Flooded Engine?

[Jim Leek]

Recently, had the misfortune of getting to close to the wake board rope, and it got caught in the impeller and wrapped around the impeller shaft fairly tightly. This caused the engines to shut down. Being unable to dislodge the rope while in the water, a good samaritan towed us to the marina, approximately a mile down river. I ran the situation by a jet boat mechanic, and he became concerned I may have flooded the engines with waterm since I didn't close off the exhaust ports. Can water get into the engines via the exhaust ports?. I thought they would have a flapper valve inside, not allowing water to enter. I checked the oil and saw no water beading in the dip stick. Do I need to do more? Thanks

 

[JPX]

He means that you can get water to backflow through the exhaust outlet into the engine. You may not necessarily see this in the crankcase with the oil dipstick. But you CAN see it by taking out the spark plugs and looking for water or moisture.

Get the rope off the impeller.

If no moisture....fire it up.

 

[seadoosnipe]

Speed....

You have to be towed in excess of 15 mph for the pressure to build in the nozzle, great enough to push water into the exhaust and over the top of the exhausts highest point before water can enter the engine.

Normally, towing in excess of 10 mph is scary and very un-stable. So chances are, you were not going fast enough for this to happen. But, it is possible.

 

[Jim Leek]

Thanks for the input. I already removed the sparkplugs, and saw no moisture on the plugs or anywhere around the hole. I will go out Thursday and fire it up and go from there. I appreciate your immediate response. Jim