What do my plugs say?

Jared, I'd be glad to go with you to Saquaro in the early morn. I go sometimes on Mondays and Tuesdays. I got your email with your phone number. This weekend I'm going to Rocky Point with my girlfriend and her family. We will be there thru next Tuesday. So we will have to make it the weekend after. When was the last time you had your boat out and how did it run? Anyway, I'll give you a call next week (probably Tues) and we'll go from there. Take care! Brian.

sjpitts wrote: Just to be clear here--the boat shop said the compression was low, and that it was running rich, but they also said the engine itself should be fine. The mechanic told me it could last a long time. They didn't try and sell me a rebuild, a valve job, or anything else of the sort.

Are we talking about the same boat here? In one of your earlier posts you said that one of the cylinders was down to 20 PSI on the compression. That's a serious mechanical issue with the engine. Are you saying that the same mechanic that knows this also told you that the "engine itself should be fine". If this is true, this person CANNOT be trusted. Take it to another mechanic for another compression test if you don't know how to do one. Didn't you say that you live in the Phoenix area? I'm in Tempe and the offer still stands if you would like help with this thing. Brian

be there when they do the test or spend 20 bucks and get your own tester at the local autoparts store. And after the compression test is finished do a leak down test on the bad cyclinder and listen at the carb and see if you hear air coming out of it or listen if air is coming out of the oil breather if so them you need the valves done if it is in the block and you hear air coming from the didstick tube then it's the rings.

Sorry, my brain stalled...those plugs should have been light brown to chocolate in color so you not only have an internal issue wiht the compression, but a fuel issue as well. I suggest some major work or your gonna find yourself in the middle of the lake needing a tow.

I know it's bad news, but it's not something that can't be fixed. A tank of gas costs almost as much reworking a head and as the old saying goes "if you can't afford the gas you can't afford the boat". Give that engine some TLC and it'll so much fun you'll never look back.

someone mentioned this before but when you run your next compression test, squirt a couple of teaspoons in each cylinder right before you test it. If the compression comes up significantly your problem is most likely the rings or cylinder issues. If it stays about the same that indicates valve problems. If that is the case you could do a quick changeout of the heads and be back on the water in a weekend.

Running rich can be as simple as a stuck choke or the float level being set to high.

well you could run it until winter but if you throw a rod, or trash the crank then you have nothing to rebuild and have to replace. Throwing rod means cracked block, maybe even a hole in it, which means junk, scrap steel, no core exchange for that block.

you really need to know whats bad in the #5 cyl is it a bad valve or is it a bad piston/rings. If it's in the top end then a valve job is all that's needed and your up and running like new.

Actually the worst thing that could happen is putting hotter ngk plugs in it:)

If it's a reverse rotation engine the last thing you want to do is mess up the crank.

When you do get it rebuilt you'll wish you'd done it sooner.   

its probably burning twice the fuel it would normally burn, the fuel in those low cylinders will start to wash the walls and you will start to scuff piston walls if not already at that point, this could possibly do many things such as sieze a piston and thrw a rod through the side of the block...well you get the point

This thread has taken on a life of its own. Let me try and get it back on topic.

To recap some history--in the spring of 06 I took the boat to a shop to have it checked out. This was about six months after I bought it--after it had been sitting in my driveway over the winter.

I had them do a compression test. After doing the test, they said they had some bad news-- they said very low compression in one cylinder. BUT, they said that it might be rust on the walls, and they wanted to run the boat again and re-measure the compression. After doing so, they said the compression came back up-- but didn't say how much.

This actually makes some sense, as I now know that the riser gaskets were leaking on that side.

But the boat shop guys said the engine wasn't really in that bad of shape-- that even though the compression wasn't that good, that the engine could run for a long time. With the exception of a few hickups, the engine seems to run pretty good. As I have said before, I don't travel that fast-- the fastest I go is about 35 MPH at about 3k RPMs. The boat does that just fine, and I don't have the need to go any faster.

So with all this, do you guys really think that my engine is about to die a horrible death? I know someone said that I might not make to the fall. Is it really that bad?

I know-- you are probably going to say I need to do a new compression test. See what my numbers are now. Right?

Attached below are pictures of the manifolds showing the compression numbers they got. The port side, with the low numbers, is the one that had the gasket leak. I edited the spark plug pictures to show which plug came from which cylinder by putting the compression numbers above them. The lowest was 20 when measured the first time, but I don't know what it came up to.

So tell me what you think-- and be nice (if not to each other, at least to me:))

Jared

   

boat dr wrote: Hope you can come to G/Lake,we will need someone to keep the troops in line there,and Chris is nominated for the commander in charge.........Will personaly buy you a brewsky, won't drink one ,but damn shore buy you one............... boat dr

sure not looking too good right now had to empty my pockets last Friday and it's going to take a while to fill them back up and aford to go to GL

thought doc was going to come unglued their for a minute. Pretty strong words wasn't sure if it was a local guy or the Doc he was refering to.

TRBenj wrote: Chris, hopefully you can change up your schedule- I was looking forward to meeting you at GL.

it's not a timing issue it's a cash flow issue and right now all my cash is flowing away from me.

A friend of mine just spent $1,100 at the boat dr. Ran like crap when he got it back which was the same as it was going in. The timing was set at tdc, the bolts holding the float bowls were finger tight. The rear float bowl gasket was replaced but they didn't even scrap all the old one off! Not to mention just about every other bolt on top of the engine. The plugs were the same ones that were in there when he took it in. Choke was adjusted shut even when hot which was why the plugs were fouled. The accelerator pump was installed where the pump arm was backwards so that didn't work.
I fixed all this for him plus put new bearings/races and seal in one side of the trailer. I didn't charge him a dime, he's a buddy. It idles so smooth now with the NGK plugs (just kidding!) you can't even tell it's running. No wonder you guys (as a whole) not you specifically so don't get your panties in a wad, have the reputation you have. Right up there with the MB service departments.

the reason I brought up an old porsche is because I was accused of having a toyota and a honda lawnmower and my name isn't BUBBA. It wasn't the high and mighty I'm better than you attitude you thought I meant. If you knew me you'd know that. You might have given me a chance instead of twisting off like you did. When I twisted wrenches for a living we had a saying... toyotas are made out of a new japanese alloy, sh*timum. Perhaps if the first reply from the dr handn't been so vile and me being accused of owning rice burners all this probalby could have been avoided. Hell I kept my Norton long after I was being toasted by the honda 750's. Ok so now you'll probably slam me because I owned british crap with lucas electrics. whatever. The point is we all know that heat ranges and resistance varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, they don't coinside exactly and it is possible that since he has low compression on one side that there is a plug that might and I repeat might work a little better than what the factory calls for in this situation. If I would have said champion I wonder if we'd be having this discussion? Course that would never happen because I dislike champion plugs as much as you hate ngk plugs. I can pretty much say I wouldn't have trashed you if you would have said that just because I don't like champion.
And just for the record your pedigree sounds good to me. I also like my American muscle as much as anyone. So there you have it. You can reply with all the POS's, donkey's, and sucks all you want but if you need help I'll be the first to arrive and the last to leave and bring the beer.

Maybe the accelerator pump needs adjusting, how do you do that?