Power Issue?

[Sled491]

I'm jumping in kinda late here but I have to agree, there might be more going on than just your prop. By the way call OJ or Acme, give them your details and they'll tell you the right prop, eliminating a lot of quess work.

How many hours on the boat? How tight is the engine. We are talking a 10 yr old boat here. If it has been run hard and only minimal maintanence she could just be tired. I can run 1400 lbs of ballast and barely feel it. While my boat is much smaller, these motors have amazing torque.

[dereklschmidt]

Sounds like I need to run a compression test. Like I said, I've only had the boat about 4 months now, I was told all maitenance was done and it was in meticulous condition. However, when we took it out, the ballast had a leak and we could not fill them up to test a full load. I talked to the mechanic that did all work on this boat for the last 3 months, who did a compression test, and said everything checked out. I do not remember the exact numbers now.

There is approx. 860 hours on the boat. I even talked to Indmar prior to purchasing the boat and they said the engine should be fine up to around the 1400 hr mark and even then may just need to change rings.

Just seems to me, that if the engine is getting tired, i would be able to tell from the sound or all around performance, not just at heavy loads. I could be very wrong though.

[Sled491]

No, as an engine starts to get tired it will still perform and sound as normal, it's just when you try to push it that it does not perform up to par.

[dereklschmidt]

Not too good of news, lol. Any suggestions on what else I need to check beside compression? Thanks.

[mmandley]

On a boat not realy. Its hard to realy test the engine in a boat like a car. The best way to realy know what your engine is doing is a compression test, air flow test, and dyno test. On a boat the only test you can do with out taking the engine out is the compression test.

The engine will sound normal unless a rod, bearing, or valve is going out. It jsut wont make the power you need. Another way to test is a fuel flow test to see how much fuel it burns completly. This isnt the best way to test it, its just another way.

I will be more then happy if i can get 900 hours out of my engine. Thats close to 10 years of service and most car engines dont last that long and we dont run those engines anyware near as hard as a boat engine.

[dereklschmidt]

Well, did some checking on my boat this weekend. Compression checked out good, fuel filter was pretty dirty and spark plugs are a little weak. Gonna replace the fuel filter & spark plugs and get back out there. Sure those two things had a little to do with it feeling sluggish.

[OldeBoy]

Keep us posted. Did you check your cap and rotor? There could be some real corrosion in there.

[dereklschmidt]

Yeah, cap, rotor & wires all look good. Gonna take it out this weekend.

[Sled491]

Keep us posted. Did you check your cap and rotor? There could be some real corrosion in there.

Yeah I would think that if you had weak spark, changing these items would almost be a given.

[dereklschmidt]

Just an update, took her out yesterday and it ran like new. Had no problem getting anyone out of the water, even with the plate up and ballast almost full.

Thanks for all of your help guys. Unfortunately, due to financial reasons, I'm going to have to sell. I REALLY REALLY don't want to, but it's looking like I may need to. I'll be using it till it's sold though! Posting it in the classifieds now. Thanks again.