Cobaltchat.com

Hi All. About a month ago, I took delivery of a new A36BR with twin Volvo 380s. This is my third cobalt. I had a R5 with the mercury racing 520 and an R3 with the same VP 380. My A36 has 22 hours on it. Yesterday, I was throttling up and cruising at around 40 mph and bang, something broke and one of the motors shut off. Opened engine hatch and one of the motors was smoking and motor oil everywhere. It basically blew up, oil leaking from front of engine but it just about coated everything in oil. I was past break in period of 20 hours. Dealer is diagnosing today. Anyone ever heard of a blown VP 380 with such low hours on it? I imagine i'll be without the new boat for several weeks. Thanks.

Wow that sucks. Welcome though. Any pictures of your Beautiful boat. I hate to say but I think your a first. Sounds like something just wasn't tightened up properly in that engine. They have been pretty bullet proof.

Yea i'm blown away (pun intended) that this would happen. I had the merc racing motor in my r5 and ran it hard and never an issue. here is a pic of the boat and a picture of the engine compartment showing the aftermath of the blow up.

Wow! that sounds catastrophic! sorry to hear. I know on the older volvo 8.1 they had a problem with the oil line connectors blowing off and spraying oil all over the engine compartment. hopefully your engine sensed the drop in pressure and shut down on its own

.
Wow jgwin. I’m so sorry to hear about your blown motor. That’s rough. Thx for posting pics.

Thank goodness it is under warranty. Dealer will make it right.

That’s a first though seeing a 22 hour motor blown while cruising.

Please keep us posted.

...and welcome aboard mate.

.

I blame Malibu

update: dealer confirmed that a valve went through both sides of the block and it's toast. they also agreed this is a first

jgordonwin wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 3:01 pm update: dealer confirmed that a valve went through both sides of the block and it's toast. they also agreed this is a first

that is terrible to hear man. Good thing it is under warranty but nothing worse than having a brand new boat and not being able to use it.

jgordonwin wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 3:01 pm update: dealer confirmed that a valve went through both sides of the block and it's toast. they also agreed this is a first

Sorry to hear and welcome from Ohio. Stupid question. But if it will be a while, can u just use one engine?

ajcampen wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 4:57 pm

jgordonwin wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 3:01 pm update: dealer confirmed that a valve went through both sides of the block and it's toast. they also agreed this is a first

Sorry to hear and welcome from Ohio. Stupid question. But if it will be a while, can u just use one engine?

Only if you plan to counter steer or ride on the side of one trim tab the entire time

plus, every alarm chirp on the Garmin system was going crazy and you would also have to like the smell of burning motor oil. The bilge was full of oil. I'm hoping they get it fixed up quickly. They did offer a loaner but they don't have any other A36's....

tgrace98 wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 2:12 pmI blame Malibu

I agree it's a malibu issue. That's awesome tgrace98!!
So was Jeff Gordon driving this when it happened? I demand 2 merc 8.2s in that baby!!!
Aj did you really say that.

By the way where do you use that baby?

I have to say that I liked my merc 520 motor better (but it was too loud).. I'm on lake lanier, GA

jgordonwin wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 6:23 pm I have to say that I liked my merc 520 motor better (but it was too loud).. I'm on lake lanier, GA

Very cool. Just think though twin 520s oh that sounds beautiful. Yes they make it mandatory to run exhaust out the hull. Plus special steering. At the factory they said because of the regging they have to do its so specialized that they won't offer it anymore.
By the way yes I'm a huge JG fan.

Yes I’m certainly a JG fan too. I loved my R5 with the 520. I believe I had one of the few ever made. Owned it for 3 years. Was a 65mph boat. Didn’t have the hole shot of the newer VPs but above 3k rpm it just took off like nuts and sounded amazing. Probably was it was loud, always. I installed switchable mufflers on it which helped but it was still very loud at idle. I loved that boat but I also wanted something bigger that was more comfortable and that I could overnight on every so often. If they did 520s with a true CC system that would be a done deal.