Re: [omc-boats] Last run of the season

Last runs of the season arn't good!
I too am in Wisconsin and thought I took advantage of the Indian Summer about 3 weeks ago when on a Saturday it got to 70, I had left the boat in lake Wausau to replace the trailer bunks and that project went so well that I had time to take a last ride... hit a bridge pier! now my winter project (at least in the garage) is fiberglass repair and finding a replacement rub rail!
I did (years ago) see a plug blow out of an engin, high compression Mustang, it blew the center out just like you discribe. My Mustang friend ran a new plug into the hole and never looked back. Never did find out why.
Best guess is the ceramic got cracked at some point and it just couldn't take the pressure.
Hope that is all that yours needs.
I also hit something in Lake Tomahawk 2nd to the last run of the season and lost the tilt gear in the lake, got a used gear and the tilt motor quit!
That tilt is not as well designed as everything else in these boats so that is the weakest link i have found. My '69 155 still starts every spring with out fail and runs out good, I don't get the speed some of the other folks seem to get, but I can't ski at that speed anyway, getting to old.
Keep us all posted on your plug adventures, perhaps a local mechanic can shed some light on it.
best of luck.
K

---- Ethan Brodsky <brodskye@...> wrote:
> On Fri, 1 Dec 2006, Andy Perakes wrote:
> > That's an interesting failure mode experience, Ethan. I used to have a
> > poster that showed various spark plug failures and reasons, but darned if I
> > know what happened to it. I did find a nice link at Champion (see below),
> > but there's nothing that looks related to what you experienced. (Some of
> > the other brands might have more; I only checked Champion.) You are
> > probably right that it had some minor damage early on and the stress cracks
> > built up over time until it finally popped. You're especially lucky nothing
> > fell into the cylinder and tore it up.
>
> I've looked at them many times at auto parts stores and they're in the
> back of several of my service manuals, but I definitely haven't seen this
> failure mode.
>
> Even searching google doesn't turn up many discussions of blowing out the
> center of plugs. Most of the articles you find when search for "spark plug
> blown out" discuss problems with Ford Triton engines blowing out entire
> plugs due to inadequate thread depth (which requires replacing the head)
> and older Peugeots, which also seemed to be prone to doing this (they're
> typically repaired with thread inserts).
>
> One other possibility I hadn't considered is that the plug could've stopped
> sparking, causing the cylinder to fill with fuel and hydrolock would've
> blown out the plug. That seems less likely though because of the signs of
> gradual cracking.
>
> I'm really hoping nothing was damaged, but I won't really know until I look
> inside. Fortunately the outer electrode came out with the threaded part of
> the plug, so all that could be left inside is the ceramic, the center
> electrode, and the copper core. The only bit that is hard is the center
> electrode, and that's pretty tiny. I'm going to ask around about borrowing
> an endoscope this weekend. I might actually try pulling the head in the
> spring, as a friend suggests that it is trivially easy.
>
> > Are you using dry suits to wakeboard in 40F water? If so, how well do they
> > work? I've tried skiing and sailing (wet sailing) in wet suits, but found
> > the dry/wet/dry/wet cycles rendered them less effective (vs. just staying
> > wet) as I was constantly needing to warm fresh water each cycle. I've never
> > been able to try a dry suit and haven't been willing to put out the pile of
> > cash they cost for fear they won't work much better or will be too much
> > hassle to put on. Would be interested to hear your experiences with them,
> > if you have any. Regardless, I give you much credit for braving that kind
> > of weather!
>
> Unfortunately we don't have water-skiing drysuits, so we're just going in
> wetsuits. I have a suit which actually seals somewhat well on the ankles,
> so if I get into the water carefully and keep my arms and head above water,
> I only get wet up to my knees or thighs. It's still bone-chilling cold,
> but once you get up it's ok - air temperature is what really matters then.
> That's good for the first run, but once you wipe out, you're soaked
> everywhere and really cold. Once your skin and the suit is wet, you're
> cold even when you're up, and, like you say, they drain when you're up and
> fill again when you wipe out. We were really only planning on doing a
> couple runs per person and then heading back in. I know people who use
> drysuits and they'll spend all day in cold water, but I've unfortunately
> never been able to waterski with one myself! I love my drysuit for diving
> though - I use it 7-9 months out of the year!
>
> Ethan
>
> --
> Ethan Brodsky
> UW FutureCar Team Paradigm: Two-Year FutureCar Challenge Winner
> UW-Madison Clean Snowmobile Team: Winner of the 2004 SAE CSC
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Received on Friday, 1 December 2006