Advice needed - 4stroke run without oil

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    Posted: 17 Jan 2020 at 9:31am
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Hi All, 

Happy new year. Just after some advice/help. Went to go for a dive this morning, boat was serviced last year and hasn't been used since.

 Motor started fine, no alarms then got 80m from jetty then clunk it stops. Towed back to jetty. Took boat to marine mechanic where they said would just be an oil pressure issue, leave it there they will check it out. I thought that sounded odd, motor a 115 merc 4 stroke 130ish hours 4 years old serviced every year and been shed stored, its in good condition never missed a beat.

 I checked dipstick and no oil showing whatsoever, boat hadn't been used since the service and no oil on concrete in shed. Looks like there was no oil put in at time of service. 

Mechanic said no worries as there would be enough in the sump to keep it lubricated??? I thought all oil is drained during service process?? 

My concern is what does the future look like for this motor? It was run for maybe 4mins then clunked and stopped. Anyone had this before? You would not expect to have a motor return from a service with no oil in it..... i thought they were supposed to be run for 15mins before leaving to do a systems check at operating temp.... surely this would have been picked up then?

Not my motor but asking for some advice on behalf. 

Any advice appreciated

Cheers,
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote OneWayTraffic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jan 2020 at 9:38am
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Get the mechanic to give you a report in writing. The outfit that serviced it should have liability insurance. IMO I would be contacting your insurance company ASAP to report and open a case history if something shows up wrong.


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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote OuttaHere Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jan 2020 at 11:31am
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Wow, yeah, sounds like they forgot to refill it :/ If it actually _stopped_ rather than some alarm system stopping it then it's probably rooted, good chance that it has spun a bearing or temporarily seized. Have you cranked it over since; does the engine still go round? Would be one thing if it was a car engine where if it dies you just pull over to the side of the road; not so much with a boat engine.

If it had some oil in it I would have said to get an oil test done to check for bearing material in the oil, otherwise someone needs to strip the motor and inspect the big ends, little ends, mains, and probably the cam journals as well. And it very much shouldn't be you that pays for this, as above the mechanic should have liability insurance if they've made a whoopsie.

A friend of ours had something similar happen, mechanic cracked the oil filter housing and the motor ran out of oil on the next outing, mechanic swore black and blue that the engine was fine so our friend said ok if you think it's perfectly good then you shouldn't have a problem swapping it for another motor.

EDIT: If you heard it go "clunk" then it's almost certainly stuffed. Engines don't really have any capacity to go clunk because of the tolerances between parts. When they go "clunk" or "nogga nogga nogga nogga" it's usually because a bearing has spun and shed enough material to open up the clearances enough for, usually, the big end of the con rod to go clonk clonk on the crankshaft. Most of the (car) engines I've seen do this have gone to the scrappy; partly because it's so hard to remove the "glitter" of bearing material that goes all through the motor when this happens.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote MacSkipper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jan 2020 at 3:50pm
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strange and a real worry i can imagine the shop running for cover!  can you look at motor is oil filter obviously clean and new?  I thought these motors had a low oil alarm?
After my car is serviced I like to check oil to make sure its clean and full...will definitely be doing from now on!
Good fishing trip nothing breaks, great trip catch fish.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote MATTOO Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jan 2020 at 4:19pm
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Who serviced it.
Just cruising in my now sweetas pimped out Southern 755 HT0!
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Steps Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jan 2020 at 5:24pm
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It may fire up , run fine when oil goes in.
 If it does can be very sure will run a bearing, or even collapse a piston skirt, wear a few valve guides amongst a few other things...
Bottom line the engine has no life left or very limited..

no alarms then got 80m from jetty

 that is a bit weird.. dont know about that engine model , but damn near all modern 4S have a oil level sensor, no oil engine will not start.. or will cut out.
eg a 4S lawn mower on a slope going the wrong way will stop.
 Even old 2S have oil sensors in tanks
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote pjc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jan 2020 at 11:58am
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How long ago was the service before use?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote yeahbuoy! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jan 2020 at 7:22pm
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Hi, service was about 4-5 months ago I think. Boat hadn’t been started after that until this trip. Cheers
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote pjc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jan 2020 at 7:32pm
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Originally posted by yeahbuoy! yeahbuoy! wrote:

Hi, service was about 4-5 months ago I think. Boat hadn’t been started after that until this trip. Cheers
might be pushing it to make a claim against mechanic after that time lapse.Sorry if that seems negative.
Have you made contact with them??what was their response?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote OuttaHere Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Jan 2020 at 10:23am
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Originally posted by pjc pjc wrote:

Originally posted by yeahbuoy! yeahbuoy! wrote:

Hi, service was about 4-5 months ago I think. Boat hadn’t been started after that until this trip. Cheers
might be pushing it to make a claim against mechanic after that time lapse.Sorry if that seems negative.
Have you made contact with them??what was their response?


Modern motor, should be easy enough to prove as long as your receipt/invoice/workshop notes from the previous service indicated the hours on the motor.

With the ECUs logging bloody everything these days (ours knows how many hours at 1000rpm brackets) you should be able to show that it's only run for a handful of minutes since serviced.
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