Would a blown head gasket show up other places?

[Dshow]

I have a 2001 5.7L TBI Mercruiser that I've had for 3 seasons. Ever since I've had the boat, I've had a steam issue out the starboard thru-hull exhaust. (Typically, after a hard run.) This has never caused an issue. The engine has never over heated and stays ~165F according to the gage no matter what RPM I'm traveling at. If I had a blown head gasket, would this show up anywhere else? Engine overheating? The manual says a compression test will not likely to catch this issue...

Thanks for any input!

 

[jtybt]

Re: Would a blown head gasket show up other places?

Do a leak-down test.

Above waterline exhaust will often show more steam.

Blown head gasket getting water into the cylinders is often hard starting with missing.

 

[Maclin]

Re: Would a blown head gasket show up other places?

A blown head gasket will show up on a compression check.

 

[freeone]

Re: Would a blown head gasket show up other places?

what kind of cooling system? raw/fresh water?

 

[Dshow]

Re: Would a blown head gasket show up other places?

Thanks for the responses. It is fresh water cooled.

When I winterize in a few weeks, I plan to do a compression test and/or a leak down test. Are these test run with the engine hot, cold, or does it matter? Also, the merc service bulleting say use 20-30 PSI for the leakdown test, but the tool I have says use 100 PSI. What pressure do I use for the leakdown test?

Thanks

 

[JustJason]

Re: Would a blown head gasket show up other places?

Ideally engine hot... but it won't matter to much. Do a leakdown on a few cylinders to get a baseline, then do the suspect cylinder and the adjacent ones.

I use 90psi to do it. At least thats what the regulator is set for on my compressor.

 

[tractoman]

Re: Would a blown head gasket show up other places?

You can also pull the plugs and have a look. If you have any that look steam cleaned, you've most likely got a blown head gasket or manifiold problem.

 

[Dshow]

Re: Would a blown head gasket show up other places?

Well, it dropped down into the 30's one night so I winterized the boat... I checked the plugs and did a compression test. All plugs had white tips and looked the same, although cylinder 8 was wet on the threads... Is that anything to be concerned about? My HF compression gage read 180 +/-5 PSI on all cylinders. Over the winter, I plan to remove the riser and have a look to see if there is a blockage.