Thoughts about engine heat

[Evil Sports]

It occurred to me this weekend our motors can take some heat abuse. I know they get water cooling when they run but Im tubing this weekend and working them pretty hard then what do we do, just turn um off and stop the cooling water, keeping them in a hot compartment with little air flow. I never really thought about using the blower during the day but this weekend I did use it.
Ok thats it.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

I agree... I often use my fan while in no wake zones as I feel they get enough air while at speed.

 

[Evil Sports]

I dont know how they get much more air at speed in that closed compartment. I was sitting on the back deck after tubbing and could feel the heat coming out from under the seat backs, thats when I decided to start using the blower.

 

[Noko]

I haven't done that with the blower. I do let them run for about 5 minutes at idle when I start them up. It may not make a difference but I feel it can't hurt to let them warm up before it go WOT.

 

[smashedheadcat]

I haven't done that with the blower. I do let them run for about 5 minutes at idle when I start them up. It may not make a difference but I feel it can't hurt to let them warm up before it go WOT.

That absolutely makes a difference. You want to bring your oil to as close to normal operating temperature as possible before going WOT.

 

[Speedling]

I run my blower 100% of the time the engines are running.
I also wonder if when some of us add the seal to the hatch we are eliminating some of the intended air circulation.

 

[scot71]

I'll totally vouch for these engines tolerating the heat. Especially after my incident with letting them run for a few minutes out of the water, when I was taking the boat out of the water earlier this summer.

 

[bronze_10]

I'll totally vouch for these engines tolerating the heat. Especially after my incident with letting them run for a few minutes out of the water, when I was taking the boat out of the water earlier this summer.

Were there any lasting effects from that?

 

[PEARCE]

I too run my blowers %100 of the time. At the end of the day of boating I open the hood when I can and let the engines breathe and cool some.

 

[scot71]

Were there any lasting effects from that?

There hasn't been any ill effects that I can tell. Everything has been running fine.

 

[Glassman]

I find that the engine compartment is a great place to keep the breakfast burritos I pick-up on the way to the dock in the morning. We don't like to eat before skiing or wakeboarding, so they stay nice and warm in there until we are finished with water play. These Yamahas are so versatile!

 

[scot71]

Part of what I think helps cool them down at the end of the day, is just idling back to the ramp through no wake area. I do see your point though about just shutting them down after running hard, like doing watersports.

 

[jetboater4life]

Add perfect pass to your throttles and oh my things get extra crispy in the engine compartment. There is some serious heat dissipation going on.

 

[KXCam22]

I am tempted to put in an electric water pump for cooling. Too many times I end up going from power while surfing to engines stopped while the surfer comes aboard. It would be nice to put an aux cooling pump to continue the water circulation. Cam.

 

[Matt Phillips]

I have about a mile of no wake zone from my slip to open water, so generally speaking I start the engines, back her out of the slip and then on to the end of the pier at an idle. The in No Wake Mode until out to the channel. The opposite is true when coming back into the dock.

When out wake boarding I never thought much about the heat in the engine compartment when turning off the engines. Typically speaking though they do get 1-3 minutes of idling as I'm coming back around to a downed boarder and/or taking up the slack before pulling them. I'd hazard to guess the engines get quite a bit of cooling water through them at these times. I'd also think more critical than running the blower all the time would be a good oil change seasonally.

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

I run the blowers prior to start up and for the first 5 min of running or so. After that they stay off, even when starting and stopping unless we are sitting for a while then I run them again. When I am done and bring it home I put it in my shop and open every hatch and pull every drain plug and let it sit like that for a few days with the ceiling fans on. Never had a problem. Pretty much the exact same procedure I did when I had my shamrock and never had a problem with that boat.

 

[CDENsomnia]

Those of you who don't run your blowers much...keep in mind that I believe their primary purpose is to get the dangerous gasses that may have built up in the engine compartment out before and while the engines are running. They do bring in air but its more about fumes. I have seen a few "other" boats catch fire because they weren't running their blowers to clear the gasses. I run mine 5 minutes before starting and anytime they are running. I also allow the blowers to run for a couple minutes after turning the engines off. This might be overkill but the little battery they take is worth it!

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

They are only necessary to evacuate when the boat has been sitting. Their only purpose is for explosive fume evacuation. When your motors are running, they are sucking in anything that is in there which is why the CG says you do not have to run them all the time. It is entirely up to you if you wish to run them continuous however I am not certain the rule blowers are built for continuous duty so you may have to replace the blowers once in a while. Now when you are idling for long periods it is still a good idea to run them at that time as an engine is essentially a pump and it is not pumping a large volume at idle like it does when at higher RPM's. It is also very important to make sure the suction hoses are low in the bilge, gas vapor is heavier than air and if you do not have the hoses low enough this could lead to big problems by thinking you have cleared the vapors when you have only exchanged the air on top of the vapor mass. Another thing to keep in mind is the draw of the fans. We have a very limited charging capabilities with these motors and the EFI system demands a good deal of it not leaving much to replenish things after the crank draw etc. Leaving the blowers on all the time will also reduce your charging recovery as well. There are lots of factors involved and I wish we could somewhere find the true charging capacity of each motor as well as the computer draw. Just like my F250, it has a 60A alternator however the amperage required to just make the motor run and operate eats about half of that so it only effectively can charge at around 4oA. Same principal here but the data is unknown at this time.

 

[HARY5150]

I find that the engine compartment is a great place to keep the breakfast burritos I pick-up on the way to the dock in the morning. We don't like to eat before skiing or wakeboarding, so they stay nice and warm in there until we are finished with water play. These Yamahas are so versatile!

you should create a tray that fits into the engine compartment and market it, sound like a great idea!

 

[Beachbummer]

Your engine displaces quite a bit of air while it runs. What, about 1000ccs every other resolution? That's so much more air than the blowers can move is not even close.

The blowers are for explosive fumes, but once the engine is running it moves all the air it needs on its own.

And for cooling there is an endless supply of cold water (even at 100f is cool enough).

I would love a permanent temperature gauge to keep an eye on the engine temp.... The blowers i bet don't help at all temperature wise.