't ever get up to full speed, really just felt like the motor wasn't getting fuel. We brought it back to shore, and surmised that it must be a fuel issue related to the grey hoses. Took it home, cleaned the carbs, swapped out the grey hoses, and Shane took it out the following weekend. It ran awesome for about an hour and a half worth of riding, and at the end is when the motor just stopped. It restarted once, but barely ran, so he shut it down and was towed to shore.... that was Labor Day weekend.
Any insight you might have would be great... has anyone seen a similar engine failure? Have you seen water cause this? Thanks for everyones help.
What is strange, the XP sucked water in at low speed a few weeks ago, we got it back to shore, pumped all of the water out, and got it running fine, no issues. A week later Shane took it out and it ran fine again. A week later, he took it out, and it wouldn't ever get up to full speed, really just felt like the motor wasn't getting fuel. We brought it back to shore, and surmised that it must be a fuel issue related to the grey hoses. Took it home, cleaned the carbs, swapped out the grey hoses, and Shane took it out the following weekend. It ran awesome for about an hour and a half worth of riding, and at the end is when the motor just stopped. It restarted once, but barely ran, so he shut it down and was towed to shore.... that was Labor Day weekend.
Any insight you might have would be great... has anyone seen a similar engine failure? Have you seen water cause this? Thanks for everyones help.