larson se180 problems?

hello i have a lason 06 se180 boat with a penta 4.3L alpha one drive, going full throttle for about 20 min i noticed smoke from the engine compartment, seems like it was on the left side where the wies are, but checking the oil, was under the ok area so i put a quart in and it was working for many hours after. Later on i noticed water in the engine area, along with the middle floorboard storage area, an hour from home, trying to go slow back, it wasn't moving or sounding lack of power, water was spraying all around the engine area with a bit of smoke, so called the coast guard for some help. What kind of problem could this be and what steps can i take to check it out out of the water please?

FIRST and foremost..... "going full throttle for about 20 min" is a good way to trash an engine.
Marine gas engines are designed to run continuously, i.e., more than about 15 to 30 seconds, at an engine speed that does not exceed 80% of the maximum RPMS, where max RPMs assumes that you are propped and loaded so that the engine runs WITHIN the MAX RPM engine revs specified for your engine. Running at no more than 75% extends engine life even more. Total engine life running @ WOT( going full throttle) is in tens of hours. @ 80% it rises to about a thousand for raw water cooled in salt water or several thousand if fresh water cooled.

So.... given that you were running wide open... what was your water temp? oil pressure? Actual RPMs?
Simplest thing to check for is a leak on the high pressure side of the raw water pump.

BTW... I run my engine @ WOT about three times a year ( after launch, mid season, pre haulout) just long enough to check that I still get to the specified MAX RPM range, engine temp does not climb and also that the oil pressure is OK.

It sounds like you blew one of your exhaust riser hoses? It could be from an overheat problem. That could cause smoke, and water spraying. Check around the back of the engine too see whats going on.

Hard to help without knowing where water is spraying from. Look around, find the source, take a photo of the source and post it up. Then you'll likely get useful info.

FWIW, my boat is run at wot 3-10 minutes per weekend. We boat an average of 22 weekends a year and have for the last 16 years or so. I don't have an hour meter but estimate my engine has around 3000 to 3300 hours. It still runs great.
I would not run it at wot for 20 consecutive minutes unless there were an emergency situation though.

DaveG55 said:

FWIW, my boat is run at wot 3-10 minutes per weekend. We boat an average of 22 weekends a year and have for the last 16 years or so. I don't have an hour meter but estimate my engine has around 3000 to 3300 hours. It still runs great.
I would not run it at wot for 20 consecutive minutes unless there were an emergency situation though.

Click to expand...

I agree... would not consider 3 to 10 mins a weekend "continuous". I rarely run over 3000 RPMs as WOT puts the boat up at 40+ MPH. I have a good deep V hull, and a boat that is built like a tank, however, the boat deals quite well with the 3 to 4 ft pincushion chop here on Barnegat bay, way better than my "high mileage" bones, knees and back

I think the waters we navigate may be the difference. We are on an inland lake and rarely see waves in the 3 to 4 foot range. And when we do we usually just go back to the house and wait until it's less busy. When the lake is calm it's easy to bump up to wot for a couple of minutes just for fun.
The admirals preferred cruising speed is 30mph which, for my boat is 2800-3000 rpm.

hi, thank you for your responses, so in the back the main big tube has been disconnected, i guess thats how the water was getting in and the lack of power. The trim has been having a problem also, going up no problem but to move it down, i have to play with the black left hydrolic cable connected to the trim motor, Its making a noise pushing the trim button down but isnt working to move. could it be the cylonoid? how can i fix this problem please? The rear big tube has no slack at all cause the foot is trimmed all the way up and wont move down a bit to reput the tube. could i have affected the water pump also, how can i make sure its in working order?

That is the exhaust bellows and will not let water into the boat. If the larger bellows above it comes off then your boat would flood quickly.
If you are getting water spraying inside the boat it's not coming from that bellows. You need to find where the water is spraying from. To do that you will likely need to run the boat on muffs or, if that's not enough pressure, back the boat into the water. Once you find where it is actively spraying from, take a photo of that area.

As for the trim, it could be the solinoid but is more likely to be a poor/coroded/loose/bad wire or connection. I'd disconnect, clean and replace the connector and terminal before I bought a solinoid.

At the marine shop, I was asking about the rear disconnected tube and the guy said yes water would come in from there and because the baring inside got exposed to water I should remove the foot and check everything out? And for my trim not going down he suggested to jump the solonoid to see if it moves down warning me that it's very dangerous and to be careful? So if the solonoid jumped works do I still change it? Water did come in quicky but didn't get worse to the point that we were sinking.