water leaking into boat

[ROBDOG1]

My 1993 Stingray with 4.3L Mercrusier engine serial # 0f074464

I have had the boat 4 years every year I add antifreeze using the ears muffs and I take the battery out........I am in North Carolina that is all I do to winterrize it.

On Thursday cranked it up and ran fine on the muffs

Friday dropped it into the lake cranked up........within 5 min water was filling up the engine compartment.......took it out and drain in and put it in a again without cranking the motor no leak....start the engine and the water comes in near the manifold on passenger side.

Took it home and connected the muffs and didnt see any leak. no water in oil

What should I do now!!!!!!!!

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: water leaking into boat

Using muffs without draining everything first is risky.Might be a crack in the block or manifold.
Retest in the lake under a load and look to see where it comes in from.

 

[ROBDOG1]

Re: water leaking into boat

Thanks for the quick response

I did and it looked like it was coming from the passenger side manifold........would it be safe to say if there is no water in the oil and the engine runs good, that the engine block my be ok?

Is there any other things I should check??

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: water leaking into boat

If you could post the EXACT steps you took in witerizing ,i might be able to give you a answer. If it is a external crack there most likely is a internal one,maybe not all the way yet.
A cracked exaust manifold will cause a miss or two.Make sure it is a manifold and not a block crack. Remove the suspected manifold and test it off the engine.

 

[Bondo]

Re: water leaking into boat

I did and it looked like it was coming from the passenger side manifold........would it be safe to say if there is no water in the oil and the engine runs good, that the engine block my be ok?

Ayuh,... It's not safe to say anything til you know EXACTLY where it's Cracked/ leaking...

 

[ROBDOG1]

Re: water leaking into boat

All I do to Winterize ...........
1) fill gas and add treatment
2) run muffs on with water , then switch and run with 5 gallons of pink
Antifreeze
3) remove battery
4) grease all fittings
5) cover boat

If the engine had a crack block would it still run good?......Ithought the freeze plugs would pop out first.

Thanks for all the help!!!!

 

[JustJason]

Re: water leaking into boat

2) run muffs on with water , then switch and run with 5 gallons of pink
Antifreeze

Those kits are a recipe for disaster, I and many others on this board do not recomend them.

If the engine had a crack block would it still run good?......

Sure the engine would run fine as long as it was still cooling and water was not getting into the oil. When enough water gets into the oil or if the engine can no longer cool/develops hot spots, that's when you run into trouble.

the freeze plugs would pop out first.

There is no such thing as a freeze plug. Freeze plug is something that some high school teacher that didn't know what they were doing called 1 many years ago, and it stuck for whatever reason. They are called core plugs. They are there to cover the holes that sand comes out of during the actual casting process of the block. They are not intented to, nor designed to prevent freeze damage.

 

[Don S]

Re: water leaking into boat

2) run muffs on with water , then switch and run with 5 gallons of pink
Antifreeze

This comes up all the time, have a look at this thread.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=280921

HERE is some other information you need if you want to winterize correctly, because you are missing a LARGE portion of the things that should be done during winterization as preventive maintenance.

 

[ROBDOG1]

Re: water leaking into boat

Here is a picture I took of the 'CASTING PLUG'..........there are signs of rust!!!

Are there any test I can try before removing the manifold?

 

[ROBDOG1]

Re: water leaking into boat

Without pulling the manifold off or taking the engine out ..............is there any test I can try to determined if it is the block or the manifold?

No leak with muffs on but under pressure it looks like it is leaking were the manifold bolts on.........could it only be a gasket?

I am lost and not sure where to start.

Thanks

 

[ROBDOG1]

Re: water leaking into boat

UPDATE:
Found one of the 'FREEZE PLUGS" popped out.......put a new one in and it runs great.

That is good news......

My question is there any thing I should before taking it to the lake....i will run till it gets warm and check for leaks.

Any help will be nice

Thank you!!!

 

[bomar76]

Re: water leaking into boat

So, now do you see the folly in using the muffs and antifreeze technique?

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: water leaking into boat

Test it with the muffs first to make sure nothing else is leaking
Put the hull drain in and lake test it up to temp. Report back with the results

 

[ROBDOG1]

Re: water leaking into boat

Put boat into the lake this weekend and ran it for a couple hours and pulled my 240lb son on a wakeboard with no problems!!!!

I KNOW I AM VERY LUCKY AND HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON!!!!

Thanks for the help!!!



Thanks
Rob