Only could go 5MPH on the way back...grass, algae, and other things....

[leftcoasterfl]

Hi all. We were having a great day, then we hit an area with a lot of grass and algae on the way back / (northbound). I am a total noob when it comes to this boat as it is only the second time I have taken it out since Ive owned it. The first time we dumped in Charlotte Harbor which is a large salt bay and with little grass or algae, we ran it for about 10 miles, and had no water in the bilge or any performance issues at all. I bought the boat from a guy who meticulously maintained it and it really is in fantastic shape.

Today, we dumped in in a town called Matlacha. I probably should havent started there now that I know how much grass, hydrilla and algae there is in the pass. It isnt Lake Seminole bad lol. There isnt a mat of grass or algae on top of the water. It would be comparatively like Raisin Bran in a bowl. The bran is the water and the raisins are the grass and algae clumps. The clumps are about golfball to softball sized ones and the hydrilla ranges in size from 6in to 1.5 foot long. On the way out (southbound), which was a run about 5 miles, the boat performed well. One time I thought I was hitting a current, because I lost about 10MPH of speed at the same RPM, but after a minute or so it went right back to cruising speed.

We ended up near Sanibel Island and had lunch. The trip was great so far. So with only a few hours of sun, we headed back (northbound) - the same way we went to there. We were cruising about 30 mph behind another boat that was about 200 feet ahead of us and then the jet starting to cavitate. We lost a bunch of speed. My first thought was we sucked up something. I pulled the clean out and we sure did suck something up. It was a lot of hydrilla. I pulled out enough to fill a large mixing bowl, and probably even more than that. I started the boat back up and we were off again for about a mile. Then the same thing - cavitation. The motor would only thrust below 4K rpm, revving above that did nothing and there was a lot of foam coming out the rear. We check it again and there wasnt a lot of hydrilla in there. Only about a handful. We started the boat again and the same operation happened. Only 5mph at 3000 rpm. Anything more RPMs didn't do anything but make engine noise with no thrust. I drove at 3k rpm for a mile or so and then got to a deeper area of about 10 ft. (the pass channel is 4-6 feet in most places.) I had my daughter put on the snorkeling gear and she went under there and found just a little bit of algae. Only about 1 cups worth. We started the engine again and it was doing the same thing as before. I decided to do reverse/forward/reverse/forward and it 'caught'...we got back to 25-30MPH and was running great. A mile later the same thing happened. We were only about a mile from the ramp, so we just limped home at 5mph/3k rpm.

We got the boat on the trailer and we pulled it out. I looked at the inlet grate and I pulled out about maybe 4 cups of algae. It wasnt a whole bunch, but about the same size as a tiny hand broom (or about the same amount as 3-4 Cabbage Patch Doll's hair). I forgot to put the bilge pump on at this point, so I turned it on and about 2 gallons of water came out of the bilge. Also, there was water in the engine compartment. I would estimate about 1-2 inches deep. It seems like there was lot of splashing going on in there as there was drops on top of the valve cover. I also noticed when were we crawling at 5mph, that there was every once an awhile a puff of steam coming out of the rear jet nozzle area.

So, does anyone one have any advice or does it sound familiar to you? I have had a couple of wave runners before, a couple of OB boats, and a Speedster, and have had grass in the jet before, but was always able to get it out. Is a ball of algae the size of a baseball if you balled it up, cause enough of a restriction to cause this performance behavior? And lastly, below I just noticed this bearing. It looks like the drive shaft bearing. There was a little grease coming out of it. I have a pic below, but would this have anything to do with the slowness issue or it this a different issue or nothing at all?

Yes - I am a total noob with this boat - LOL. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Pic of great coming out of the bearing.

 

[Liveto99]

You can normally open the clean out ports which are under the rear hatch and pull out the grass and algae from there or if you drop in the water behind the boat with the engine off and stick your feet under to the inlet great you can pull out the sea grass

 

[leftcoasterfl]

I have the single engine so one of those pics looks like my first time.
The other times, well, Im still skeptical? I would not think a small amount of algae would cause enough of a intake issue to disable the boat to 5mph.

Then there is a bearing - Im not sure if there is supposed to be a seal on there?
Thanks for the pic though...that is exactly what I went through too.

 

[MidnightRider]

You would be absolutely amazed how little it takes to create cavitation inside the pumps. I've had a piece of red Solo cup the size of a silver dollar cause the pump to feel and sound like I sucked up a dirty diaper or something. It takes very little to cause cavitation, even some sealant on the pump seams coming loose and out of place can cause it. Most of the time stuff like "algae" will just blow through, so even though it seems unlikely with just algae, still in my opinion a "ball of algae" could very easily caused what you explain in the right circumstances.

As far as the grease, those intermediate bearings are sealed bearings, so the grease isn't for the bearing itself, it is actually only to keep the seals fresh. If the seals fail you will have water coming in the boat. Keep an eye on it, I have seen a little leaked grease exactly like your pic shows on brand new boats and once it was wiped it away, they never saw it again and never had any issues going on years of use. So I'd wipe it off and then keep an eye out for water egress but don't panic it could very well be nothing.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Question. Were the rpm’s limited on your boat ? Or did you only select 3000 rpm’s?

If you got enough crap in the pump it could have overheated the engine and the ECU put the engine in limp mode. Are there any alarms locked in or did you have any alarms when this happened. I had a clogged jet pump once and it didn’t take but a couple of minutes for the engine to overheat. Shortly after the alarm came in the engine went into limp mode.

You may want to pull the intake screen for the cooling water and make sure there isn’t a bunch of crap in there. It’s a little square looking box on jet pump with 4 8mm hex head bolts on it. Inside there is a white block with a bunch of holes in it. You can actually see it i easily looking in from the rear of the jet pump.

 

[Ericd]

On the way back, after doing the cleanout, it might be that the plugs were not seated properly. I forgot to put them in once (newbe mistake) and it ran fine in no-wake mode, but no thrust when reved up. With the plugs not properly seated you can/will get water in engine compartment and bilge.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

On the way back, after doing the cleanout, it might be that the plugs were not seated properly. I forgot to put them in once (newbe mistake) and it ran fine in no-wake mode, but no thrust when reved up. With the plugs not properly seated you can/will get water in engine compartment and bilge.

Good point! Hadn’t thought of that!

I learned that one time when I forgot to seat the before I launched and had very little thrust. The engines sounded like they were cavitating.

 

[leftcoasterfl]

You would be absolutely amazed how little it takes to create cavitation inside the pumps. I've had a piece of red Solo cup the size of a silver dollar cause the pump to feel and sound like I sucked up a dirty diaper or something. It takes very little to cause cavitation, even some sealant on the pump seams coming loose and out of place can cause it. Most of the time stuff like "algae" will just blow through, so even though it seems unlikely with just algae, still in my opinion a "ball of algae" could very easily caused what you explain in the right circumstances.

As far as the grease, those intermediate bearings are sealed bearings, so the grease isn't for the bearing itself, it is actually only to keep the seals fresh. If the seals fail you will have water coming in the boat. Keep an eye on it, I have seen a little leaked grease exactly like your pic shows on brand new boats and once it was wiped it away, they never saw it again and never had any issues going on years of use. So I'd wipe it off and then keep an eye out for water egress but don't panic it could very well be nothing.

Hi!
That is good to hear. Thanks for the reply - it makes me feel better.
The algae Im talking about is mat algae. It is thick, wirily and is as thick as 16g stranded wire.

Question. Were the rpm’s limited on your boat ? Or did you only select 3000 rpm’s?

If you got enough crap in the pump it could have overheated the engine and the ECU put the engine in limp mode. Are there any alarms locked in or did you have any alarms when this happened. I had a clogged jet pump once and it didn’t take but a couple of minutes for the engine to overheat. Shortly after the alarm came in the engine went into limp mode.

You may want to pull the intake screen for the cooling water and make sure there isn’t a bunch of crap in there. It’s a little square looking box on jet pump with 4 8mm hex head bolts on it. Inside there is a white block with a bunch of holes in it. You can actually see it i easily looking in from the rear of the jet pump.

Thank you for the suggestion. I will check that out.
I didnt have any alarms and the motor revved freely to 7k+the whole time. It hit the rev limiter once since it revved up real fast when it was cavitating. The best mph/rev ratio was 3-4k, and revving it faster made it sound like it was water starved (it probably was after getting everyone's replies - I hope )

On the way back, after doing the cleanout, it might be that the plugs were not seated properly. I forgot to put them in once (newbe mistake) and it ran fine in no-wake mode, but no thrust when reved up. With the plugs not properly seated you can/will get water in engine compartment and bilge.

that is a possibility one time since I took that plug out 7-8 times on the way back. I checked it frequently on the way home.

Good point! Hadn’t thought of that!

I learned that one time when I forgot to seat the before I launched and had very little thrust. The engines sounded like they were cavitating.

Good to know, but I know it was sealed the times I looked at it...my wife, well, not sure

I checked over the boat today, and put a little more grease in the bearing. After one pump, it started to leak out a little...heh....
I doubled cheeked the drive and it is clean, Im going to take a sunset cruise this sometime this week and see what happens. I will reply back then.

Any more replies are appreciated and to everyone - thank you for the info and concern.

 

[Crob83]

Hi!
That is good to hear. Thanks for the reply - it makes me feel better.
The algae Im talking about is mat algae. It is thick, wirily and is as thick as 16g stranded wire.
View attachment 173850


Thank you for the suggestion. I will check that out.
I didnt have any alarms and the motor revved freely to 7k+the whole time. It hit the rev limiter once since it revved up real fast when it was cavitating. The best mph/rev ratio was 3-4k, and revving it faster made it sound like it was water starved (it probably was after getting everyone's replies - I hope )




that is a possibility one time since I took that plug out 7-8 times on the way back. I checked it frequently on the way home.



Good to know, but I know it was sealed the times I looked at it...my wife, well, not sure

I checked over the boat today, and put a little more grease in the bearing. After one pump, it started to leak out a little...heh....
I doubled cheeked the drive and it is clean, Im going to take a sunset cruise this sometime this week and see what happens. I will reply back then.

Any more replies are appreciated and to everyone - thank you for the info and concern.

Be very very careful adding more grease to the bearing in a brand new boat. Greasing the intermediate bearing and how much and when is a pretty heated topic. I just add one pump per year when I change my oil/plugs

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

your intermediate bearing needs replacing, it is separating the rubber from the housing soon it will be leaking water in the hull. I never grease those from day 1 I add gear lube to the housing and leave them alone https://jetboaters.net/threads/grea...mmended-interval-by-yamaha.25871/#post-521399 https://jetboaters.net/search/27092...g&c[users]=Cobra+Jet+Steering+LLC&o=relevance also learn the reverse move to get weeds out of the pump without needing to remove the clean out plugs

 

[MidnightRider]

I checked over the boat today, and put a little more grease in the bearing. After one pump, it started to leak out a little...heh....

Unfortunately given this, I’m going to have to revise my previous post and agree with CobraJet. You have to be so careful about greasing these bearing assemblies. If you have pumped grease in and it is coming out of the seal then most certainly the seal is now blown. How much time you have before water starts leaking into you boat is anyones guess but you either need to fix it now or risk water egress during a future outing. At the very least keep a close eye on it.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

F Y I the seal is not leaking the rubber between the seal and the housing is separating from pumping grease in. It will need to be replaced , the picture I posted was showing how the entire rubber section that holds the bearings to the housing can and in this one it did completely separate, this is caused by the hole drilled through the rubber between the housing where the grease fitting is mounted all the way to the bearings, the rubber starts to separate from hydraulic forces caused by the grease gun and the lack of any VENT to relieve the pressure When I remove the fitting and inject gear lube with a plastic syringe I do not create any pressure inside the housing because it vents using the same hole . You can also pump the grease in the syringe and then use it to install grease if you don't want to use gear lube and it won't build up pressure doing that either but I like the gear lube in the intermediate bearing and the jet pump it lubes things a lot better . this picture shows the holes I placed tooth picks in them so you can see them the rubber was originally fused to the housing .

 

[MidnightRider]

F Y I the seal is not leaking the rubber between the seal and the housing is separating from pumping grease in. It will need to be replaced , the picture I posted was showing how the entire rubber section that holds the bearings to the housing can and in this one it did completely separate, this is caused by the hole drilled through the rubber between the housing where the grease fitting is mounted all the way to the bearings, the rubber starts to separate from hydraulic forces caused by the grease gun and the lack of any VENT to relieve the pressure When I remove the fitting and inject gear lube with a plastic syringe I do not create any pressure inside the housing because it vents using the same hole . You can also pump the grease in the syringe and then use it to install grease if you don't want to use gear lube and it won't build up pressure doing that either but I like the gear lube in the intermediate bearing and the jet pump it lubes things a lot better . this picture shows the holes I placed tooth picks in them so you can see them the rubber was originally fused to the housing .

Huh - thanks for that detailed explanation, I always thought it was the seal that blows when you pump too much grease in - this makes so much more sense... and also, what a terrible design.

 

[leftcoasterfl]

F Y I the seal is not leaking the rubber between the seal and the housing is separating from pumping grease in. It will need to be replaced , the picture I posted was showing how the entire rubber section that holds the bearings to the housing can and in this one it did completely separate, this is caused by the hole drilled through the rubber between the housing where the grease fitting is mounted all the way to the bearings, the rubber starts to separate from hydraulic forces caused by the grease gun and the lack of any VENT to relieve the pressure When I remove the fitting and inject gear lube with a plastic syringe I do not create any pressure inside the housing because it vents using the same hole . You can also pump the grease in the syringe and then use it to install grease if you don't want to use gear lube and it won't build up pressure doing that either but I like the gear lube in the intermediate bearing and the jet pump it lubes things a lot better . this picture shows the holes I placed tooth picks in them so you can see them the rubber was originally fused to the housing .

How do you fix it?
How does the bearing housing come out and what rubber seal is needed? Is it part of the housing?

 

[Crob83]

How do you fix it?
How does the bearing housing come out and what rubber seal is needed? Is it part of the housing?

You wipe any evidence away of u pumping new grease in and take that mofo back to dealer

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

use search button for changing intermediate bearing https://jetboaters.net/search/464984/?q=changing+the+intermediate+bearings&o=relevance

 

[leftcoasterfl]

You wipe any evidence away of u pumping new grease in and take that mofo back to dealer

it is a 2016

 

[leftcoasterfl]

use search button for changing intermediate bearing https://jetboaters.net/search/464984/?q=changing+the+intermediate+bearings&o=relevance

Cant seem to find a how to for the FSH...

So the housing has the rubber sleeve that is glued on to the inside. Then the seals ride inside that. (Babbits had a nice exploded view).
I see in your pic the rubber is coming out of the housing. So I guess the glue goes bad and allowed you to take the rubber lining out? So is the real culprit is the rubber sleeve that is only supplied with a new housing?
Also the rear shows two seals and the front has one. What does the outer second seal do on the rear? Is that the one that would keep water out? Or are all the seals inside the housing?

Any other links or ideas? Thanks for the help

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

buy the unit as 1piece www.sbtontheweb.com

 

[leftcoasterfl]

Is this the one?

1.8L Driveline Repair Kit: ShopSBT.com

This is the only one that looks right, but under applications it doesnt say 190fsh -- just Waverunners