Almost sank, water possibly in engine. HELP!

[Miitch]

I’m posting the thread I had nightmares about...

In short, water was up to the top of the engine compartment, almost at the battery terminals, engine may have SOME water in it. Not a drain plug issue, could be a pump seal issue??

in long: I pulled the pump off four days ago to fix a rope issue. Put it back together with no issues. The next day, my father and I went fishing for a few hours on the boat. No issues. Pulled it out of the water, repeated the same thing next morning; fishing on boat for 6 hours.Pulled it from the water and put it in our marina slip (boat sat in water over night, no issues). Next day, I got some friends, got On the boat, drove to our local beach about five minutes away, was pretty choppy, had a couple of hard slams, but got there alive. anchored up, sat in water for 3ish hours, started the boat to go tubing and it sounded like it had weeds in it. I turned it off, restarted it, it was cranking slow and I stopped trying. Then I went to open the ski locker to get a pair of goggles, and noticed water filling half of my ski locker to the point my wakeboard was floating. Open the engine hatch and there was about a foot of water. By the time I got my trailer and pulled it out of the water, only the engine cover was out of the water. The picture below is AFTER it drained for a few minutes. We walked it back to shore with the help of some amazing locals and took it out of the water. Boat was draining water out of the pump for ~8 minutes. And I mean DRAINING water.

this wasn’t a drain plug issue because they were in the night before and haven’t been touched, and the depth finder is completely fine... all I’m left to assume is there was something not sealed properly when putting the pump together that decided to cause an issue 4 days later? Any thought on this? Also, any word of advice on how to drain water from an engine

 

[YamaHOO]

@HELP

 

[Miitch]

thank you @YamaHOO . Wasn’t sure if that tag was only for on-the-water emergencies. Just to clarify, everyone that was on our boat is safe and off the water.

 

[YamaHOO]

https://jetboaters.net/threads/my-boat-flooded-help.28858/

Lots of similar threads out there. Start here and keep looking.

 

[14SX190]

OP

Check out #39.They are notorious for cause of sinking boat.
Misalignment of shaft would be a cause even through it went in ant out.

I would check there.

 

[tdonoughue]

First, check the oil. Is it milky? If so, drain and refill.

Then, pull all of the spark plugs. Then try to start the engine. Any water shoot out of the holes? If so, keep cranking until it is dry. Then reinstall the plugs.

Then, put the engines on hose and run them if they will start. While they are idling away, find out where the water was coming from. Was the water warm or cool? Warm means that one of the engine's cooling hoses is off or broken. Cool means it was lake water, coming in from a scupper or other hole. Once you find that, fix it (duh). Then get the boat on the water as soon as possible and run it like crazy. You want to run the engines as hard and as long as you can to drive any of the water off.

Recheck the oil. It may still be milky; if so, change it again. It can take several times. And keep running it.

It is important you start ASAP. Water in an engine will rust things--which will be very bad.

 

[Julian]

Focus on the engine first....find the leak later.

 

[Miitch]

@tdonoughue how to you hook up the engines to a hose? This is new to me... and also, if there is water in the engine, will starting it out of the water with no spark plugs run the risk of seizing the engine?

from further reading I’ve also read that a bad carbon seal can cause a bad leak... the last two weekends I was dealing with horrible weeds and a sucked up tow rope.. potential culprit?

 

[Miitch]

Focus on the engine first....find the leak later.

I’m glad I have somewhere to start.. the whole night I’ve been feeling way over my head.. I’ll start with the engines first thing tomorrow.

 

[djetok]

I’m glad I have somewhere to start.. the whole night I’ve been feeling way over my head.. I’ll start with the engines first thing tomorrow.

The longer you hold off the worse off it could be. Basically they want you to get any water out of your engine before corrosion happens. You have 2 of the best offering you suggestions. @tdonoughue and @Julian

 

[tdonoughue]

Sorry; going to fast and didn't explain a lot of the reasons very well....

I don't know the procedure for running the SeaDoo on the hose. Someone else will need to help with that. But most of these boats have a way to run them out of the water safely (and provide the cooling water you normally get from the lake/ocean from a garden hose). Procedure might be in the manual if you can find one online.

As to pulling the plugs and cranking the engine--you are not trying to start the engine. You are using the starter to turn the engine and pump any water that is in the engine out the spark plug holes. If you have a lanyard that will keep the engine from sparking but still let it crank, pull that before you crank. Then, when you crank, the pistons will push the water up out of the holes (if there is any). Once that is done and no more comes out, the remaining water in the engine is minimal and usually will not cause a hydrolock (very bad). So then you can put the plugs back in, reinstall the lanyard, put the boat on the hose (however that is done on your boat) and start it to get it up to operating temperature (which is the main goal here).

 

[tdonoughue]

Found this: Can You Run Your Watercraft Out Of Water? - Steven in Sales

(and thanks for the kind words, @djetok)

 

[tdonoughue]

http://www.operatorsguides.brp.com/Index.aspx?lang=E&s1=198fb83b-a20d-451d-b16b-a0615aadc5bc&_ga=2.228799324.1373286003.1596858953-1263313870.1596858953

Page 93 gives you the procedure for running your boat on the hose.

 

[Inthrustwetrust]

Agree, focus on the motor first, then the leak. Pull spark plugs and crank it and look for water like they said. Hopefully when it was bogging down and wouldn’t start it didn’t do any damage.

 

[Miitch]

@tdonoughue i quickly googled and answered my own hose question after my reply lol google is a miracle worker. I only have one lanyard, but I’ll see if it works. I’ve seen sole guys on YouTube do the same thing so i shouldn’t have any issues.

@djetok the goal is to get this thing fixed as soon as possible! Unfortunately, it is midnight where I live. Got the boat home around the time of this posting.

I can’t thank everyone enough for the quick help. I already feel better about the situation... I know it’s no beauty, but buying this boat was a dream I was finally able to accomplish this year, and to have it go to shit so quickly really sucked. But I’ve now seen and heard enough to raise my hopes. I’ll update after I pull the spark plugs and check oil.

 

[tdonoughue]

Do it early. As @djetok said, the quicker you can get the water out of the engine, the better your results. Good luck and report back.

 

[Inthrustwetrust]

@tdonoughue i quickly googled and answered my own hose question after my reply lol google is a miracle worker. I only have one lanyard, but I’ll see if it works. I’ve seen sole guys on YouTube do the same thing so i shouldn’t have any issues.

@djetok the goal is to get this thing fixed as soon as possible! Unfortunately, it is midnight where I live. Got the boat home around the time of this posting.

I can’t thank everyone enough for the quick help. I already feel better about the situation... I know it’s no beauty, but buying this boat was a dream I was finally able to accomplish this year, and to have it go to shit so quickly really sucked. But I’ve now seen and heard enough to raise my hopes. I’ll update after I pull the spark plugs and check oil.

Set that alarm nice and early!! You should be fine as long as it didn’t hydro lock. I have no idea what your engine bay looks like so idk how high the water has to get before it gets into the engine. I’m guessing if it was up to the top by the time you got it out, it deff got some water. Depending where your air filters are I would pull them off so you aren’t sucking in more water as you are trying to get it out.

As long as it’s not already hydro locked/bent valves, nothing about getting the motors started again is too complicated. Going to require a bunch of oil changes. Use caution pulling the plugs, last thing you want is one to break right now. Get new plugs, and don’t over tighten putting them back in once you think all the water is out.

 

[AZMark]

We sank a jet ski a couple weeks ago and it is shocking how long it takes to get all the water out, even when we were able to turn the motor sideways. Crank it longer than you think you need to, might need a battery charger.

 

[ChrisM]

Here is y our exact owners manual. Reference page 82, and 93.
Connecting the garden hose to the hose port keeps the exhaust cool during out of water operation, and does NOT provide cooling protection to the driveshaft seal. Your engine is "Closed Loop cooling" nearly identical to a vehicle. Short term operation of engine(s) out of water with the garden hose connected is ok, say 5 to 7 minutes and primarily at no throttle RPM. This duration is OK for the driveshaft carbon seal.
The correct way to operate out of water with a garden hose connected is START ENGINE, THEN TURN ON HOSE, do the reverse for shutting down the engine. This allows the engine exhaust pressure to prevent water intrusion into the cylinders via the exhaust valves. In other words running the garden hose first will allow the water pressure to find it's way into the engine if the engine is not running.
Since page 82 suggests not to crank a possibly submerged engine due to any possible water trapped in the intake manifold, you should remove the intake hose(s) from the engine first and inspect the manifold before attempting to crank the the engine once the spark plugs are removed.
2 pages from the 4-TEC oil change instructions included.

 

[Jeel]

Seadoos are notorious for sinking because of the carbon seal ..i know because i had a seadoo pwc sink because of the carbon seal...the exact reason i try talking everyone i know from buying a seadoo boat, chaparral or scarab jet boat that use the seadoo driveline