Attention Gear Heads. Hydrolock

[d47m122]

No Captains Call.

[dustinm]

They probably "dropped" it in, i.e. slid off the forks. And my guess either the person who did it fears for their job or management is trying to get someone else to pay. I have witnessed both scenarios play out.

[Big Block Power]

Or again these exhaust risers aren't high enough above the water line?

[tbully]

Or again these exhaust risers aren't high enough above the water line?

BB - I think that, sadly, you may be right. (Or a combination of things and this being what puts it over...)

I can see one or two failures but we're seeing way too many, it seems......

[d47m122]

My dealer now says they are attempting to warranty this with Volvo. I got a contact for both Volvo and Cobalt. Cobalt quickly replied and said: "Hydrolocking is something that can in many different scenarios. We at Cobalt do not do any warranty repairs on engines or service engines. We install the engines new out of the box here at our facility and do a short test on them and the boat is ready to go to the dealer network." So they pointed to Volvo. I have not heard anything from Volvo myself, so will have to see how this goes. It's possible my boat may be back up and running today provided nothing else was damaged in the engine. I'll keep pressing for some kind of response from Volvo on this. My main concern at this point is how to I prevent this from happening again.

[Big Block Power]

Or again these exhaust risers aren't high enough above the water line?

BB - I think that, sadly, you may be right. (Or a combination of things and this being what puts it over...)

I can see one or two failures but we're seeing way too many, it seems......

Yes. One was going on a trailer. Bam rear end of boat goes down. Hard throttle and backs off. Bam sucks in water.
Other one backing off boat going into no wake zone and parking in his slip. Bam done.
Surf models. Bam full of ballast. Bam done.
Rear of the boat going down pushing risers below waterline, bam done.
Ok I'm done. My 2 cents.

Also you know what we have not heard a mercury doing this BB

[SMChilds]

Our 2020 R5 Surf (July 23, 2020 purchase) with 104 hours hydrolocked on 6/17, at the SB Skylaunch as well. Exact same scenario as d47m22 at the same dock. We are now going through the same process with SBC and Volvo Penta. I am sure we will get this resolved, but don't know how to prevent this in the future. SBC has had three Colbalts with the same issue so something is up with the design or engine. Honestly, I don't know how I would change our driving stye to prevent this from occurring again. One of the reasons you buy a new boat is to hopefully minimize these type of issues. This is very frustrating. SMC

[Big Block Power]

3 boats same place that's not a good sign.

[dustinm]

They're dunking them when they are drop them in.

[AsLan7]

Our 2020 R5 Surf (July 23, 2020 purchase) with 104 hours hydrolocked on 6/17, at the SB Skylaunch as well. Exact same scenario as d47m22 at the same dock. We are now going through the same process with SBC and Volvo Penta. I am sure we will get this resolved, but don't know how to prevent this in the future. SBC has had three Colbalts with the same issue so something is up with the design or engine. Honestly, I don't know how I would change our driving stye to prevent this from occurring again. One of the reasons you buy a new boat is to hopefully minimize these type of issues. This is very frustrating. SMC

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So glad you found us SMC. Sorry to hear about your Cobalt woes. It really is trending toward a VP design flaw with that model. Keep us posted. Any pics?

And welcome aboard mate.

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[Krob1114]

They're dunking them when they are drop them in.

Could be if they were all put in when lake is up.
Several of our ramps are closed due to high water.
Only the longer, steeper ramps are open. Had the same problem when I first put our boat in water. Futrell Marine in Heber Springs was very careful and very helpful.

[d47m122]

Our 2020 R5 Surf (July 23, 2020 purchase) with 104 hours hydrolocked on 6/17, at the SB Skylaunch as well. Exact same scenario as d47m22 at the same dock. We are now going through the same process with SBC and Volvo Penta. I am sure we will get this resolved, but don't know how to prevent this in the future. SBC has had three Colbalts with the same issue so something is up with the design or engine. Honestly, I don't know how I would change our driving stye to prevent this from occurring again. One of the reasons you buy a new boat is to hopefully minimize these type of issues. This is very frustrating. SMC

SMC. I'm just seeing this. If you're dealing with the same problem with your Cobalt also at Seattle Boat, let's chat. They just got back to me today saying that a) Volvo would not pay for the ruined spark plugs and the labor as they considered that a maintenance issue and b) Volvo had tentatively agreed to pay for the starter but could still decline to once they inspect it. There is no other rational explanation to this other than there is some combo of engine design, plus the SkyLaunch style launching approach that's causing this. Given that you and I are both going through the same issue, perhaps we should chat.

[LakeDriver]

This happened to me a couple years ago, R7 VP380. Had to get towed off the broads. I did a sudden stop to retrieve an item that blew off the boat. I’m still not sure why the hydrolock occurred. It seems to me the boat should be capable of dealing with that without issue. In any case it doesn’t appear to have damaged the engine.

They removed our spark plugs, turned the engine over manually to expel the water, changed the oil and filter, listen feel and look inspections, compression test. With no damage suspected the engine was started (on stand) and run. The engine was observed at various RPMs while tech listed and felt for unusual sounds & vibrations, none noted. After a lake test the boat was given the green light.

I operated the boat the following day, closely observing the sound and feel of the engine. Everything felt and sounded normal. For my own satisfaction I had the oil changed again.

Around 130+ hours on the engine since then with no problems. I haven’t had any indication of any type of internal damage manifesting as a result of the hydrolock.

[Snowman8]

I wonder why this affects some engines but not all? I have a 2014 R5 with the VP 380 and have chopped the throttle many times for various reasons with no ill effects. Now that I have read this I will probably think about it next time though. A couple weeks ago we met up with some friends that we saw beached on the river so I pushed our R5 up on the beach right next to them. They were beached in an area right next to a no wake zone. It was right where everyone comes down off plane so we were taking pretty big waves because we have a lot of really large cruisers on the St Croix river and it was really busy that day. As were were sitting there with the waves hitting the stern of the boat and even up over the swim platform I thought about this post but when it came time to leave the boat fired right up without any issues.

[Big Block Power]

If I had to guess I think all of these have been on newer r7s with the 380.
I think spinning prop guy may have hit the nail on the head too with volvo not using flappers? And to me a combo on his the boat is loaded in the rear and so on.