Soft Lean seize...tear down .....any insights from the experts most welcome.

Background......Engine is a JM781 dual 38's, prepped by Blue some years ago. It has run flawlessly in both surf and bouy chasing.. We did a river dash around 50 miles 2 weeks ago and every now again we would go WFO for a few minutes and then back off a bit ....just before the end my ski died at WFO and took a few attempts to get it started again...motor initially cranked very slowly like the battery was dead...but battery was fully charged ....At the end I did a few hard short bursts around a few trees on the flooded river and all seemed fine.....However, I thought to do a compression test to be safe....... front was 160 rear was 175....that hurt. Overheating was not a factor as the overboard pisser from the head has a solid stream to the point I think the ski should run a bit hotter.

I will send a few pics of what I saw when I took the ADA head off...Damage is clear on the front cylinder, looks minorish.. Rear cylinder has no visible damage....Based on what I saw first it appeared to me as though the front dome o ring could have ruptured and leaked water into the front cylinder, causing fuel to be washed away from the cylinder sides and that caused the seizure. However, once I removed the cylinder and inspected the pistons I am now clueless. So anyone have any theories....ski runs extremely well at all speeds from idle all the way to WFO..(just never had it run hard for so long GPS clocked it at 49 mph) ....I will obviously check the carbs and do a complete teardown but any help

front piston.jpgfrontpiston2.jpgcylinder head pic.jpg

And below pics with cylinder removed
front piston 2.jpgfront piston 3.jpgrearpiston1.jpg

So the front piston has one ring jammed up tightly...and the piston damage is extensive...It's the rear piston that has me completely stumped....the rings are still flexible and the damage looks worse than it feels...my finger nail can't feel any grooves , but clearly something else happened...maybe just way too lean on WFO is the simple answer...jet up HS jet to next size up maybe ?...timing is stock and using MSD enhancer. JM coil.
 
An Air Leakdown Test before the Engine tear-down would have ruled out Air Leaks... How old are the Crank Seals? Epoxy Patch in the Flywheel Area?

Keep in mind that riding against the Current is going to put more load on the Engine and make it run hotter which in turn requires richer Carb settings...
 
I've been out of the industry for a while, but that doesn't look like a lean seize to me. Lean is usually on the exhaust side of the piston/cylinder. Heat or lack of lubrication can do that. Someone with more knowledge can give more detail (or correct me)
 
Hi there Aboarder

Much appreciated....kinda of what I was wondering...why the seize on the wrong side of the pistons....could it be a cold seize.
 
Doesn't look like cold seize. I'm leaning towards heat. It's surprising that nobody has jumped in here. You usually have an answer within a few hours on this forum.
 

Sparkplug

Site Supporter
Location
Red Bluff CA
Thats lean and hot as hell. Check your tuning. Just because a ski runs good brapping around doesn't mean at all that it is tuned right. If you can't pass 1 minute of wide open throttle. Regularly. Then you have a issue.

That being said. I smoked a cylinder 4 weeks ago the exact same way. Ripping up top. Right after I had just bored it 2mm over. I was able to hone it and put a new piston kit in it. Richened up the top end a bit. And it's been solid for about 10 hours of ride time now.
 
Hi Guys

Ok so agree that it must have been seriously lean at WFO and overheated to the soft seizure point ...undersides of both pistons are burned up badly with carbon and the top side of the rear piston is totally black...no piston wash by the transfer ports at all. I suspect the front piston had a o ring water leak maybe even for a while...not enough to misfire, but enough to wash the piston top and brown out the cylinder sides. I was able to hone out the damage to the cylinders so new piston, rings and rollers on order.

Thank you to all who contributed, really appreciate all the insights and advice. Can't remember the size of pilots and mains, but definately thinking of going up one size on mains...rather be too rich
 
Definitely go over your crank very thoroughly before running it again. Also wouldn't hurt to ditch those baby 38s for some properly sized carbs for the engine such as some a/m 44s or 46s. Youll notice a big increase in power throughout with the 44s.
 
Location
dfw
Did you affirm that the carb setting was rich of peak power on the initial setup? If not you set yourself up for failure. At least you found the meltdown setting of your setup, which has some value.
 
Top Bottom