Another Optimax problem

[judgerr]

Well here we go again! So far my motor hasn't been the best. Today I was idling out of the "no wake" zone. Just happened to turn around and see no water streaming out of the motor. I had 7PSI on the guage at 900 rpm. No warning horn. Checked and there was just alittle dribble of water running down the side of the motor from the indcator hole. It checked at about 123 degrees. So it didn't seem to be overheating.

Fished awhile and then idled back to the Marina and put it on the trailer.

Any body know what gives? No sense putting it in the shop with the Holiday weekend in sight.:angry::angry:

Had 10psi with a short burst to about 1500rpm!

Could it just be clogged with something??

 

[Bob Bourget2]

Take some compressed are and blow back through the tell-tale outlet.....sounds like you have a piece of debris.....

 

[judgerr]

Thanks Bob! Am I correct in assuming it was still getting cooled and the water expelled through the prop?

 

[Bob Bourget2]

Yes, it does. The tell-tail feeds off the compressor. IT will alarm and fault if deprived of coolant. BUT....do not take this lightly...BE SURE it is only clogged. You can run it on the flush muffs to verify once "purged"!!!!

 

[G8rmac]

I have had debris in the tell-tale before. I keep a piece of weed-eater line on the boat with barbs notched on the end. While the motor is running either in the water or on muffs, I run the line in as far as it will go and work it back and forth. Only takes once or twice to loosen up anything and the water pressure will blow it out.

 

[THOMMO59]

Sounds like you're doing a heart by pass g8rmac!

 

[judgerr]

Thanks everyone! Bob your the greatest!

Looks like I will have to wait till after the weekend. Got tornado watches and remnants of Isaac to get through. Hope this works and I won'tlose more time in the shop.

Not a good year for me got to go for Radiation treatments in Oct. So I don't need to lose more fishing time.

Thanks again everyone. You guys are the greatest!

 

[THOMMO59]

Radiation treatment now!

Next time you run over a chinaman carrying a black cat as he walks under a ladder looking at himself in the mirror, SWERVE AND MISS!!!!!!!

 

[judgerr]

LOL! Thanks thommo,I will be watching for that Chinaman next time!:lol::lol::lol:

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Own a boat long enough and you'll find there are a lot of things that get clogged. I carried a string trimmer piece in the boat and many times had to clean out the pee hole. Speedo clogs are very common and at some point you will give up. Intake screens on the hull clog, hoses and valves on re-circ, pump out bilge and live wells clog as well. Heck, many times I had mud daubers mud nest shut my hull openings for the bilge and pump out. I had a garden hose fitting that fit in the external openings of the hull and regularly backwashed all of those fittings. 90% of the time it worked and I didn't have to dig in the bilge to pull a pump.

 

[judgerr]

I guess I've been lucky up to now. I've had abut 10 different outboards over thek last 50 years. Never had anything plug up before. Now everything is going wrong it seems! If T-storms ever stop coming around I will see if I can getit unplugged.

Then I have to determin if the rub rail or live well plumbing is leaking. Beginning to think I should have kept my Procraft!

 

[judgerr]

O.K. Finally got a chance to check out the motor. You guys came through! I got it unplugged and indicator port streeming water again. Thanks to all! I can't believe I have been boating over 50 years and never had this problem before.

I gotta ask is it just Nitro having all these waterleak problems? Or do they all jsut not make them as good as they used to. In the 12 years i owned my 16 year old Procraft I never had any leaks to worry about.

I only have 19.2 hrs on this Nitro and it is taking on water now. I feel quality is lacking!

Just my 2 cents!

Anyhow thanks for the help!

 

[Greg McNeely]

In WI, we have some very small species of wasp that for some reason, go up motor pee holes, lay eggs and close the end of the hole with mud. The stuff is as hard as concrete! Both my Mercs and a 60 hp Yamaha have had this problem 3 or 4 times a year in my driveway. Sorta freaks you to not see the pee, but it IS cooling.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Yep. Mud Daubers are what we call them and they can plaster shut your hull openings for bilge and livewell pump out holes as well.

 

[judgerr]

So I guess I am the only one who is disappointed with Nitro, lack of quality??

It just doesn't seem like leaks should be a problem in the first five years of ownership, let alone the first year!

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Your problems to date have been with Mercury not NITRO/Tracker Marine. I see you did mention you have some water intrusion, did you get that figured out? And to answer your question all brands have problems, that's why you have a warranty. Tracker is no different than any other manufacturer. You could name any brand and I can find you horror stories about them.

 

[Bill McElroy]

Deffinitely in all fairness DO NOT BLAME Tracker/Nitro for "Mercury" problems,...you can however hold TM responsible for servicing the motor,....on the other hand , issues you have with the boat itself..that IS a T/M issue.

 

[judgerr]

Guess I didn't make myself clear. I wasn't referring to the motor problems. I read on here about Boats taking on water a lot, and about people having to reseal the rub rail two or three times a year, and now I have a leak. My boat don't even have 20hrs on it yet! I have owned quite a few boats over the last 40 plus years. None were leakers till this one!

My Procraft was 4yrs old when I boulght it. I ran it for over 11 years with no leaks. My son has it now and it is still not leaking. I did replace the hoses a few years ago just as a precaution.

I didn't think I would have leaking as a problem with a new boat. I bought a 93 Tracker Tournament V-17, which I used for 7 years and it didn't leak.

Like I said before maybe the quality just isn't as good on new Boats as it used to be!

I will eventually figure out what is leaking I guess and seal it and be happy. I do like the boat other than teh leak!

Anyhow thanks again for the help on the plugged water pump indicator!

 

[tightline 700lx]

I think what these guys are saying is Nitro has it's "Quality" issues just like all the other brands. I have owned two TM boats and both of them being 10+ years old and never had a leak problem. Other problems, yes, but never leaks. However, I have a buddy that bought a used blazer and almost sunk it the first time out because the rubrail was not sealed.



I think what you are seeing is all the bad cases or rare cases. You never see threads blow up with someone saying "My rub rail does NOT leak." Just sayin...



TM sells more 16-18' bass boats then all other brands out there so you would expect to see more stuff on the internet about that boat. That doesn't mean that it is built to a lesser quality.



For Example: if 5% of Z6's have defects in the first year and TM sold 5,000 boats then there is going to be 250 horror stories out there. Where as if Brand X sold 500 boats and 5% of them had defects in the first year you would only see 25 horror stories.



We live in a free country and are blessed with the ability to do the things we love. Try to enjoy it and not focus on the bad.