BLOWN Compressor On Our Mercury Optimax Pro XS - Disassembling compressor to investigate
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
- In this video we take your through some of the additional issues we're finding on our new-to-us 2009 Mercury Optimax ProXS 250. First we'll talk about our bent prop shaft, and how we plan to repair that. Then we will dig into the failed injector air compressor on this motor, we'll do some disassembly, (lets call it an autopsy), and show you how and why these compressors blow up, what it can do to your motor, and how to diagnose a failing, faulty or blown compressor.
Thanks for watching, Don't forget to give us a thumbs up and subscribe to keep us making more videos!
Kyle
Reply to this comment if you're at all worried about the compressor on your Optimax (or if yours has ever blown!)
Great video guys! As a DIY maintenance guy myself, I really appreciate good footage of the component, and detailed explanation of how it works, how to fix it, and how one problem can cause another. I have 2015 with 450 hrs, and have never really inspected the compressor system, other than cleaning water strainer. Headed out to inspect mine now. Keep the videos coming, I have a lot to learn!
Thanks so much for watching and commenting . Good on you for doing your own maintenance that's what these motors need and are great motors when looked after properly . You can lose a lot of the boating season with it sitting at a dealership waiting to get worked on at least around here anyways they are always backed up for weeks . If you don't have an oem factory service manual it's a great investment that has the correct info and procedures for anything you would encounter pretty much . I hope your compressor checks out to be good and you have a great season .
Thanks for watching and the kind words!
I have a pair of 2005 Optimax engines bought brand new in ‘05. Have 1400 hours on them. At 1200 hours as a precautionary measure before having a catastrophic failure of the air compressors I changed them out with brand new ones from Mercury. From about 500 hours in, I have always used Pennzoil XLF oil and religiously changed the various inline oil filters under the cowl about every 200 hours. I attribute both that specific oil and the filter changes on why my original air compressors never failed. I’m about to do another round of preventive maintenance, changing out the air/fuel diaphragms in the port fuel rail and the tracker diaghpragm on the starboard side rail, new t-stats and poppet valves, new alternator belt, water pump including the top yellow seal and shift shaft seal, lower unit gear oil change and all new zinc anodes. With the lower unit off, before I put in the t-stats and poppet valves and the new zincs, will be flushing the engines using a sump pump in a trough for about 6 hours recirculating 5% to 7% hydrochoric acid (a/k/a muriatic acid) mixture with water. That dilution of acid is what Rydlyme is. Hope to get another few years out of my Optis which so far have been very reliable for me.
They are great motors if you stay on top of the regular maintenance! Hope you get lots more hours out of them.
@@FishingOntario I mentioned previously the Pennzoil XLF oil - XLF I believe means extra low friction - because I am convinced it’s why I went so long with no compressor failure. Somewhere years ago on some boating forum I had found a thread on this oil and someone had mentioned the lubricity is so good that it’s not recommended to be used during a new engine’s break in process. I get it at Walmart here in Miami, FL USA. Costs about $20 a gallon or so. Have also found it at times on Amazon
@@raisingcane225 Never heard of it before, but it obviously works!
That's a great read and good to hear the success that you have had with them especially in salt it goes to prove that good maintenance and care pays off . How do you find sourcing oem mercury parts to be in your area ? up here it is very hit and miss you can either get it overnight or it takes weeks sometimes for usually the simplest thing that's my only mercury complaint . I wish you continued success and enjoyment with your opti's and thank you for watching and commenting it's good information for us and others that read it as well .
@@chrisholmes1666 For me, generally I’ve not had issues with Mercury part availability. I live in South Florida in the USA and over the past 19 years owning my Optimax’s have bought parts from a combination of brick and mortar local marine stores as well as plenty from online, US-based vendors. I can’t really recall a case where there was a prolonged lack of availability of something I was needing.
Same happened to my 2015 Optimax Pro XS, spent hours to clean up the threaded belt under the cowling.
It's a real biotch. You'll see in the next video how far into the motor the bits of belt go (spoiler alert: it's everywhere!)
Hi guys mine just blew a couple weeks ago, 05 opti 225. looks like I dodged a bullet. I was close to the dock knew something was up with the knock sound and not much metal fragments. Needle bearing blew apart. Looks like I’ll be dropping the 1300 on the part 🤦♂️I’ve read to keep that water screen clear to keep them running as cool as possible
You sure did. I would have your injectors and hoses send out to be cleaned as well, if it was coming apart. I’m sure @chrisholmes1666 can chime in with some more info as well
Yes on keeping the strainer clean. I would have the injection stuff cleaned and flowed including hoses and rails at a reputable place with marine experience .Change the two filters on the oil return lines from the compressor they run to your upper and lower main bearings. You need to take it to a mechanic/dealership and have them do an oil pump prime on it when you get it back together it's cheap and doesn't take long to do .
Hey can the crack journal be turned down and sleved or a insert put inside the rod bearing race ?
That's a great question .The journal is not very robust to begin with I would be worried about the strength of it after turning it enough to get it to clean up before sleeving. The individual parts can be bought like the end cap crank assembly but if the rest of the components are worn I don't think it makes sense to throw money at it as mercury parts are not cheap. There are rumors of people rebuilding them and putting them back into service but I have no experience with that. There is supposed to be a guy a couple hours from us that does that but I can't speak to the success he has . I think the biggest problem with the crank design is that it is only supported by a bearing on the upper end and nothing below the journal and also how they are oiled . Cooling can be a factor to if the strainer is not kept clean .Thanks for watching and commenting
Best way to fix an opti is take the transom bolts out and move on!
🤣🤣Agreed!
LOL they can be a pain in the butt for sure
did you mike the spot on the shaft that the runout gauge is touching to make sure it is perfectly round? if it is not perfectly round, it could give u a false reading,. measure the area of the shaft from 5 different axis and see if there is any variance.. if a shaft is bent enough to cause problems, you should be able to run the motor, and watch the shaft turn and see it , if you cant notice being bent with your eyes, it is not going to cause a problem.
Thanks for watching and commenting mercury has a tolerance number for these shafts of.009 this was .015 and was visible by eye turning the shaft it was straightened by a company that specializes in that area as well as props
Shaft was definitely bent, badly, lol
I am thinking of buying a 2008 Optimax 225 with 230hrs on the clock. Mechanic says it's in great shape and very well kept, good oil use etc. What is the approximate range of hours I should expect the compressor to fail? is round the 400hr mark realistic?
That's a tough question to answer 230 hours is low for the year of the motor and it sounds like it has been looked after very well . The 400 hour number is sort of a general number that seems common to hear but there are lots that have failed with much less and also ones with hundreds of hours that never have had a problem . If it has a problem currently you should be able to feel and hear an audible knock when rocking the compressor pully by hand (belt off) back and forth at top or bottom dead center of the stroke and would be very noticeable when running at idle (optimax motors do have a slight knocking sound when running normally) . Other issues that could happen are broken reeds , piston and or rings cracked or broken damaging the bore . I would say take it to a mechanic that you know and trust that is familiar with these motors and have them check it out it would be money well spent .They can get DDT printout showing previous faults/codes check the compression and fuel and air pressure readings and give you an opinion on the general health of the motor .Good luck with your purchase if you buy it and I hope you get lots of enjoyment from it .Thanks for watching and commenting
Hey Warren, looks like my dad beat me to the punch on replying to you, so thanks for watching and commenting!
I haven't had to work on one yet but where is the filter located?
Which filter are we looking for my friend?
@@FishingOntario the plastic one that you took apart.
@@brucemaessen2959 There are actually three of them one is on the incoming line from the remote tank in the boat and is just before the engine mounted oil tank the other two are in the return lines coming off the compressor and these are the ones in the video one runs to the upper main bearing on the crank and the other runs to the lower main bearing if you follow the lines off the lower part of the compressor you will see them the one going to the lower is harder to see because of components being in the way. They are directional and have an arrow embossed in them the arrow should point away from the compressor towards the main bearings . Hope that helps and thanks for watching.
You can't accurrately check a shaft while in wore out bearings. .001 in a bearing race can multiply a lot by the time you check way out there on an undercut thread.
Must have been reasonably accurate, as that’s is exactly what the repair shop came back with as the pre-repair runout as well🤷♂️
The procedure for checking these small shaft verado cases is spelled out in great detail in the oem service manual the actual specified measuring spot is directly on top of the thread we had just moved the indicator forward to see if it was the same in that spot when the video was done they also give acceptable bearing tolerance specs as well . The people that straightened it have much more accurate methods of measuring the bare shaft than what we used to determine it was bent while installed in the case .They have been in the prop and prop shaft repair business for many years and have an excellent reputation. The fat shaft 1 1/4" torque master cases are measured in a different spot just in front of the splines .
Hey man, what gauge is that? I would like to get one to see if my mechanic was telling me the truth. He said -15 for my 2 year old Yamaha SHO.
It's a Mitutoyo 0-1/2 inch dial indicator the holder/clamp setup is from another indicator set we have it has a screw type clamp that you can mount off the cavitation plate. 15 thou sounds like a lot if that is Yamaha's tolerance I'm not familiar with them but you should be able to get that info pretty easy . Also where yamaha says to take the measurement from. What is shown in the video is actually not the right spot for this lower unit it should be right on top the thread we had just moved it to double check at the time the fat shaft TM 1 and 2 mercury lowers are measured in a different spot than this verado style. Thanks for watching
@@chrisholmes1666 I appreciate the info! I thought I maybe should check it for myself instead of throwing a $1000 at what a tech from a local boat shop is say. Now to find an indicator gauge and call Yamaha. Thanks Again!
Heyo, I'm a bit late on the reply here and I see my dad has already answered your question, so just wanted to follow up and say thanks for watching!
why did the compressor fail, is there a lubrication problem?
There are a few reasons they fail design is one thing they have been upgraded and changed since the first ones. lubrication and also cooling can cause it. There are some that run a long time others seem to have a short life span it's kind of luck of the draw it seems even with the new ones
Bad design by Mercury basically
Always here about the horror stories with compressors. Anything to do to prevent them from blowing.
Yeah it is unfortuantly a VERY common problem if the motor still has a gen1 (grey) compressor on it. Just a bad design that puts too much thrust on the crank pin. The gen2 (black) compressors have an additional bearing to help. Not really much to be done as far as prevention, just keep an eye on it so it doesn't completely destroy the rest of the motor in the event of failure.
Thanks so much for watching and responding I think its kind of luck of the draw this one has just under 400 hours on it and that seems to be the magic number when they have issues but there are lots that go 800 hours and more. Some of the earlier ones were more problematic I believe there was a manufacturing problem for a while that has been addressed this is one of the older unpainted versions made in mexico they have done some redesign of the crank bearing area and how they are oiled on the new painted ones that said there are still failures with the new style as well as far as maintenance keep the strainer clean thats in the exhaust adapter plate so it gets a good supply of water you can see when its restricted by keeping an eye on the tell tale stream strength. Use DFI oil in your optimax and if you are going to leave it sit for a while pull the belt cover off and add about 8-10 drops of premium plus two stroke oil into the compressor inlet and turn the motor over a few times with the kill switch off this lubricates the piston and cylinder walls to help prevent corrosion . There is moisture present because it is a compressor and any type of compressor will make some amount of moisture.
All great info, Dad.
Show much for an inspection. How much to fix this boat?
We’re probably around $4000CAD, not including the compressor that the previous owner very generously paid for for us
Is this a supercharged engine?
No, I wish! Lol
Set the dial indicator on the flat part of the prop shaft not the threads Just trying to convince the customer it needs work. How do you sleep at night!
Actually sleep pretty good thanks. No customers this is our own stuff that we work on . If you drop down a couple questions it is fully explained but short answer is get an oem mercury service manual and it is spelled out in there in great detail where and how to measure for this unit also runout tolerances for these lowers referred to as a verado style. The shaft is measured directly on top of the thread other lowers torque master 1&2 are measured in a different spot. Thanks for watching and commenting .
You ok man?
running those heavy stainless props is not good for the lower units,, also aluminum props will break or bend if u hit something,, stainless props wont and take out your gears...I learned this the hard way..
In the performance boat world stainless is the only option because of the torgue and the weight they are carrying when the boat is on pad and these props are run much closer to the surface of the water they need to be strong aluminum is to weak and the blades have to much deflection under load but they are great on low speed utility and recreational boats for sure way cheaper if you damage one .These lower units are built pretty beefy and this one is the strongest of the three styles available for these motors .
An aluminum prop would not be able to handle the horsepower.
Geese I thought mercury was one of the best motors? Sorry for your troubles
Thanks for watching and commenting. I think in general all the major brands are good and they all have had problems with certain models they have produced .The optimax motors were made for a long period of time late 90's up till 2018 so there are a ton of them out there. I think they are thought of as being great motors and when regular maintenance is kept up on them they are very dependable and great on fuel economy .
Yeah, unfortunately they all have their issues. Thanks for watching!
I believe those compressor cranks didn't have proper surface hardness.
That's a possibility for sure
This one sure didn’t lol
You can straighten shaft without taking it apart.
Thanks for the info we wanted to see the rest of the lower unit parts to check for wear and also do a total reseal taking it apart is not a big job and you have peace of mind in the end. Thanks for watching and commenting
How is the best way to straighten. I have one that needs
@@ScottMorganHarris In my opinion the best way is to take the lower unit apart and send the shaft to someone who does prop work they often do prop shaft straightening as well .They will have fixtures and tooling they have developed to do the job without damaging the critical surfaces on the shaft and also be able to measure it accurately. Trying to straighten it while still on the boat with a pipe over the shaft could lead to damage to the prop shaft bearings and other parts of the gear case in my opinion . A good machine shop would also be able to do it but they might have to fabricate some tooling possibly which would be time you would be charged for so if you can find someone that's set up to do it it will be cheaper .Around hear it costs about $150 to get one straightened a new prop shaft is approximately $ 700 US dollars if you can get one .
I don't really see any way you could, without removing it. Also, need to take apart the lower unit to inspect the bearings that were damaged from the shaft being run bent anyways.