First of all this motor was bought new in 1998 and is on a 16 n a half foot glass boat. The motor has been very good and reliable all these years. Had the lower unit redone about 4 years ago and no problems since. Saturday went to texoma and went on about a 10 mile run to find some crappie, got there no problem, fished awhile then decided to go south. Heard a whining noise when I took off but quit when I planned out. As the day went on the sound got worse so I decided to call it a day. Got to the ramp and the sound went from whining to grinding. Killed it for good. Got home put the boat in gear and turned prop and it turns fine. Checked oil and it was completely dry. My heart sank for some reason alarm that's worked before never sounded. To me it sounds like there's a piston hitting metal. I'm no expert mechanic but know a little. What I'm trying to figure out is should I start with oil in the tank, or would that make the damage worse? Thank ahead for any advice.

The damage is already done all thats left is for it to come apart. That sux for sure I personally would not run it again until it gets fixed as it will leave you stranded. You were fortunate not to have been left 10 mi from the ramp.

Yea I don't plan on running it until I figure out what's going on. I'm not totally convinced its destroyed yet. Has anyone ever pulled the grade on one? It look fairly simple but don't wanna get in over my head. Would like to see how much plays in the piston and what the walls look like. Also I it possible to have them bored and changed. I know on a car block it can be done but didn't know what my options were at this point.

what town are you located in..
First thing I would do is take a compression check...

Dorn I phone I meant to ask if anyone had ever pulled the head?

I'm located in Wylie king dad I do have access to a compression tester. But I would have to check running correct?

The alarms systems on most motors are very unreliable. Your motor tryed to warn you. Do`nt know how many times I have heard: it just made noise or beeped for a couple of seconds, then quit making noise, then boom.

Yea I should have checked this whole things definitely my fault. At this point I think I'm just lucky nothing went boom! Just trying to figure out where to go from here and if it is repairable.

Anything is repairable if it is cost effective to repair might be the question. It is easy to drop a couple grand or more in a powerhead. Taking the heads off isn't going to tell the whole story though. It could be many if different internal parts crank bearing, rod bearing, piston, piston ring. Half of those you can't see from the head side. Have you pulled the cowling off?

I yea put the cowling off for sure, really didn't tell me anything put the boat in gear and turned the prop while in gear. Felt like it had good compression and didn't hear the grinding. Pulled kill switch n spun it over n could maybe hear a little grinding but nothing that just sounded horrible. Not trying to blame it on the motor but the oil had been in their all winter. I'm wondering if the bottom of that reservoir was gunked up and it didn't oil at all. When I left the ramp green light was on when I heard the noise the add light was on. My next step this evening is compression test. Anybody know what good compression should be?

When you say cowling are u talking about the plastic cowling on top of the crank or the actuall hood?

The hood I would look for any signed of cracks on the powerhead, I'm no expert except for tearing up motors. Sounds like a rod bearing is or has come loose and if it contacted the powerhead it probably left a crack or window. Don't ask how I know this lol

Lol I gotcha this is a bad time of year to be boat less. Yea ill def look for any cracks or windows didn't see any. Found a rebuild kit for 500. Doesn't seem bad at all. Just wanna make sure it's gone before I go that far without messing up the powerhead. Built a couple of 350s but never been inside an outboard. Not reall thrilled about it either.

Im assuming your talking about 2 stroke fuel oil tank being dry? But a little confuses at why your turning the prop then.

If the oil tank for the fuel is dry then I would start with a compression test. The motor doesn't have to be running, just take one plug out at a time screw in tester turn over a little and repeat on all cylinders. If your not prepared to rebuild it yourself you may as well take it somewhere.

The reason for turning the prop while the boat was in gear is to see if it was locked up or real hard to turn like something came lose. Yea as said that's the first step tonight is to test compression. Just wanted to get some opinions from others that may have been through this kinda thing and make sure I wasn't missing anything obvious. It is a two stroke and tank was empty when I got to boat ramp and fill light had just come on was not on through the day of running. So there's a chance it ran without oil at some point. Is there a way to put oil to the engine without starting to see if that was my whole problem? Not sure of that's feasible or makes sense.