Optimax 200 sportjet question

[halibutcollier]

OK so after recent dealings with my favorite-est local package boat dealer, I know who NOT to take my motor to. Who do you guys recommend for good service for these engines? Are they Mercury certified and are they taking boats right now :question::question::question:

 

[Rob B]

MMMMM Well, I'm a do it yourself guy. There really isn't much you can't do yourself or with the help of us on here..... But for major stuff, I think we are stuck with the one and only.......

What kind of maintenance are ya needing?

 

[chriso]

OK so after recent dealings with my favorite-est local package boat dealer, I know who NOT to take my motor to. Who do you guys recommend for good service for these engines? Are they Mercury certified and are they taking boats right now :question::question::question:

PM Sent..................................

 

[AlaskanOutdoorsman]

I was in the same boat last year and spoke with Mercury at length about it. After multiple phone conversations they recommended the Boat Shop first and then Compeaus second. Despite my best efforts, the Boat Shop proved to be hard to get into last year (they must be good - it was one heck of a wait to see them) so i set aside my personal feelings about the SJX/Phantom debate and drove up to Fairbanks to give them a try.

To my surprise, I learned they know how to use Mercury's warranty program (unlike a certain Anchorage dealership) and had more testing equipment and ability. They can load test and trouble shoot your boat at various levels and address issues faster and deeper than dealers in Anchorage that continually remove and replace parts and components. Long story short Compeaus got rid of my longstanding issues in short order and at minimal cost. Now I drive up from Anchorage whenever I have any issue with my boat.

 

[halibutcollier]

MMMMM Well, I'm a do it yourself guy. There really isn't much you can't do yourself or with the help of us on here..... But for major stuff, I think we are stuck with the one and only.......

What kind of maintenance are ya needing?

I like to do things myself also, but I had always figured when you shell out that much for a piece of aluminum, the dealer would have somebody to work on it. I got the manual and narrowed down the problem, there is something wrong with the pickup tube from the jet to the motor. it is not allowing cooling water to circulate through the motor. I havent taken the time to re-uncover the boat and inspect the hoses. I need some one with a few certifications to inspect the motor and possibly write an affidavit to the extent of the damage, if there is any. I hate the idea of having to drive all the way to effin Fairbanks.

 

[tjm]

is it not cooling at all or just cooling poorly?

are you overheating quickly, within a minute or so?

if the cooling was indeed completely blocked off you'll have the overheat buzzer ringing within 60 seconds at idle...

did it overheat last time you ran it, or were you just flushing it in the yard....2 different routes to cool the motor, one from the hose hookup and one from the impeller...it is possible that one method of idle will be just dandy and the other will over heat quickly...

could something be frozen? thermostat or just the rubber hoses themselves?

 

[halibutcollier]

is it not cooling at all or just cooling poorly?

are you overheating quickly, within a minute or so?

if the cooling was indeed completely blocked off you'll have the overheat buzzer ringing within 60 seconds at idle...

did it overheat last time you ran it, or were you just flushing it in the yard....2 different routes to cool the motor, one from the hose hookup and one from the impeller...it is possible that one method of idle will be just dandy and the other will over heat quickly...

could something be frozen? thermostat or just the rubber hoses themselves?

No water going through the sand trap at all, no water getting into the heater core hoses, bone dry. it was like 15 degrees in whittier so pretty cold outside, no buzzers went off, I picked it up after they test ran it, and it was stored in a heated garage overnight. I ran it for nearly 20 minutes with no alarms. if there wasn't any water where the temp sensors are, it wouldnt be able to register too hot right? Arent those sensors designed to pick up too hot of water temp?
In fact the boat ran great right up until i went to drain the thing and realized it had no water anywhere.

 

[tjm]

I don't think you would be able to run the motor for 20 min without any cooling...I could be wrong, maybe gravelpumper could clear that up for us...

No water going through the sand trap at all, no water getting into the heater core hoses, bone dry.

could be they didn't connect the hoses properly to your heater...again, I only say that because you actually ran it for 20 minutes without issue...should be an easy one to check out...

no buzzers went off,

do you have a smart craft gauge?.....the alarm I'm speaking of comes from the smart craft gauge hooked to the ECU...

I picked it up after they test ran it,

how did they test run it? did they launch at the port or did they just hook up a garden hose to it?..again, one method could work fine for cooling while the other could be blocked...

if there wasn't any water where the temp sensors are, it wouldnt be able to register too hot right? Arent those sensors designed to pick up too hot of water temp?

you got me there....no idea....again, I believe the smart craft gauge gets the signal from the ECU...I have no idea how the ECU knows it's over heating...

In fact the boat ran great right up until i went to drain the thing and realized it had no water anywhere.

did you check the thermostat?

 

[halibutcollier]

I pulled the plug out of the bottom of the trap and got zilch. I do have the smartcraft gauge and the water temp never really moved much more that 53-57 degrees, what does yours run at? I have been curious if this feature has ever worked on my boat at all??? Still no alarm. All they did was hook the hose to it, and made it clear that that was all they did and all they could do until blah blah we'll be so busy blah.
Where is this thermostat you speak of? is it possible, that this would not open until the motor was hot? I'd feel like a true idiot (totally not the first time) if I have made this big of a deal out of this, and it is simply a control issue doing what it is supposed to do. I will recheck my water flow schematic but i was under the impression that if the motor is running, there has to be water in it.
We need soft water so I can test my smartcraft gauge out side by side with another. I don't know how it could be screwed up, isnt it just a plug and play wire harness?

 

[Rob B]

I'm off work Monday to wednesday. If ya want to run to Whittier I'd be glad to haul my SJ down there too and compare or just bring it over and hook it up to a hose or something Either way it's a good reason to sit in the boat. Let me know
Rob

 

[tjm]

I pulled the plug out of the bottom of the trap and got zilch.

no water in trap and no water in heater sounds like the hose isn't hooked up...

I do have the smartcraft gauge and the water temp never really moved much more that 53-57 degrees, what does yours run at?.

your temps sound about right, especailly running it in the cold water out of whittier...

I have been curious if this feature has ever worked on my boat at all??? Still no alarm.

it'll work...you won't get an alarm until 180 or so...

All they did was hook the hose to it,

that's fine...especially since your temps were normal when you ran it...so now you know that both are clear...

Where is this thermostat you speak of

usually on the port side of the motor...looks like a coke can made out of rubber hose (about 3 to 4 inch or so) with tapered ends...you may see some goldish metal showing on the ends...

test my smartcraft gauge out side by side with another. I don't know how it could be screwed up, isnt it just a plug and play wire harness?

...yes...just plug and play...


sounds like your motor is fine...if you overheated for 20 min you would have smelled something for sure....

 

[halibutcollier]

I'm off work Monday to wednesday. If ya want to run to Whittier I'd be glad to haul my SJ down there too and compare or just bring it over and hook it up to a hose or something Either way it's a good reason to sit in the boat. Let me know
Rob

Man I really appreciate that Rob, I am in Kenai this week for work, should be back in town Thursday, does next week work?

 

[halibutcollier]

TJM- I did smell it. The whole story goes like this, I launched, started the motor, let her idle for a while, i motored out of the no wake zone, and got out in front of the break water, it was a little rough on that side so I didnt get on it until on the east end of the harbor, I ran the thing up and down, like you said to do. constant motion on the throttle. No cavitation or slippage at all, so much for my 1700 dollar liner and impeller rebuild lol. I made it to the east end of the ferry dock, where dive alaska does their certs. I had gotten the boat up on step about half a dozen times in that mile or two distance. I turned around and beelined for the harbor ran it up to 5600 rpm and kept it there. when Got to the mouth of the harbor, I did smell something hot. I was concerned about the motor, but after I dropped into the no wake for a bit, the smell went away, I thought maybe someone doing gear work in the harbor???? It didnt hit me until I got back and pulled the plugs and no water came out of places that there is usually water that I had a problem on my hands!

 

[akgravelpumper]

you probably had water frozen in the line between the motor and the thermostat for the heater, if you had no water flowing for 20 minutes it would have overheated and set off an alarm, the alarm will go off with or without water flowing. the important things to check are if water comes out the telltale and out the exhaust when the boat is running. hooking it up to diagnostics will tell you the engine temp history

 

[tjm]

I guess what I meant was...If you over heated for 20 minutes you would have REALLY smelled something...lol...

poke around and see if you can see anything melted...wires or what not...if you do take it out again to test, bring along an IR thermometer and check the temp on your expansion chamber when running...I'm still guessing that you didn't overheat but better safe than sorry...

might want to take a peek at the hose going to the trap...does it go to the motor?....did you open up the trap or just open the drain?...could that drain get blocked up?...I'm just reaching now...

worse case scenario, just meet me in a few weeks when we take our first run and we'll see what's going on...

 

[Rob B]

Sent ya a PM

 

[halibutcollier]

Prior to that trip, the only water that had been introduced was via garden hose, is it possible for the water to travel from the hose tap to the intake pickup? And the boat had been sitting in a heated shop for two days after they ran test it with a hose? As far as the diagnostics, I guess that brings me back around, Is there anybody in Anchorage or close that can do that, is trustworthy, and is taking boats right now? Marita said they wont take boats until maybe the end of the month. Is sea and ski the only authorized/certified merc mechanics around?

 

[akgravelpumper]

just saw your last post, ususally the first thing you smell when you hae a cooling system problem on a sportjet is the exhaust hose burning, due to lack of cooling water injected into the exhaust. the exhaust hoses will usually burn in short order if the cooling system gets pluged the small hoses that feed the cooling to the exhaust can get plugged with sand or other objects. the other places to check are the large brass hosebarb on the stbd side near the bottom of the motor (actually on the adaptor plate) if you remove this fitting you will see it is actually a strainer and can get plugget with sand. the other place to check for blockage is behind the poppet valve plate (were the hose for the heater comes out of the motor), the poppet can get jammed up. when you run the motor on a hose water should run out the nozzel, the exhaust and the telltale.

 

[halibutcollier]

Hey Thanks so much for all the input and pm's, and phone call! I believe I am breathing a little more normally after three weeks of stressing about my boat, motor, legal action, hassle, headache,heartbreak and missing the start of the season. The cause has yet to be determined, but now I am at least thinking it is not as serious as first thought. Thanks again and I'll be crossing my fingers for soft water soon!

 

[jetboatinak1]

fix it yet?

fix it yet?

If not, here are a couple things you could check.
1) pull the inlet hose off your heater's sand trap and see if you can blow air through.... this will tell you if you have a frozen heater line under your floor boards
2) coming off the engine before the sand trap is a copper canister, this is your thermostat. Pull it off and check to make sure it isn't clogged with sand or frozen.

The Boat Shop told me that when I run in the winter I should re-route the hoses to bypass the heater, and just circulate the cooling water through the engine if Im leaving it in the water overnight. If those 2 checks dont find the problem, let me know. Theres other ways to figure out whats wrong. Good luck