1987 bayliner 2.3 omc help

[cds11]

went boating today was running along fine then it started getting slower and slower until it was just barely pulling itself. I could tell that it lost a cylinder the way it was running. got it home and checked the plugs and they looked fine. did a compression check and the front 2 cylinders were fine but the rear two on had 25 psi. pulled the valve cover and air checked the two bad cylinders and both have bent exhaust valves. has anybody ever had this happen? if yes then what all did you end up doing? I don't know how it could have bent the valves out of the blue like that? like I said it was running fine. had good oil pressure and the tem was running fine. I dot want to pull the head and have the valves fixed if theres more problems. it is an older boat but still in good shape. all help and suggestions appreciated.

 

[alldodge]

Did you find any moisture in either of the cylinders?
Could be your exhaust is leaking or the exhaust shutters are gone. Did you happen to stop quickly just before this started?

 

[cds11]

Did you find any moisture in either of the cylinders?
Could be your exhaust is leaking or the exhaust shutters are gone. Did you happen to stop quickly just before this started?

no moisture on the plugs when I pulled them. how do I check the exhaust shutters? it happened while at wot , just started slowing down and missing on the two cylinders, ran perfectly fine up to that point, had good oil pressure and not overheating.

 

[alldodge]

There is no reason for a well maintained motor such as yours to do what it did. Issue that can cause the issue is worn valve guides, broken valve springs, timing chain slip, valve float and lack of oil.

Valve guide wear comes from either high motor hours or lack of regular maintenance.
Broken springs can be a manufactures defect which is unseen
Timing chain slip caused by chain stretched to far (high hours) or broken tooth on gear
Valve float from running a motor at higher rpm then recommended
Lack of oil coming from build up under valve cover causing incorrect oil flow (maintenance)

The piston hit the valve and bent it

 

[cds11]

well I just got the head pulled and it has a blown head gasket right between number 3 and 4 cylinders. valves look fine. any ideas of what could cause it? I'm going to have the head resurfaced. can I use gaskets and head bolts from auto parts stores for a regular ford auto 2.3?

 

[alldodge]

While not the best you may have to go that route, main reason is I cannot find a marine head gasket for the motor. If you can find one which is stainless steel that would be my recommendation. Make sure to check flatness on the block, chase the threads in the block with a tap and use thread sealant on the head bolts.

 

[Speak]

Ok - hi there. Have head pressure checked for cracks before you have it plained. I have been in the same boat as you so to speak and done this exact same repair. If you are running in fresh water the standard head gasket from a mustang will work. The head bolts are re usable as they are NOT torque to yield bolts. As alldodge states, run a thread chaser down each head bolt hole. I don't recall the manual calling to put any sealer on the headbolts, I did not and all is good. An additional note, don't be temped to re torque the head bolts after your initial run, it's not in the manual and may have catastrophic consequences (I cracked my head and had to replace) Replace your valve cover gasket with the rubber one. Consider replacing the timing belt and tensioner while you are in there! Remember to set your idle and ignition timing with a timing light at the end with the boat in the water. Very straight forward repair. On a different note this engine has one exhaust shutter. This set up is not sensitive to weather it's present or not. You can choose to remove it if you like with no consequence. Hope this helps. Stu

 

[cds11]

thanks for all the info guys. I got the engine put back together today and tried to fire it up and no spark. don't know why. it was running before I took it apart. I never touched anything that had to do with spark. I checked and the coil and distributor is get 12 volts. I guess I need some more help please.

 

[Speak]

thanks for all the info guys. I got the engine put back together today and tried to fire it up and no spark. don't know why. it was running before I took it apart. I never touched anything that had to do with spark. I checked and the coil and distributor is get 12 volts. I guess I need some more help please.

Make sure the multi wiring harness plugs on the port side of the engine are plugged in tightly. unplug them and ensure they are good with no corrosion. Thats where i would start.

 

[cds11]

got it figured out, points contacts got corroded from having the cap off for a few weeks. cleaned them up and she runs like a champ after the head gasket replacement. taking it out on the water this Saturday.

 

[Speak]

got it figured out, points contacts got corroded from having the cap off for a few weeks. cleaned them up and she runs like a champ after the head gasket replacement. taking it out on the water this Saturday.

great job! Glad u got it thanks for letting us know