DF140 Engine shut off and wont start

[GrooteElyandt]

Suzuki DF 140

Background:
Coming back from trip out, engine running great all day nothing out of the ordinary full on fuel and oil, 800 hours on outboard regularly serviced.

Problem:
Driving home rough swell, engine makes thud noise and shuts off. Light smoke/steam from under cowl. Smoke didn't persist only lasted two seconds.

No alarms were activated prior to this happening. Couldn't restart engine (had to get a tow).

I still can't start engine: When I turn the key the engine tries to turn over but can't. Also looks as though it is shaking a bit more than usual when I try and start it.

Does anyone know what could be potentially wrong? My gut feeling is the engine isn't getting fuel but wouldn't that have resulted in a sputtering failure instead of an instant thud and failure? Just not sure where to start looking to fix the problem?

Any help is really appreciated

Cheers

[noelm007]

first thing to do is remove the engine cover and turn the motor by hand to make sure it is all OK, a "thud, smoke and stop" does not sound good.

[redlowrey]

Need more imformation mate, how ruff, did the motor take one over the cowl might have sucked some water passed the throttle plate. Does not sound good, pull the plugs out and do a compression test first and we will go from there.

[Harper]

Yep, afraid I have to agree with redlowrey and noelm.....that maybe in rough trailing seas your engine ingested some water and you've suffered a hydraulic lock in one or more of the cylinders. If that's the case, there's likely to be some major damage. It's probably not a good idea to continue to try and start it anymore until you've looked into it a little deeper. Try removing all the spark plugs and see if the starter motor will crank the engine more easily, and check for water being ejected from the sparkplug holes. I'm afraid you're looking at a complete tear-down of the engine, and you'll be contending with rust on the pistons, rings, and cylinder walls, damaged internal parts (such as bent rods), etc.

[GrooteElyandt]

Thanks for the help.

Didn't take too much water if any over the cowl, no more than I have ever in the past. Would have needed to really punch through a massive wave to get that kind of water inside the cowl I would think? Just before the engine stopped notice it was working a bit harder through the chop but wasn't the worst seas its been through by a long shot.

When it went down, I checked the oil then checked fuel levels (both fine). Switched to the full fuel tank and began to pump fuel into the engine again. Was able to feel fuel going through the bulb for a couple seconds than wasn't able to get any more into it, it firmed up. Tried to start the engine again and it almost kicked over, further than before i pumped it with fuel. The bulb usually firms up quite easily where it seemed it took alot more work to get it to firm up. I continued to try and pump the bulb and felt like I couldn't get any fuel into it or hear any liquid passing through. I haven't been able to get it to firm up again.


Could a blocked fuel line, or leak in the fuel line, air in the lines cause the engine to suddenly shut off like that and smoke?


Will do a compression test on the cylinders and see how we go.


Cheers

[noelm007]

Yes, it COULD be a blocked fuel line and all sorts of things, BUT.... do the things asked first, blindly trying things in hope is not the way to go!

[GrooteElyandt]

Alright

Took out spark plugs

3rd cylinder from top, spark plug is smashed from impact! Oil traces on plug. Big problem to start with.

All other spark plugs are normal.

Did a quick compression test (turned the motor over by hand slight clicking noise):

3rd cylinder isn't getting any compression at all. Other ones still compressing.


Took an air compressor and shot air into the 3rd cylinder. Air is coming out of 4th cylinder!

I am going to have to remove the head to find out whats going on but any one have any thoughts?

[Harper]

No tellin' 'til you get the head off. But it doesn't sound good. Not sure how you could have compression on #4 if, as you say, air passes from 3 to 4, since air must also pass from 4 to 3. Are you sure that air isn't passing 3 to 4 via either the intake or exhaust manifolds, with one or more valves open on either cylinder? The only time both valves on cyl #3 would be completely closed would be near TDC at the end of the compression stroke. In any case, I think anything said before you pull the head would just be pure speculation.

[redlowrey]

Before you pull the head off, pull the cam cover off and have a look at the valves, get the crook cyl on to TDC compression and check the bucket clearance. put your air on the cyl and then see where the air is going, don't have to higher pressure other wise it might push the piston down. By the sounds of it the rough sea's have nothing to do with your problem. Take the oil filler cap off, listen for air at the throttle plate, oil filler, and the prop, mate if a lot of air gushes out of the oil filler it is asta la vista.

[Slim jim]

If the 3rd plug is smashed from impact something has hit it . I would think that can only be a piston ? Which suggested serious problems.

[UroGator]

Suzuki DF 140

Background:
Coming back from trip out, engine running great all day nothing out of the ordinary full on fuel and oil, 800 hours on outboard regularly serviced.

Problem:
Driving home rough swell, engine makes thud noise and shuts off. Light smoke/steam from under cowl. Smoke didn't persist only lasted two seconds.

No alarms were activated prior to this happening. Couldn't restart engine (had to get a tow).

I still can't start engine: When I turn the key the engine tries to turn over but can't. Also looks as though it is shaking a bit more than usual when I try and start it.

Does anyone know what could be potentially wrong? My gut feeling is the engine isn't getting fuel but wouldn't that have resulted in a sputtering failure instead of an instant thud and failure? Just not sure where to start looking to fix the problem?

Any help is really appreciated

Cheers

Resurrecting this thread. Did the OP ever figure out what went wrong?

Had the same symptoms happen to my port side DF140 yesterday. Calm seas. Got up on plane for about a minute, then heard a loud metal clanging sound followed by loss of power and slight steam or smoke coming from under cowling. Same engine three a 3-5 code yesterday, but cleared on its own. No codes present when engine made this noise and lost power. Shut port engine off immediately and came home on 1 engine. Port Engine temp reading was higher than normal at 174F (compared to 150F for the starboard side). Tried to crank engine up once back at dock. Engine turns over, but does not fire. Still no codes thrown. Any ideas what may be wrong? I’m looking at a possible repower anyway, so I don’t want to sink too much to find out this was a catastrophic engine failure.