Unfortunate 2-stroke failure.

[Bird]

Went fishing with an old buddy of mine at lake Anna, 2 hr drive.

We were on the water less than 10 minutes when the engine died.

This engine ran fantastic in the past ( Mariner 150 ) so we tried priming and restarting, nothing.

The starter was laboring with a brand new battery.

 

Um, my buddy forgot to add 2-stroke oil and straight gassed the engine, sieged, locked up.

I felt bad for him, he's 68 retired and this is his 4th bass boat.

[TOXIC]

That sucks.  My 2005 Yamaha is a 2 stroke but I don’t direct mix.  I trust the auto oiler.  If it fails, I get an alarm for low oil and it’s designed to fail to full oiling. 

[BayouSlide]

My 2004 Yamaha 60 HP had the auto oiler disabled when I bought it used, which was fine with me. Use the same attention to detail and double checking myself when mixing oil and gas at 50:1 as I do to use the right pump when I need diesel, not gas in my vehicles. Keep the mixing ratio container right next to the Quicksilver synthetic 2-stroke jug in the garage.

 

All my boat gas is in six gallon jugs or 1.5 or 4 gallon Rotopax labeled "Premixed oil & gas only".

 

You can't be too careful: The engine you save will be your own 😉.

[Bird]

18 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

That sucks.  My 2005 Yamaha is a 2 stroke but I don’t direct mix.  I trust the auto oiler.  If it fails, I get an alarm for low oil and it’s designed to fail to full oiling. 

The embarrassing part.

He trusted the auto oiler as well but it was dry. 😳

[WRB]

Should heard the warning alarm!

Some anglers disable the alarm when mixing oil to gasoline manually. 
Tom

[Way2slow]

Sounds like he like a lot of people with their automobiles, all you have to do is put gas in and drive them.  Everything else will magically take care of itself.  I was over at a guys house picking us something I had bought from him and his teenage son pulls up in a Honda Fit.  Motor was noisy as all h**l.  I mentioned it to him, and he said it's been sounding like that for a couple of days but was getting worse.  I asked him if he had checked the oil in it, his answer "how do you do that?".  His dad didn't even know enough to realize it didn't have any oil in it. 

[Will Ketchum]

The engine may have seized from the heat generated by all that un-lubed friction. Once it cooled and had the right oil and gas mix, the engine itself may have survived.

[airshot]

What is so hard about filling the oil tank when you fill your gas tank ??  People need to pay attention , or Mabry they have deep pockets and can afford big repair bills.  Many years back I worked part time for an outboard repair shop, you would be surprised how many folks " forget" to mix there two stroke fuel with oil.  Unbelievable to me......been a boat owner for over 60 yrs and never forgot to mix my oil !!  

[Woody B]

1 hour ago, Will Ketchum said:

The engine may have seized from the heat generated by all that un-lubed friction. Once it cooled and had the right oil and gas mix, the engine itself may have survived.

I had a 2 cycle motorcycle when I was a kid.  It had a reservoir, and metered it's own oil.  Being a kid I never thought about putting oil in it.  It had a glass sight bubble, but it was stained.  It looked like it had oil in it.  I ran it until it locked up.   After it cooled off I put oil in the spark plug hole and got it freed up.  I rode if for a couple years after that.   (with oil in the reservoir)

[MickD]

I doubt very much if an engine that seizes due to lack of oil will run right after seizing.  I had a 50 HP Johnson which had their diaphragm oiling pump, and the pump failed, the engine scored the cylinder walls and would not idle well after that.  I caution anyone with an old Johnson/Evinrude with the diaphragm pump to mix oil and don't trust that oiling mechanism.  Diaphragm pumps are notoriously unreliable.  I'm not familiar with other oiling systems.

[DaubsNU1]

Ugh. Bummer. 

 

My brother used straight gasoline in my old Lawn Boy 2-stroke push mower back in the day...siezed the engine. Thankfully a neighbor ran nursery / mowing company...he pulled the engine apart, bored out the cylinders, replaced the piston...that old Lawn Boy is probably still running somewhere. 

 

Have a marine mechanic take a look...might be worth it. Maybe not...

[Tennessee Boy]

Lot’s of stories in this thread about human failures.  None so far about auto oiler failures.  I’ve never heard of an auto oiler failing.   I’m sure it can happen and I’m sure it has happened but the human is usually the most unreliable link in the chain.  

[Bankc]

18 hours ago, Way2slow said:

Sounds like he like a lot of people with their automobiles, all you have to do is put gas in and drive them.  Everything else will magically take care of itself.  I was over at a guys house picking us something I had bought from him and his teenage son pulls up in a Honda Fit.  Motor was noisy as all h**l.  I mentioned it to him, and he said it's been sounding like that for a couple of days but was getting worse.  I asked him if he had checked the oil in it, his answer "how do you do that?".  His dad didn't even know enough to realize it didn't have any oil in it. 

Yeah.  I had a great uncle, who didn't believe oil changes were necessary.  He was convinced it was just a way for the dealer to get more money from you.  So he never had the oil changed on any car he ever owned.  

Now, to be fair, he only ever drove to church.  So he's sell his car after 10 years and only have something like 15-25k miles on it.  So he never actually experienced why that was necessary.  But we all felt sorry for whoever bought his cars from him.  We were sure they all thought they were getting a great deal on a super low mileage car, only to find out it was probably on its last legs after going 20k miles on the break-in oil.

[DaubsNU1]

@Bankc, WOW, just wow!

 

I do all of the maintenance / oil changes on everything I own...truck, car, Mercury, ATV's, pressure washer, generator, make sure the 2-strokes have good fuel and oil (weed eaters, blower, chain-saw, old Lawn Boy push mowers, etc.)

 

I was running 5k miles between changes in vehicles...moving back to 3k now...It's so inexpensive to do it myself...cheap insurance. I write down every oil change with mileage, and document all maintenance. Whenever I sell a used vehicle, provide all the documentation to potential buyers...always seem to get asking price : )

 

My former brother-in-law leased a Camry, did the oil changes himself, but never changed the filter...it was "too hard to reach." Yep, engine failure...had to shell out $$$ for a new engine, before he turned in the lease.  Ugh!

[TnRiver46]

5 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Lot’s of stories in this thread about human failures.  None so far about auto oiler failures.  I’ve never heard of an auto oiler failing.   I’m sure it can happen and I’m sure it has happened but the human is usually the most unreliable link in the chain.  

See mick D post above 

[TnRiver46]

I’ve run two stroke all kinds of things and never forgot the oil. And believe me I can forget all kinds of things: The only problems I have encountered when you leave a chainsaw sitting for about three or four years without using it.
 

[MickD]

21 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

 I’ve never heard of an auto oiler failing.

The old Johnson/Evinrude external diaphragm pumps were prone to failure.  Mine failed and scored the cylinder walls, needed to replace the short block. If I had one still running today, I would not trust it but would mix my oil and fuel.