Dead 1996 ProV 200

Hello everyone,

I just joined this site and hope to get some insight as to what happened to our ProV 200.

Last Labor Day weekend, the motor was making a loud whining sound at full throttle and we experienced a significant loss at top end. We brought the boat to a local Mercury dealer (only boat dealer near our cottage) and a compression check was done...all cylinders ok except # 6 which was dead. They suggested we bring the boat back to our dealer who services Yamaha and have them do an independent check.

We brought the boat back home and had our dealer look at it to see what the cause was but nothing to note. Pressure was fine throughout all 6 cylinders. The boat was taken out for a test drive and while idling from the launch to the open lake, the motor died. We were towed back in and the cover was pulled off at the dealer the next morning to discover a hole in the side of the block on the driver's side. I have attached pictures to better describe the hole.

I guess we expect to have the power head rebuilt but have not had an answer as to what really happened and why.

The motor has about 500 hours on it (max). The motor has been babied since we bought it new with the boat in 1996. We use the boat primarily for barefooting.

Any ideas?

Thoughts, comments, etc. would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Rockman

Thanks for your comments.

We have always kept the oil reservoir at least half filled. I think it holds about 4 gallons in our boat. So I know we could not have run the motor dry.

The heat guage never showed the temp rising at all...but I know the temp guages are not always accurate as well. We always kept watch for any suchs signs.

Should we just get the motor taken apart but what do we need to look for?

Is it worse case scenario that we will need to replace the powerhead or do you think the motor is totalled?

RM