Diagnose my problem....

My wife was driving and I was surfing - off and on probably about 15 minutes or so. When we switched, I noticed a small growl when I pulled her up the first time. It was normal low RPM type vibration, as most of us who have upgraded props notice all the time. It stopped once we reached surfing speed and I dismissed it, although my ACME doesn't normally give me the growl. About 5 minutes later (estimate) my check engine light started blinking. Checked the gauges, and the temp was a little over 180 (needle was on the "0" on the 180, I estimate about 200 but not real sure). I immediately shut it down.

First thing I checked was the impellar. It was perfect. As that's about the extent of my shade tree abilities, I sat for about 30-45 minutes trying to figure out what my next move was. (It's amazing how many boats on Lake Austin will cruise right by you when you're floating and have the engine hatch up, btw.) I decided to give it a crank, and with the hatch off and the v-drive access panel under the rear bench open I noticed what you see in the video linked below. I assume it is the dripless seal? There were white pieces of it all over the bilge area that looked like they were melted - had the look of wax from a candle. The thing is wobbling like crazy, as seen in the vid. The temp kept hovering a little above the 180 mark, the check engine light started to blink again and I shut it down for good, and basically floated back to the dock.

I called my local dealer and I'm going to bring it to them, but I have never seen anything like this on any of the forums before, so I figured I'd give you guys a crack at it. My only guess is there was quite a bit of seaweed type stuff in the water, and I cleaned it off the prop a few times during the day, but when we got the boat out finally there was quite a bit wrapped around the shaft right before the prop. Is it possible that this caused enough vibration to cause this? And if so, wouldn't I have felt it prior to this happening? Other than the slight vibration on take off, which I didn't consider excessive, the boat ran and handled normal. The other question and probably more importantly, why did this cause the temp to rise?

If there's anything else I can add to help diagnose/guess, let me know. Hopefully this video works. I took it with my iphone just so I could show the guys at the shop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwIcI-A2tJ4

It is entirely possible the vibration issue and the overheat are related...you stated you had a lot of seaweed in the water, so there is a very real chance that your water intake is partially blocked with plant material.

The dripless unit looks like it took a complete failure...not sure if it could be related to shaft imbalance from seaweed or not.

If your water intake is clear and your impeller is in good shape the next thing to check would be the thermostat. I am not sure where your temp sensor is but if it is fro some reason on the transmission maybe the vibration has caused added heat? It looks like your shaft packing or dripless seal is shot. After you get that replace I would have the dealer check the shaft to make sure it isn't bent. The reason the packing failed may be from a bent shaft or prop.

I suspect low coolant flow. If impeller looks good as you say, it could be clogged intake strainer or trans cooler. The dripless packing relies on engine coolant flow to keep it lubricated, and will fail (as it has in your video) if there is insufficient flow. Bent shaft or engine out of alignment could also cause that, but that's doubtful to be the case in this instance.

you have an OJ dripless packing that has come apart this along with the sea weed on the shaft will cause a vibration and since the impeller is in good shape I would bet money you have sucked up some weeds in your water pick up restricting flow causing the engine temp to rise and setting off the low water flow alarm or check engine light in your case...............H

You guys all said it. He probably sucked up some weeds, starved/overheated/melted the drippless packing, then noticed the vibration and overheat issues.

Did you try putting your boat in reverse? did you check the propellor...alot of times that seaweed out there gets wrapped aroudn your prop pretty bad, a quick reverse usually gets it off, mroe than likely its' what caused the vibration. prolly sucked soome of the stuff up too.

"(It's amazing how many boats on Lake Austin will cruise right by you when you're floating and have the engine hatch up, btw.)". I stop if the boat looks like it's going to sink, blow up, or hit some rocks. Otherwise, I let the rider finish his set and we'll cruise back to check it out. The others that don't stop on LA are usually wallies and don't know any better.

Remove the intake hose off the oil cooler and clean the grass off the grating! If you dont have a sea strainer that will be clogged with grass! Mine gets clogged all the time here in south louisiana and it sets off my temp and low water press. alarm. Your packing has compleatly failed most likely due to the sea weed that was wrapped around the prop which threw it out of balance. 99% sure your shaft is not bent!