Safety warning: 2012 180 sp

[DeepSeaOne]

All,

This incident happened this weekend to my 180SP however it may be possible for this to happen to other models that are similarly configured. It bears mentioning that there is no ulterior motive for this post besides my desire to ensure that what can only be described as a bad situation...doesn't turn into a catastrophic episode for another unsuspecting owner…

Shortly after launching and a subsequently short, medium-speed cruise we had a high temp warning come on. Thinking we may have sucked up a diaper or something we stopped, gave it a blast in reverse and the light went out. Oil and AF checked good so we put it back in fwd and it wouldn’t allow greater than idle speed.

Being around 200 yds from a small inlet we idled towards shore and about 100ft from someone’s dock we had a burning smell, the bilge pump kicked on, and the engine died. Upon lifting the engine bay cover we noticed the bilge taking on water FAST so we were able to get into the shallow water and maneuver it to the dock where we proceeded to bail furiously while a resident was located to see if we could use their boat lift.

We obtained permission to use the lift and got the boat supported on the lift platform. We couldn’t raise it completely up because the lift was configured for a flats boat which didn’t mate well to the V-hull of the SP, but it was enough to keep it from sinking.

Upon examination of the engine compartment it was discovered that the hose leading from the exhaust canister to the resonator had popped off the fitting. My guess is that an exhaust overheat occurred which melted the plastic nipple/coupler on the resonator. Once the hose popped off, water was free to flood the bilge through the now open exhaust hose.

Obviously we were in a precarious situation…the boat couldn’t be towed back to the marina nor could it be moved an additional 60ft to a natural oyster bed ramp at the next house down, so I made a plug from PVC pipe, removed the resonator, and plugged the open exhaust hose so we could paddle it to the ramp for trailering.

This first pic is the resonator removed from the boat. The melted inlet fitting is on the left.

This pic shows the hose that popped off after the coupler melted

This pic shows the resonator removed and the exhaust hose plugged. The circled area shows where the resonator mounts on the starboard side of the engine.

Here’s a close-up of the resonator fitting. The nipple melted and you can see it actually folded into the resonator. At this point hot exhaust gas started melting the exterior of the resonator and burned a small hole in it as hot exhaust was filling the bilge.

I just got the boat back to my driveway today and it’s going to the dealer tomorrow. Regardless of the outcome of this I’d suggest all SD boat owners that have this plastic resonator installed follow this simple procedure…in the event of an overheat warning immediately shut down and signal for help. DO NOT ATTEMPT CONTINUED OPERATION even at idle. The operators manual lists an overheat as a “Notice” and the boat should be turned off as soon as possible. This is BAD advice and gives the false impression that the boat can safely be used further to get you to a safe location and this is not the case. SHUT IT DOWN, SIGNAL FOR HELP, your day is over.

We were extremely lucky yesterday. Had this happened out in the middle of the St Johns river there would have been only 2 outcomes possible…

1.The boat would have sank and we would have had to swim to shore
2.The boat would have caught fire before sinking and we would have had to swim to shore

Obviously both being a bad day. I’ll keep everyone posted as to the outcome but I smell a recall coming on this one. I personally won’t accept this boat back with a piece of plastic in the exhaust stream that could fail so easily.

 

[speedster32940]

YIKES!!! First, I'm glad everyone is safe & it was not as big of a disaster as it could easily have been.

A few questions: Did you ever find out what caused the overheat? Wondering why the blast in reverse cured the overheat alarm, but there continued to be a problem (obviously). Wonder what else overheated? Exhaust system only, or engine block, other components??? Aside from calling the day quits when the temp sensor hits the fan, is there anything preventative that SD owners could do to avoid this?

Also, where are you located? We are in Melbourne FL. :cheers: Best of luck with the boat & the dealer.

 

[DeepSeaOne]

YIKES!!! First, I'm glad everyone is safe & it was not as big of a disaster as it could easily have been.

A few questions: Did you ever find out what caused the overheat? Wondering why the blast in reverse cured the overheat alarm, but there continued to be a problem (obviously). Wonder what else overheated? Exhaust system only, or engine block, other components??? Aside from calling the day quits when the temp sensor hits the fan, is there anything preventative that SD owners could do to avoid this?

Too early to tell about the overheat. The wear ring and impellor looks new/clean and from reading, the most likely causes are...

1. Something is blocking the exhaust cooling system somewhere (engine cooling is closed loop and is an unlikely contributor)
2. The water pump failed

The engine management system appeared to do its job but it clearly it did it too late. The dock we ended up at was owned by a retired boat builder and he was pretty dumbfounded that a plastic coupler would be used in the exhaust stream. As an aircraft mechanic myself I'd have to call that one "un-smart". I think the overheat was just your normal "leap of faith" when operating a jet boat that you won't suck something up.

As for preventative...all you can do is be sure to flush the exhaust after use which we always do. I don't think we ever saw less than 8' of water so if it sucked something in the cooling system it must have been some small floating debris or there was some debris left in it from the factory that finally came loose. We just hit the 20hr mark.

We're in Jacksonville near Julington Creek off the St Johns

Having lived through this I'd insist that the only safe course of action during an overheat is to kill the engine and flag help. The consequences of not doing that can only be bad. It was pure luck that this didn't get ugly.

 

[Macster]

Not good. I've seen 3 jetskis swamp due to exhaust / cooling hoses popping off. Worst case however I don't think your Sea Doo boat would completely sink just swamp (at least I know this is the case for the Speedster).

I carry an secondary portable emergency bildge pump. I simply took a bildge pump attached some hose pipe and put a cigarette plug on the end. This would buy me some time for a rescue should such an incident occur.

 

[DeepSeaOne]

Yea it would just swamp to the gunwale but you'd be swimming nonetheless. Paddling would likely be pointless in a swamped boat that size so you'd just sit and wait for a pick-up and hope the gators aren't mating.

 

[chucked]

Hopefully, if you sucked something up, causing it to overheat, seadoo will still cover it under warranty.

 

[DeepSeaOne]

Got a preliminary report from the dealer...they can't find anything wrong on the cooling side which isn't much of a surprise. I think would have known if I were in an area where the water was shallow. They said they recalled some reports previously about problems with intake manifolds or something that led to everheating, but I have a hunch that the source is the plastic resonator. I think the nipple slowly folded into itself over time (which is visible just looking at it) and led to an exhaust blockage which led to the overheat. Once the plastic got soft enough the hose just blew off. It will be interesting to see what they say.

 

[Dennis]

You probably picked something up that clogged the exhaust cooling system when you launched the boat. The overheat alarm went off so you should have shut the engine off and let things cool down but you didn't. You tried to clear things out by reving the engine while the boat was in reverse which in turn caused the plastic exhaust resonator to melt. The boat was trying to tell you something BEFORE the resonator melted but you chose to keep running it.

 

[DeepSeaOne]

You probably picked something up that clogged the exhaust cooling system when you launched the boat. The overheat alarm went off so you should have shut the engine off and let things cool down but you didn't. You tried to clear things out by reving the engine while the boat was in reverse which in turn caused the plastic exhaust resonator to melt. The boat was trying to tell you something BEFORE the resonator melted but you chose to keep running it.

Unlikely. The boat is kept in dry storage and dropped into 8ft deep water with a fork lift. Dealer already verified exhaust cooling system to be clear. Boat clearly was trying to tell me something but the owners manual doesn't tell the same story. The word WARNING is used generously throughout...except for an overheat. Resonator and "melting" don't belong in the same sentence together.

 

[Dennis]

I'd bet somewhere in that owners manual it states that you should immediately shut the engine off in the event of a overheat warning. That resonator doesnt easily melt which tells me that you kept running the engine for awhile after the warning.

 

[DeepSeaOne]

I'd bet somewhere in that owners manual it states that you should immediately shut the engine off in the event of a overheat warning. That resonator doesnt easily melt which tells me that you kept running the engine for awhile after the warning.

It does, word for word...

If the beeper sounds continuously turn off engine as soon as possible, check oil and coolant. The problem lies in the next step...

If engine still overheats, refer to troublshooting section ...which directs you to special procedures...which directs you to to perform the in-water cleaning procedure. These statements instruct you to try it again, which I did, and within seconds the boat was taking on water and therein lies the point from my initial post. BAD IDEA to try it again. To the contrary...the resonator melted quite easily...it's the same cheap plastic used in motorcycle air boxes. It has no business being use as an exhaust component when its failure could cause the vessel to sink.

We're not talking about a jet ski here where the operator is wearing a wet suit in cold water and expects to get wet to some degree. It's a boat. Boats are typically operated differently. Farther from shore, rarely in a group, some times in heavy seas. An engine malfunction or the procedure to troubleshoot it should NOT sink it.

 

[Dr Honda]

I haven't read thought all of this yet... but a couple years ago... it was a known issue with loose clamps from the factory... and the dealer was supposed to check ALL of them before delivery. It sounds like the dealer didn't properly prep the boat... and the hose came off. Causing the over temp and melt.

Regardless... sorry for the issue.

 

[DeepSeaOne]

I haven't read thought all of this yet... but a couple years ago... it was a known issue with loose clamps from the factory... and the dealer was supposed to check ALL of them before delivery. It sounds like the dealer didn't properly prep the boat... and the hose came off. Causing the over temp and melt.

Regardless... sorry for the issue.

I'd really like to know what the resonator is actually for. It's just an empty air space. It seems to serve no purpose except maybe when the boat isn't up on plane and the exhaust nozzle is submerged.

 

[DeepSeaOne]

Update: They had the boat for almost 2 weeks, primarily awaiting a new resonator and impellor which was replaced as part of a service bulletin for cavitation.

Visual examination revealed nothing so they pulled the intercooler and tried to blast water through it. It seemed blocked and then something blew out of it. They couln't find what it was but a bit of sand followed. The exhaust overheat sensor also melted so that was changed. So the assumption is that a blocked intercooler led to the overheat. Makes sense except I can't see how it got blocked on this particular trip and think it more likely the blockage happened over time.

As for the melted resonator...it is what it is...a plastic box that will melt if you attempt to run it following an overheat so my advice would be to ignore the owners manual unless in a life or death situation and do not attempt to troubleshoot on the water.

So I got it back today and I'm $800 poorer. I'm OK paying for the blockage work but I'm a bit pissed off that I ended up paying for the meltdown as I don't feel that should have happened in the 1st place. The dealer experience was actually good...they were responsive and professional and I can't blame them but herein lies the irony...

In this insane quest for "green" technology we're making things far more complex. More power from smaller engines, burning leaner and hotter under boost. I ran a twin engine 2-stroke jet for 15 years on the same body of water without a single hiccup and after this episode...the fish, manatees, dolphins, etc. we're protecting can F%&K OFF!

 

[pat_180SP]

Something similar happened to our 180SP last August... We had 4 hours on the boat and nearly sank it.

August is the month with the lowest waters around here, so that boats "cut the weeds" that come too close to the surface, leading to ridiculous amounts of algae floating all over the water.

That day we were idling, about to take off trying to pull my friend out of the water on his wakeboard and when I tried to throttle, I felt ridiculous cavitation and could only reach about 20MPH max. I then realized we had sucked algae...I had the stupid idea of trying to rev the engine forward and backwards (at that time, I had no idea that reverse didn't mean that your jet was revving in the reverse direction...). Result: "EXHAUST OVERHEAT" showed up on the screen and the overheat sign came on with a loud BEEP! That freaked me out so I automatically shut off the engine and waited a couple minutes. I then restarted the engine and gave it a good rev at full throttle. The same warning came on, followed by the beep sound again, and then, I heard a gunshot under the hood and I shut off the engine right away. It sounded just like a car with the exhaust removed...that sound freak me out. Smoke started coming out of the engine bay so we decided to open the hood. Bilge pump came on....we were drowning and water was coming in FAST!

Since these engines use water to cool down as part of their cooling system, the intake being blocked with algae caused cavitation (hence no water coming in) and me reving it like an idiot led to extreme exhaust temperature. Since the exhaust hose is connected with a metal clamp only, temperature going up and volume remaining constant, this led to a ridiculous pressure rise and popped the clamp right off. Water was then flooding the boat entering directly through a 6" exhaust hole...

I was lucky enough to have someone around that heard the "gunshot" that decided to come help out. The guy actually thought we had blown the head off the engine according to the sound it made; he heard it from 200 yards away on the water. We were about 30 seconds away from the marina so the guy towed us there directly while we were trying to get as much water as we could out of the boat. By the time we had reached the marina, water had not reached the battery nor the air intake...we were lucky.

I got everything fixed at the marina for $500 (exhaust hose, coolant refill and melted exhaust sensor).
The Doo is now in perfect shape and no other damage was done to it that could not be fixed.

Since then, we sucked up algae again (3 times I believe), but I learnt the trick where you pull the safety cord (which leads to a back draft that frees up the intake) and never had a problem since then.

This was a newbie mistake and cost me $ for something that I could have avoided, but at least it led me to learning that trick and made me realize how reverse works on these boats. If ever the intake gets clogged up again and the safety cord trick does not work for me, I'll simply jump in the water and pull out what's stuck in there.

 

[cheappc]

Thanks guys, hopefully I never forget your suggestions... Safety lanyard pull and wait... Wow...

So are you saying the boat can complete sink?