BRAND NEW Engine Locked up

[Mkhood]

So much for a trouble free weekend.  Came off plane on my BRAND NEW 280 EC and the engine stalled (Mercuriser 350 B3)/   Thought it was flodded but poped the engine hatch anyway to find that the starter tryis to turn the engine over but it is frozen.   Dock side mechanic says I might have sucked water up my exhaust and now have wated on the heads.

Called the Rinker Dealer  who sold me the boat and he says its a Mercuriser problem...He isn't close so I started calling local authorized Mercuriser Service centers...Still no one wants to come out and look a the the boat.

Did I mention I have 14 hours on the Engine?

Can anyone give me directions on how to get somebody to honor a warranty on and Engine?   Is this typical?
 



Keith

[cableguygreg]

Sorry to hear that you had a terrible weekend. The dealer said it's a merc problem??? Wow!!! He is the dealer that sold you the boat. It is HIS problem. The boat should be under warranty from Rinker and Merc. Hopefully he is an authorized merc dealer. I can't help you out on where to go, but I would start at the dealer. They should be the ones calling the merc rep and getting him to your location, not you. Heck, I would call Rinker as well. At this point, what do you have to loose? Good luck.

[Black_Diamond]

I would think it would be very difficult to suck water into the engine on a BIII outdrive.  Did you check the engine oil level?

You would have to have a pretty sudden water force to flow back into the engine while it was running and seize it, let alone up through the outdrive and all.  I know my exhaust manifolds are above the waterline on my 342 BIII's.

If the engine oil level is okay, pull the spark plugs and crank it with them out.  If it has water, it will crank and push it out.  Down side if it is water, you almost certainly cracked the heads, possible bent connecting rod, damaged pistons, etc.  It's bad. 

[Dream 'Inn]

I'm guessing you bought it from Stepps.  Definitely start with what Diamond said.  Check the oil, then pull the plugs and crank it.  If there is water in it, it should come out by pulling the plugs.  Also, definitely call the dealer again...if they don't want to help , call Rinker directly!

[earl1z19]

If the dealer doesn't want to help you be sure to post the name of the stealership here so we can all avoid him in the future.

[Mkhood]

All
Thanks for the advice...I pulled the plugs and as expected water came out.   Called a Merc mechanic and he actually came over.  Very helpful but said it was a Rinker engin mount problem, not a Merc problem...
We got the water out but the starter seems to be shot from trying to crank..

More work tomorrow.  I will keep you posted.  Bottom line is that it is a problem, but I cant believe that its mine.

We will see who will stand behind their warranty.

[frodo13056]

I thought that someone else posted a similar issue on a new 280 last season. What happened is called hydro-lock. It's where water enters the exhaust and fills the cylinders via the exhaust valves opening. This occurs when the engine is mounted too low in a boat or the exhaust risers are not tall enough to prevent water intrusion.
Usually, when hydro-lock occurs, if the engine is at idle, all you need to do is pull the plugs, change the oil, spin the enigine, change the oil, re-install the plugs and fire it up and let it get to operating temperature, change the oil and off you go.
If the engine was at higher rpm, it's very possible that you broke the crankshaft or some of the connecting rods. Water does not compress like air does so when the piston comes up in the cylinder, if the volume in the cylinder can't compress, something has to give and it's usually a connecting rod.

This is a Rinker boat design / installation issue so hopefully your engine is OK and you get this resolved very quickly.

[Capt Ron]

Rinker wouldn't fix my oil leak problem on my new boat and directed me to Mercury as well. I took me weeks before anyone would fix it. I just had my marina fix it and called both Rinker and mercury and told them to get lawyers. Mercury came to rescue in the end. However, when they worked on the boat, they found that Rinker didn't install the I/O mounting bolts correctly and half of them where loose. Rinker then had to pay for the engine to be removed and reinstalled because it was only way to fix the problem, so much for water tests

[Black_Diamond]

I'm guessing the exhaust elbows are too low then?  You are going to need to do a compression check on the engine cylinders, it will tell you if you have damaged the valves/heads/pistons etc.  You'll know more once you start it.  Flush your engine oil before trying to run it.  Good luck!

[jjlovett]

Starters get wet and they are shot - that's it and that's all (ask me how I know  ) - but the rest of it definitely sounds like a known issue so I would press on both the dealer and on Rinker for resolution to satisfaction...

[Mkhood]

All...Thanks for the help thus far.  Anybody have any numbers for RINKER that don't get a recording? 

I asked the dealer to call for me and he said that it was better to let the "owner" handle these issues...

Im documenting this whole thing and soon I will simply turn this over to my attorney.   Im not a hight maintenance owner..I simply think that there is a warranty for a reason..Simply enough stand behind your product.

Amazing concept.

[alswagg]

This type of hydrolocking occures when the boat is not running.   If the exhaust risors are too low wave action or excessive amount of weight in the boat can allow water to enter the exhaust system, and eventually enter the cylinders.  If the water was salt water, the block needs to be replaced.  A water level height can be measured while the boat is in the water with normal load.  Have your Mercruiser dealer measure the water level with a water gauge, basically a clear hose syphone in water and see where the outside water level is. 
Good luck,  Al

[Capt Ron]

Here's Randy's number 574 - 457- 5731

[Mkhood]

ALL
Update-  I contacted RINKER via email and got not 1 but 2 responses within 30 minutes.   The second was from Randy Rinker apologizing and asking for dealer information so he could contact them.  I don't know how this will end up but I have to say that very good customer service by Rnker thus far.

Keith

[Dream 'Inn]

Keith, that is really great to hear.  Please keep us updated here on the forum.  We all like to know how our fellow RBOers are handled.