#ot136020. 2000 Mercury 225efi
I need help with this mystery. This June I hit a log/ stump at about 40 mph. I realized I was off course to late but I did let off the throttle just before impact. The motor shut down immediately. At this point I trimmed the motor up to inspect the lower unit for damage. The water inlet on the front of the motor was dented in a little and the prop looked good. So I fired it back up, water pressure good and coming out the tattle tale normally. No alarms. At this point I decided it must be ok, so I idled about 200 yards off the flat back to the river channel. No issues. Hammer down and I’m on my way again. About approximately 5 minutes of running 90% throttle she stumbled like it was running out of gas which I knew it wasn’t. And then it went right back to running good. So back into the throttle. 30 seconds later, she came apart. You know, that sound of ball bearings in a coffee can. As I turned around to look at it I noticed water running out of the trim switch, not good! Removing the cowling, the entire lower cowling is FULL of water. It’s done, seized up tighter than a frogs ass. Might as well fish.
The insurance company is telling me that the failure was caused by normal wear and tear, specifically to #6 cylinder, which they say was worn causing the rubber o-ring to fail and take water in bending #6 rod and breaking #6 piston. To which I say BS! The o-ring has a little spot approximately 3/4” where it looks like it was tore, possibly during tear down. Even if the o-ring completely failed, the amount of water in the cowling doesn’t match the explanation as there is the head gasket behind the o-ring which would prevent water from getting in the cowling.
I basically got the motor back in a box from the marina and it’s been sitting in my garage for a couple weeks and I’ve had a lot of time to look at it. On the back cowling where the tell tale and flush plug are, their hoses are connected with zip tie hose clamps. The zip tie on the tell tale was cut to remove the block but the flush plug zip tie is still intact. Being a pipe fitter, I understand getting a hose off a barbed fitting with a clamp on it is damn near impossible. Especially removing it without breaking the zip tie.
Is it possible that the impact caused the zip tie to fail (slip a couple clicks) thus causing the cowling to fill with water? If not, where else may have the water came from?