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injured boat motor question
I thought of a question! A boat is technically an automobile, right? This is generic enough...
My ~40 year old old 9.9 hp 4-stroke boat motor has an idiotic feature: an incandescent idiot light that you can't actually see when it's sunny out. The light comes on when oil pressure is good.
You can probably guess what this idiot did.
A few summers ago, the oil filter clogged, so the motor overheated and briefly "seized" -- meaning, it stopped running, but the flywheel would still turn (with a fair amount of resistance). After a couple of minutes sitting, it would re-start, I guess because it cooled down enough, and then seize again after a few more minutes. It actually made a squealing sound the last time it stopped that makes me cringe just remembering it.
When I realized what was wrong, I sailed back to the dock.
I flushed/changed the oil 3 times (VERY sparkly), and ran the motor briefly between flushes.
The engine still works, though I think it's noisier than it used to be. I've changed to a thicker motor oil and have used it without incident for a couple of hours since then. But obviously there was some kind of damage done (glitter in the oil), and I'm wondering how concerned I should be. It gets used -gently - about 5 hours a year. Think it's going to self-destruct?
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