Water leak

[ralphhotdog]

Today I noticed water leaking from the bottom of my engine cowling. 1989 Mercury 35hp serial# 0b393755. The tell tail stream looks normal and the engine doesn't seem to be overheating. Is this an adapter plate gasket leaking? Will I have any ill affects if it's not repaired right away?

 

[Yepblaze]

Re: Water leak

Might be the powerhead base gasket or the exhaust cover leaking or ????????<br /><br />Pull the cover and look for the leak while running. Might not effect performance till enough exhaust gasses are coming out too to effect the quality of the air the motor needs to breathe, or it overheats or something. It's your call, so do some investigating and try to evaluate it further.

 

[ralphhotdog]

Re: Water leak

Today I opened the cover and looked everything over without the engine running. I could see small amounts of water in the recessed areas of the lower cowling casting. It looked kinda grimmy around the base of the powerhead but most of the water had drained. So with my maglight and inspection mirror in hand I started the engine. While it was idling I could see a spot at the base of the powerhead that had water leaking into the cowling. At first it was kind of a small squirt but as the engine warmed up it looks like it stopped leaking. I think I'm going to read through my manual on powerhead removal and installation. Then remove the lower cowling, clean out the funk and retorque the powerhead mounting bolts. Reassemble and look for leaks. If I find no leaks - no problem. If I find leaks - new gasket. This is my plan, does it sound like a good course of action?<br /> Thanks

 

[myles carey]

Re: Water leak

hey, I would just live with the leak . salt water will plug that on its own.