Seagrass and Suzuki outboards

[spiker]

I was wondering if anyone has experienced the same problem I have been having with my Suzuki 115 HP? I have a 2007 22 Cruiser with 115 Suzuki and Permatrim - during the months of July and August when the seagrass gets heavy on the Great South Bay and you have large amounts floating on the water my engine light comes on and the engine will shut itself down (to prevent overheating). This can happen 4 or 5 times in the course of 30 minutes and so far I have been lucky that it wasn't at a dangerous time where I needed the engine to get me out of trouble.
I was wondering if raising or lowering the outboard on the engine bracket may help? I am not sure if it is the engine or the permatrim or both causing this problem. Any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks, Mike

[jennykatz]

YOU are getting seagrass caught around your water intakes ,Raise the eng and you will see the small grates in front of the prop this is for water cooling of the engine . when you see your in an area with lots of sea grass raise your eng a little so the intake is free of grass you might have to slow down this is a trial and error type thing . also make sure the water outlet (pee stream) is going when this is blocked it could be a water pump problem . We had the 90 suzuki here in the gulf of mexico we never had that problem

[Knotty C]

It's happened to us twice. The first time was the first time we went through Deception Pass with swift current and whirlpools. Very exciting! Had it happen again off of Whidbey Island. This time I shut the engine off and just raised it out of the water and it cleared itself. The electronics on the engine derate the power and warn you. You can retrieve the blink code and it will tell you that the cylinder head temperature was high. The remedy is just an awareness when it happens, shut the engine off and raise it. And avoid the kelp.

Don

[localboy]

I would assume any outboard engine is susceptible to this as they all have cooling water intakes.

[Wefings]

Check out Bob's Machine Shop in Ruskin Fl. They are the kings of Nosecones,Jackplates ,performance mods and water flow . Scroll down the menu on the left [its one of them fancy sites where I cant link right to the page] to nosecones, scroll a little more and you will see what they do.They have a design specifically for grassy areas [Grass Master or Grass Slipper]that flows 50% better. Grass is a problem for flats boats a with a Jackplate and the engine raised , but will make a C Dory cool better too . You ship em the lower unit , they install in 7-10 days and ship back. For a price . They do great work and its an interesting site for gearheads. And no,as far as I know it dosent void the warranty.
Marc

[Doryman]

[spiker]

I would like to thank you all for your input. Just a little more info. - when the engine alarm comes on I usually shut the engine off prior to it shutting itself off. A few times it beat me to it. But then when I raise the motor -there is usually only a couple of strands of grass left on the motor and sometimes there is no grass there.
Also, it seems to always occur when the grass is floating on top of the water - so would it make sense that if the engine was lower I might ride right through it? I don't know but I was hoping with all the experience and knowledge on the C-Brats someone might.
I'm not worried about damaging the motor because I shut it down or the motor shuts itself down so fast that the Temperature gauge doesn't change and there is still water coming out of the side of the motor.
But it is real annoying and potentially very dangerous!!!!
Again, thanks for all your input. It is much appreciated! --- Mike

[Ashley Lynn]

Mike,

This past fall I had a similar scenario happen to me on my 07 115 Suzuki.

The first day that it happened: I was cruising along and the engine cut out 4-5 times over an hour or two period....I never saw anything at the water inlet and the outlet seemed fine. I was headed to Apalachicola(via icw).

I stayed the night where I was and headed for Apalachicola in the morning. The same thing happened twice on the 2 plus hour journey to Apalachicola.

Wefings hauled the boat out and they checked out the motor for me practically the whole day....gradiate temp fault was the alarm, but that alarm was not supposed to cut the motor....they checked everything...since they had the motor torn down we replaced the water pump and impeller(it was due)....the problem never resurfaced...

By the way....Marc only charged me for parts and labor for the water pump.....and fed me some home cooked red snapper....great people.

[Matt Gurnsey]

When you shut the motor off, you eleiminate the suction that can hold the grass to the water intakes, and the grass falls away. Same thing can happen with a plastic bag.

[starcrafttom]

I stop and run in reverse a few feet, that way I dont take the chance that motor will not re-start. a running motor is a good motor. Thats a pratice I learned four wheeling in the back country. Never give a engine a chance to screw you.

[Sarge]

I'm with Tom on this one, best to back up first to see if that solves the problem without stopping the motor, and with two motors, stop only one at a time. Of course, if the motor is stopping on its own then it's a moot point.

My first thought would be that it is more than just sea grass covering your intake, but you say that it only happens during July and August, so I must assume that you are using your boat now and no problems?

On two occasions I had debris caught in my thermostats (Mercury Verados), but once it got stuck and began to overheat the motors, it was there until I removed it. It wasn't good part of the year and bad others...it was just bad until fixed.

On the outside chance that it may be more than just sea grass blocking the intakes, do you have any indicators before the alarm that something odd is happening? Does the temperature begin to fluctuate up and down significantly before the alarm goes off, or is it just running fine and then whammo the alarm? How about water pressure?

Other than that, I have no advice except to avoid the sea grass....yeah, I know, that was helpful.

[spiker]

Thanks again for the replies. The motor is running fine and then I feel it slow down and a second later the alarm sounds. If I don't shut it down it will shut itself down very quickly. The gauges remain unchanged ( no temp change). So reverse will not be an option at least before the engine stops. Thanks Mike

[spiker]

Bob, you said the engine was not supposed to cut out on your Suzuki when the alarm sounds. I was told that the engine shuts itself down to prevent any damage. Has anyone else been told that?
Thanks, Mike

[Jazzmanic]

I believe my DF90 shuts down when the intakes are clogged with grass but it has always started right back. As with others, when I raise the engine and the engine is off, the grass slides right off.