Had to tow my dead 2008 GTI 130 SE

[vtatt]

I know, my fault.

Battery died on the lake, and after we bailed off the ski, it wouldn’t restart. So I towed it home with my GTX.

I WAS smart enough to read the manual first, and saw about towing at low speed if I didn’t have a water line pinched. So I kept it at like 4-5 mph. Do you think I’m good? Or is there a good way to check for water ingestion? The shop manual has me pulling all sorts of stuff off the engine, but again— at <5 mph should I be ok?

Thanks all.

 

[skiasylum]

Yep if you followed the operators manual for towing you should be good, if you want to pull the muffler and check for water ingestion you could do that.

 

[vtatt]

Well, “followed the operators manual” to the point that it said “if you CAN’T pinch off the hose, so this…”

So you think muffler would be one of the first points of collection? I actually (not thinking), ran the flushing process the next day when I pulled the boat out, so the motor has been run for about two minutes already.

 

[vtatt]

*do this

 

[skiasylum]

CAUTION: Failure to do this may result in damage to the engine. If you must tow a stranded watercraft in water and do not have a hose pincher, be sure to stay well below the maximum towing speed of 24 km/h (15 MPH).

You stayed well below 15mph, so you should be good, yes if you wanted to check for ingested water the muffler would be a good start.

 

[BGS]

I had always thought that the problem was water backing up thru exhaust valve, since no pressure when not running, and filling up cylinders. Then since liquids do not compress, bad news. If so I would expect issues to be sudden.

 

[skiasylum]

Not thru the exhaust valves thru the intake valves after you try to start a water flooded engine, water is forced into the intake and exhaust systems by water pressure of towing above the recommended speed without the hoses pinched. Same thing as flushing with a hose without the engine running.

 

[POPPS]

Just pull the plugs,,(remove coil packs)and turn it over,,,see if water comes shooting out

 

[Jon Jones]

Well, “followed the operators manual” to the point that it said “if you CAN’T pinch off the hose, so this…”

So you think muffler would be one of the first points of collection? I actually (not thinking), ran the flushing process the next day when I pulled the boat out, so the motor has been run for about two minutes already.

If you already ran the motor and there is no water in oil you are good to go.