smckean (Tosca)
New member
I guess I'm the unlucky one. Within 2 days of having my 2005 CD25 Cruiser christened as "Tosca" at the May Friday Harbor gathering; and after owning the boat for a little more than a year; and after putting a mere 100 hours on the engine that already had a 1000 hours on it; and after spending $2000 on a major tune up and chain case replacement just 40 engine hours ago; my Honda 150 engine destroyed itself!
My main interest at this point is whether or not anyone else, who has a Honda, has had this experienced. According to the Honda authorized mechanic, the thrust bearings (I think that's what he called them) that the vertical crank shaft sits on failed. Apparently, this is a known problem with Honda 150s (and perhaps other Hondas). The 150 is essentially a Camray engine turned vertically; given this vertical orientation, these thrust bearings were added to support the crank shaft. My choices are to re-power the boat, or save the lower end by replacing the powerhead. Both are very expensive options.
Briefly, here's what happened. I was heading home to Guemes from Sucia, cruising along at 4400 RPM (what I consider to be the "sweet spot" when I want to go relatively fast), on perfectly calm water, in clear bright sunshine, with no debris in the water, when the engine suddenly lost power and a loud clunk noise came from the engine. The engine ran after that, but with a mild banging noise as long as I kept the RPMs below 2000 (above 2000 RPM the noise got quite loud). Luckily, I got to my destination in that condition. A couple of weeks later, I motored over to Cap Sante Marine to get a diagnosis -- a trip of only 4 or 5 miles. On the way, another loud clunk was heard, and after that the engine sounded as if it were a bag of tin cans being shaken. I barely made it into the harbor.
The mechanic told me that a few of these Hondas do this. Indeed, when I told him my story while still in his office, this crank shaft thrust bearing issue was his first guess among 2 or 3 other possibilities. He said it would be pretty easy to tell. Once on the boat, he looked carefully for any telltale oil leaks or other evidence under the cowling. He then listened to the engine at various locations with a modified stethoscope. Then came the ultimate test of his guess; he put a small pry bar under the pulley that is attached to the crank shaft just under the easily removed cover at the top of the engine. The pully moved slightly under pressure. He looked at me and said: "Not good!" He applied more pressure, and the shaft moved 1/2". "That's it.", he said, "The powerhead will have to be replaced." He said that a properly experienced person with the right tools could re-build the engine for $2000-3000 in parts; but for the average consumer (definitely me :wink
, a replacement powerhead from new parts from the factory would be my cheapest option (about $10,000). I'm looking at that, or a brand new engine (which would be at least double that).
The mechanic told me that he had seen several Hondas fail in this way; the vast majority don't, but some do. I asked if there was a pattern (poor maintenance, hard running, etc), he said no -- it seems to be the luck of the draw. I asked if the engine might have been saved had I not run it home. He said no that the damage had no doubt happened well before that. (And indeed when I got home, with his suggestion, I looked at the old chain case that I saved from the major maintenance done just 40 engine hours previous; it showed the telltale scrape marks from that pully moving up and down once the thrust bearing began to fail.)
Anyone else had anything similar to this happen??
My main interest at this point is whether or not anyone else, who has a Honda, has had this experienced. According to the Honda authorized mechanic, the thrust bearings (I think that's what he called them) that the vertical crank shaft sits on failed. Apparently, this is a known problem with Honda 150s (and perhaps other Hondas). The 150 is essentially a Camray engine turned vertically; given this vertical orientation, these thrust bearings were added to support the crank shaft. My choices are to re-power the boat, or save the lower end by replacing the powerhead. Both are very expensive options.
Briefly, here's what happened. I was heading home to Guemes from Sucia, cruising along at 4400 RPM (what I consider to be the "sweet spot" when I want to go relatively fast), on perfectly calm water, in clear bright sunshine, with no debris in the water, when the engine suddenly lost power and a loud clunk noise came from the engine. The engine ran after that, but with a mild banging noise as long as I kept the RPMs below 2000 (above 2000 RPM the noise got quite loud). Luckily, I got to my destination in that condition. A couple of weeks later, I motored over to Cap Sante Marine to get a diagnosis -- a trip of only 4 or 5 miles. On the way, another loud clunk was heard, and after that the engine sounded as if it were a bag of tin cans being shaken. I barely made it into the harbor.
The mechanic told me that a few of these Hondas do this. Indeed, when I told him my story while still in his office, this crank shaft thrust bearing issue was his first guess among 2 or 3 other possibilities. He said it would be pretty easy to tell. Once on the boat, he looked carefully for any telltale oil leaks or other evidence under the cowling. He then listened to the engine at various locations with a modified stethoscope. Then came the ultimate test of his guess; he put a small pry bar under the pulley that is attached to the crank shaft just under the easily removed cover at the top of the engine. The pully moved slightly under pressure. He looked at me and said: "Not good!" He applied more pressure, and the shaft moved 1/2". "That's it.", he said, "The powerhead will have to be replaced." He said that a properly experienced person with the right tools could re-build the engine for $2000-3000 in parts; but for the average consumer (definitely me :wink
, a replacement powerhead from new parts from the factory would be my cheapest option (about $10,000). I'm looking at that, or a brand new engine (which would be at least double that).The mechanic told me that he had seen several Hondas fail in this way; the vast majority don't, but some do. I asked if there was a pattern (poor maintenance, hard running, etc), he said no -- it seems to be the luck of the draw. I asked if the engine might have been saved had I not run it home. He said no that the damage had no doubt happened well before that. (And indeed when I got home, with his suggestion, I looked at the old chain case that I saved from the major maintenance done just 40 engine hours previous; it showed the telltale scrape marks from that pully moving up and down once the thrust bearing began to fail.)
Anyone else had anything similar to this happen??