Horrendous grinding noise

[Deuces WIld]

[USERGROUP=9]@HELP[/USERGROUP]

First start of the season. 2011 242 LS. Changed the oil and filter, greased the bearings. Starboard engine started fine. Port engine made a loud grinding noise and did not start. I stopped before I grinded it very long. I have a video of the noise. Also, a found a 2 1/2 in piece of rubber sealant in the port jet nozzle.

I've never had a single problem with this boat in six seasons, I don't even have a Yamaha mechanic on my Christmas card list like I did with former boats.

Please advise?

 

[Bruce]

I believe the sealant is excess out of the exhaust. These things are often discovered causing panic.

The grinding noise is likely the impeller against its housing. Have a look to make sure nothing is being ground up in there and try it again.

 

[Deuces WIld]

Nothing obvious in the impeller, no dead animals or rocks. Kept grinding, noise went away and engine eventually started. Engine now cranks over and starts with no noise. Stand down to DEFCOM 5? Crisis over?

 

[Bruce]

You might want to use a feeler gauge to check the distance between that impeller and the housing. There is supposed to be a gap. Sounds like yours is grinding.

 

[itsdgm]

Hopefully everything's ok. The silicone is normal. It's simply excess silicone that squeezed out at the factory when they installed the through hull exhaust. As for the sound, hard to tell. Can you post the video?

 

[Deuces WIld]

I tried posting the video directly, it would not allow me. Let me get it on Dropbox later this evening and I will post a link.

Whatever the noise was, it went away after about 30 seconds of turning over.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Well your pump liner is swelling from dissimilar metal corrosion under it, this usually occurs when the boat is not being used for an extended time. Many posts about how to replace the pump section exist on here if you do a search.
I even did one in the jet ski section on how to fix the liner by drilling behind the high spot adding some acid and leveling the liner back out, I personally replace the pump section with a replaceable plastic liner and then I never need to worry about this happening again. just be careful not to wear down your impellor edges . https://jetboaters.net/threads/low-budget-fix-for-yamaha-pump-liner-swelling-issue.12121/

 

[Julian]

Engine now cranks over and starts with no noise.

If it turns over and makes no more noise my guess is it just had some bad fuel or no fuel (was it put to bed full) and took some time to prime....the fact that the noise stopped suggests that there might have been something in the pump....even a tiny little twig can cause issues. I'd run her on the water and see how she does. If she runs fine, chalk it up to something was in the pump. If it bogs down in the water, @Cobra Jet Steering LLC may be right and your lining may have swollen...(do you boat in salt water?)

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

It is usually easy to see if your liner is swelling look at the stainless liner by the impeller and if there are dark spots or dark lines on the liner it was rubbing . Also you will hear metallic pump noises when it is running on the trailer out of the water.

 

[Julian]

It is usually easy to see if your liner is swelling look at the stainless liner by the impeller and if there are dark spots or dark lines on the liner it was rubbing . Also you will hear metallic pump noises when it is running on the trailer out of the water.

You just need to be able to tell the difference between the normal metalic noises and the not normal ones , as Yamahas always sounds clangy running out of the water (at least the 3 I've owned!)

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

JULIAN If you want that noise to go away get nylon pump liners, it is the noise of the impeller making contact with the pump liner that makes the ringing noises but a swollen liner will actually lock up the engine and make it not want to turn over or drag when starting, and I believe that was what he was experiencing as the engine turns the impellor it wears down the contact spots , and the engine finally starts then it makes some noise for a bit while the impellor wears it down more, if it sits for an extended period it will lock up again. Mine went bad in 2 months when it was at the dealer getting a new engine from the timing chain failure however the other one started dragging soon after and I replaced that one also, now I do not hear the metallic sound common with the Yamaha pumps. The kits are available at S B T in Clearwater fl

 

[Tom V]

The plastic liner pump housing will work fine in the ski's but they spin under heavier loads in the boats, DONT USE THEM. If you do you will see the boat will cavitate badly, the best way to fix the issue is to replace the pump housing with the SOLAS full stainless pump housing, this is the best way to address the salt water swelling issue.
The O.E housing is made of aluminum with a thin stainless sleeve pressed into it, the salt water works its way in-between the two materials and the aluminum pits causing high spots and raises the thin stainless sleeve up causing high spots. The impeller gets caught on the high spots and drags, eventually it will cause the impeller to lock in the housing and your done. The full stainless SOLAS housing can never do this it is solid machined stainless.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I silicon my liners in because I thought they were pretty loose but I run them in skies so you would know how they work in the boats way better than I would .

 

[Tom V]

Jeff they work fine in the ski but even gluing them in on the boats, they still spin. I have them in my stand ups and they work well but years back I had customers that replaced theirs with the sbt and other brand plastic liner housings and everyone of them had to go back to the O.E housings to eliminate bad cavitation issues. Now that the Solas ones are available it makes the housing impervious to salt damage, its the last housing you will ever have to replace.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Well I am glad you mentioned that since you do that all the time you would certainly know. I put them in my supercharged ski also and I must say I wondered if they would cavitate the way I drive them but I did not have any issues so I never thought it would be an issue in a boat so I am glad you brought it up.

 

[Gym]

@Cobra Jet Steering LLC is correct. I had the exact symptoms last summer. I replaced both sides with oem stainless steel liner & housings.

 

[Deuces WIld]

Here is the link to a video with the noise...

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cuucc1r2bs0jg50/AADGk54PuoPPcfeeGulZKuPHa?dl=0

@Julian - Yes, I boat in salt and brackish water in the Chesapeake Bay. No, it was not put to bed with a full tank, so it did take a while to fire over. I did put STA-BIL and ethanol treatment in at the end of the season. Both engines start right up and run fine now that they got a prime.

@Tom V - Did you replace your impellers too while you had the housing off?

 

[Murf'n'surf]

I wouldn't think that the liner spinning would cause cavitation. Maybe these liners have too large of a gap between liner and impeller?

 

[Tom V]

It does, Even with tight tolerances between the plastic liner and housing it still spins the liner under hard loading. If the liner was pinned in place then it would most like solve the issue.

 

[Tom V]

Here is the link to a video with the noise...

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cuucc1r2bs0jg50/AADGk54PuoPPcfeeGulZKuPHa?dl=0

@Julian - Yes, I boat in salt and brackish water in the Chesapeake Bay. No, it was not put to bed with a full tank, so it did take a while to fire over. I did put STA-BIL and ethanol treatment in at the end of the season. Both engines start right up and run fine now that they got a prime.

@Tom V - Did you replace your impellers too while you had the housing off?

I have not had issues with my 192 pump yet but when it starts grinding it will get the SOLAS housing. I'm a mobil service tech for the largest Yamaha dealer in the world, I have replaced more housings in jet boats and watercraft then i can recall over the years, In most cases the impellers are not damaged enough to have had to be replaced.