Extreme High Pitched Noise...

[Eclipse1701d]

So, I was doing some maintenance on my boat. Had the splitter hooked up so I could flush both engines at the same time. I went to briefly bring the engines up to 5000RPM and an incredibly loud noise occurred. The same noise you get when you have a hose running, but not full blast, and you are in your home and hear high pitch whining coming from your pipes, except about 10 times louder. I immediately turned off the engines, jumped off the boat and turned the water off. Of course, I am losing it, because I know the water shouldn't be on with the engines off...

I opened the engine compartment, and see absolutely nothing out of place. Look in the oil filler cap and see what looks like normal oil. Check the dipsticks three times, levels are normal and oil looks normal.

I restart the engines, without water, they sound fine. Slightly rev them, no noise. I proceed to look into the jet packs, and I see something on the Port Side. Almost like gel. I take a long piece of metal, to touch the object, and I pull out a ziplock sandwich baggy. Any advice before I proceed and put her in the water? Could this baggy going through the system have made that noise?

 

[go_panthers]

I could see that making the noise if it was spinning with the impeller.

 

[xintersecty]

Ever taking a piece of grass and vibrate between your thumbs? I used to do that with plastic strips. I am not surprised it making a sound like that.

 

[LouDoo]

Ya know sometimes I get a high pitched whine, usually followed by "slow down cowboy", seems to be coming from somewhere around the left side passenger seat. hmmmm......

Lou

 

[Eclipse1701d]

Spoke to my mechanic, he says that it could've came from the Carbon Seal? I guess the next step is to put on my PFD, clip on my VHF and hope for the best...

 

[Coastiejoe]

I would think shaft bearings LONG before Carbon Seal.


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[Eclipse1701d]

Is there something I can visually look for BEFORE I put it in the water and test it? I do have BoatUS, but I would prefer to not have to take the tow of shame.

 

[go_panthers]

If it's your carbon seal, you would have some water coming into the hull either while sitting in the water with the engines off (worst case) or while underway (water will spray all over the place as the carbon seal spins and leaks).

You have twin engines, correct? So, worst case, you crawl back on one engine.

 

[Eclipse1701d]

Yes. I have twin engines... I am going to drop her in tomorrow after work. My son is going to come with me to monitor the engines. I will let everyone know the outcome. Thank you for the replies. Wish me luck! I hope it was just the ziplock bag going through the system that made the noise and not the shaft bearings!

 

[Coastiejoe]

Is there something I can visually look for BEFORE I put it in the water and test it? I do have BoatUS, but I would prefer to not have to take the tow of shame.

Sometimes the shaft can be moved up and down, but often there is no great clue until they are pretty well done.

The squeal is normally the clue, before seizing.

 

[Eclipse1701d]

Could you please tell me where along the shaft the bearings are located? I had the jet pack bearings repacked and greased when I purchased the boat, about 8 weeks ago. Are they the same? Also, if it is the shaft bearings and I continue to use it, what would be the damage if it seized? That does NOT sound good...

 

[Albysure]

This has happened to me and it sounds terrible like the engine is coming apart...from talking with others that this has happened to it seems to be the supper charger slipping or spinning freely when revving it to high of rpm while no load on the impeller...

 

[Coastiejoe]

The SC is fairly easy to get to and diagnose. Not a bad place to start. Being an 07, unless the SC has been rebuilt it has Ceramic Washers. Do you know if it has been rebuilt? And do you know about the issues with the Ceramic Washers?


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[Eclipse1701d]

I don't have super chargers, just twin 155's. Best case scenario is that the zip lock bag got sucked through the system while I had it hooked up to the hose and out of the water and caused something in the system to make that noise. Just got back from work, but it is raining with 20MPH winds and moderate to heavy chop. Don't think it's a good day to take her out with the potential of springing a leak... castlejoe mentioned the shaft bearings. I think he could be on to something. I just don't know where they are located. If someone could enlighten me, I would appreciate it!

When I purchased the boat, I took it straight to my mechanic and had the plugs, oil, filters changed, the jet pack bearings greased and the wear rings replaced. I also removed the j-pipes, cleared them with a compressor and made sure there were no obstructions in the tubes attached to the j-pipes. I also changed the port temp sensor and the regulator because of codes in the computer. Is there anything else I should've done on the preventative side? Also had compression tested on both engines, all good...

 

[Coastiejoe]

I got sucked in when I saw the SCr comment. Sorry.


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[Eclipse1701d]

Okay, everyone. My son and I strapped on our PFD's and dropped her in the water today. He kept an eye on the bilge, no water. Started her up, no water. Idled up the canal, no strange noises, no water. Got to the channel, light chop, brought her up to 10MPH then 15MPH. Everything good. Drove up to the end of the channel, bringing it up to 30MPH, 2.7 miles. Stopped checked everything. No water, no noise. Spun her around and varied RPM's from 2000 to 7000. All good. Brought her up to 45MPH. Experienced some variance in RPM between both engines from 200 to 500RPM when throttling over 6000RPM. I have attributed this to sea grass, in the past. Searches on the Internet have verified a steady 200RPM difference in other 2006-2009 Utopia's. If I slow it down a bit and bring it back up, it re-syncs. This thread does make me wonder if my port shaft may be wearing since it is usually the port side with lower RPM's. It is really hard to say since my area has floating sea grass and until you jump out, you don't know how much builds up. Hopefully, it was the zip lock bag getting sucked through the system that caused the initial problem. After all, it should not have been there in the first place...

I could get crazy and start ripping the boat apart, looking for problems. But, since I just bought the boat 8 weeks ago, I really don't have the funds for that. It is 8 years old and now has 222 hours on it. I don't beat the cr*p out of it. I usually cruise at 5500-6000 RPM. I go from point A to point B, and am happy to spend the day at an island with my wife, son, food, drink and our 10' canopy. I clean and flush it after every use and plan to have the oil, filters, plugs, wear rings and bearings greased every 50 hours. Just like when we had the ski's. Just hoping for the best for the rest of the season!