Quote:
Originally Posted by winnienox
I took my boat in for winter storage as usual last year and it was running absolutely fine. This spring when they put it in the water it was hydrolocked and couldn't be repaired without replacing the engine for $7,000+... lots of rust in the cylinders, etc. My question is, how could this happen? Is it possible no one is at fault here or should I suspect that the marina was negligent in some way either in the storage or spring preparation process? Or even, could I have caused this somehow and how can I avoid this happening again!?
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On thing I picked up on reading your post a second time, based on what you say they put the boat in and then said it was hydrolocked? An interesting tid bit of information is whether or not they actually started the boat OUT of the water successfully before splashing it. A hydro-lock condition can occur for less sinister reasons is why I say this. I'll get back to that point in a second...
I would think that any reputable marina would during the winterization process backfill the block with antifreeze, reason being there is no way to completely evacuate all the water from the block therefore the antifreeze backfull will prevent those pockets that retain a little water after draining from freezing potentially causing damage to the block or popping a freeze plug. So if that was done you'd think that they would at minimum drain out the antifreeze or start it up out of the water to flush it all out and not into the lake.
Back to the hydro-locking, it is possible to hydro-lock an engine if it begins to diesel or backfires in the water. Depending on the age and make of the powerplant some were not very well protected against the engine's ability to actually draw\suck water back in through the risers if the crank managed to reverse direction even if just for a second.
One other thought on the rusting in the cylinders... it is possible that if you had a breech between your combustion chamber and your water jacket in the block over the course of the winter fluid could leak down into the cylinders and sit there for months which could cause significant corrosion. That could be anything from a crack in the block, head or bad gasket such as the head gasket. That said if you had a breech typically that is accompanied by a noticeable lack of performance and a rough running engine. Usually a simple compression test or cylinder leak down test would confirm that as a possible culprit.