mechanical failure

AFD

AFD

Active Member
Jul 29, 2012
1,250
Boston Harbor/Falmouth Ma
Boat Info
1997 Sundancer 290 The fat beam version
Engines
twins.
Starboard 5.0 alpha 220HP
Port 357 alpha 275hp
4HP Yamaha for Dinghy
I believe, and so does my mechanic...that my port engine is toast. At minimum it will need a new head.

Has anyone filed a claim for a mechanical failure before. The service center told me that quiet a few insurance companies have been covering failures like this.

I am going to call to review my policy as the paper copy I had was destroyed when we got some water in our basement from Arthur 2 weeks ago. I left the binder on the floor and it got wet.stupid me.

We are disposable money poor right now and the boat may be a dock queen for the rest of the season if it is not covered.
 
Insurance will usually cover mechanical failures as a result of physical damage like grounding, or hitting a sunken object. My neighbor's insurance covered a whole new Diesel engine ($50 K) that cooked after a plastic bagged got into the sea strainer. They won't cover wear and tear type stuff.

Henry


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Unknown at this point. Found a small oil leak when we came back to the marina last week so I cleaned up the bilge and layed down some oil absorbent pads but when the mechanic came today we fired up the engine and noticed a loud knocking that I didn't hear last time out. There was also smoke coming from the valve cover as the gasket was leaking the oil. No idea what caused the knocking or what is actually knocking. We will find out Monday morning.

At this point the service manager told me to just give my insurance co. And advise them that we "believe" there is a failure and to review the policy with the agent.
 
This might be something as simple as a broken pushrod so don't make any decision until you get a more definitive diagnosis than "That sounds bad".
 
Agreed, it could be a bent valve or some sort of broken spring. If that is the case and the piston and cylinder wall is not damaged I will only be looking at head work :thumbsup: This is unknown at this point. I will find out today as the mechanic is going to be there first thing this morning, I am stuck at work so I can't be there but this week it will be getting taken out and brought over to the shop (across the street from the marina). Good news is I lost an E clip from one of the drive piston pins so I can get at it now to replace it (a whole $2 part and 1 seconds of labor).

I only asked about Insurance because the service manager told me some yacht policies have been paying even when it isn't from an accident. I was pretty sure my policy would not and it does not.

The oil pressure was always good, the engine never overheated but the last time out it would not go over 3200 rpm's and I got an alarm from unknown sensor so I backed it down to almost a crawl and turned around and headed back to the marina. No strange sounds, no smoke, nothing. Got back to the marina and everything seemed normal. Did have a small oil leak from that engine and couldn't find it. Cleaned the bilge and motor as best I could and couldn't find it. The valve cover gasket on the right side of the motor when we fired it up was smoking and is definitely broken , this is most likely the leak source. Directly u.Der the source of the leaking smoke was the rapping/knocking sound.

The real pain in the a$$ is I have 2 weeks vacation next week and we were going to go to visit family in Falmouth, spend a couple days mid week in oak bluffs with friends who booked a hotel just to spend time with us while we were there and then a day or 2 in Nantucket before heading back to the cape for a night and then Plymouth and back to Boston harbor. All those plans are now cancelled.
 
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Compression low in #1,3,5 water in #6.

Thoughts?



Awesome, right?
 
Both sides?
Could be a gasket on one side but my guess is faulty exhaust manifolds or corroded manifol allowed water in. I was going to examine/replace them the end of this season . Oops.

I would love for it to be just a gasket. Simple clean up, New gasket, 're-install...
 
More like Gruesome...low compression multiple cylinders, water in another and a mechanical noise. Sounds
like a repower is the only guaranteed way to go. Any partial repair is an expensive roll of the dice. Take off the leaking valve cover,
that may complete the picture as to which way to go.
 
You may as well do a compression check and look over the other engine as well. It may be that you can get away with either valve work, or just replacing with new heads. Your mechanic should be able to verify if the block, crank and pistons/rings need replacement. We wound up putting new heads on both of our engines last winter (no water intrusion and the exhaust manifolds and risers were replaced the year prior). Good luck!
 
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We won't know about the pistons until the heads come off, compression on starboard motor all within specific, they are mailing me the numbers but they said problem free on That engine, that one runs like a top.

We are leaving for vacation (obviously without the boat due to current event) but we don't have the money to eat a drop in engine if the block needs to come out and if it needs manifolds the service manager said it's more cost effective to drop in a remanufactured warrantied engine from mercruiser than to rebuild the one that's in there if it needs it.
If it only needs head work we could be back in the water in a couple weeks but for now I'm going to fog the engine in place and try to free up some money I had away. $12,000 would burry me this year, it's been an expensive year with the house and first kid and wife only part time at the hospital.
 
If it's one head they said the range of $3500 Including pulling the boat and relaunch range of $4000-$4500 for both heads.

The machine work gets done at a race shop down the street, they do the blocks too if needed. The marina has used them for years with great results.

Long blocks are great deals if you can do the work yourself and have the time. I could do the work but would forget one thing and have to order it and wait, then I would forget something else and have to wait. I would be done in November some time.

If I go with a full certified rebuild from mercruiser, it would have a warranty and be done in a few days and be dropping in, book up fuel and electrical and away you go. New risers, manifolds , pan, plugs, wires, distributor, carb... I just don't have the roughly $12,000 for that job right now. We put a ton of money into investments this year and we're roughing it for a while when this happened. Roll the dice and sometimes you lose.
 
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Copy that. Two kids under 4 over here. I can barely afford the cheap beer right now.

Oh well, at lest it's still floating. It can always get worse.
 
I can't believe the prices you are quoting for this work. First, never do only one head. You have the lions share of the work done to get one off anyhow and a new head against an old head will run unbalanced. Second, you can get new heads for that price.

Get a re-manufactured marine long block and be done with it. Part of the problem when water intrudes into the head is called hydraulic lock. the piston is being forced up against the water and the connecting rod bends under the force. That is usually where the knock develops.

You may need new manifold but why all the other stuff. Carb, distributor, pan, wires......????
4500 for heads, You can buy a reman long block for that much.

Sounds like your marina has a live one on the hook if they are quoting 12,000.
 
$12,000 was for a mercruiser certified rebuild and labor for a 350 they just did over the winter, no idea what else was done and it was off the top of his head, he did say the motor alone shipped was $9500 the rest was labor. I can't really imagine just a motor swap took 3 days to justify that much labor so there were clearly other things done in my mind.

The problem with a long block and new heads is labor. Instead of drop in I would need to pay to have everything pulled I.individually from one engine to another. Remove, clean, New gaskets, 're-install and if something needs or should be replaced anyway you pay for it twice and time to order and ship parts.

I wouldn't be having one head rebuilt first and foremost due to the current health of the motor but they just did one head rebuild (can't remember the reason but he said it was a one year old engine) said it was $3500 that price is from boat pull to resplash not just time and material.

Anybody know the actual price of a mercruiser 5.0 TKS drop in? Mercruiser doesn't have it on their website
 
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