1989 Force L 125 water seeping out of bolts on exhaust plate.

[jeepmaned]

Motor runs good, no water in cylinders that I can see. Not overheating. Just rust around some bolts on exhaust plate, and a small trickle of water running down. My issue is I want to take the plate off to inspect, and I've tried working one of the bolts out, keeping in mind that it may break. Well, the second one did, and I stopped there, and lightly checked others, and I feel several more may break also. Having never worked on this kind of engine, and from the pics I can find on the net, show water passages. Anyone have a good method of heat? PB Blaster? tapping on bolt? experience with this issue? Thanks. Ed

 

[Justinde]

Re: 1989 Force L 125 water seeping out of bolts on exhaust plate.

Hey Ed

I did my 88/125 ( not L) exhaust baffle with my good friend who is a mechanic. I didn't need his mechanical expertise to complete the task, but what he had was a good feel for the bolts. We only broke 1. Lots of WD40, and patience. It took us the better part of a week to remove all of the bolts. The one that broke was tapped out to the next size up ( after drilling the ******* out). Hope this helps. There is an older post of mine floating around with pics if that helps.

 

[Justinde]

Re: 1989 Force L 125 water seeping out of bolts on exhaust plate.

http://forums.iboats.com/force-chrysler-outboards/overheating-force-125-maybe-problem-465794.html

 

[jeepmaned]

Re: 1989 Force L 125 water seeping out of bolts on exhaust plate.

Thanks Justinde, I sure hope mine looks nothing like that. I think mine will end up like Idaho's did with 10 snapped. Still wondering if anyone knows where the seeping water is coming from.....between gaskets, or fearing the worst a crack? I will post some pics here soon...gonna soak it with some pb before I start pulling bolts. I have time to work on it now before I really want to use my boat this spring/summer.

 

[Big Fish Billy]

Re: 1989 Force L 125 water seeping out of bolts on exhaust plate.

On mine I used heat and my Ryobi hammer drill. I heated around the bolt heads, tapped the ends with a hammer, then let the vibrating hammer drill, vibrate them out...worked pretty good...it's around the heads of the lower bolts where the corrosion seems to be the worst. I think I had three out of the 18, that I had to really work on, the others backed right out. On my Force 40, the bottom left bolt as you look at the cover was leaking, I think a little water froze and pushed the gasket out, my guess anyway....

 

[jeepmaned]

Re: 1989 Force L 125 water seeping out of bolts on exhaust plate.

Thanks billy. I think your right, its probably a gasket issue. I like the hammer drill idea. I will be using all the methods in unison.

 

[Big Fish Billy]

Re: 1989 Force L 125 water seeping out of bolts on exhaust plate.

Thanks billy. I think your right, its probably a gasket issue. I like the hammer drill idea. I will be using all the methods in unison.

That's what it takes sometimes........

 

[jeepmaned]

Re: 1989 Force L 125 water seeping out of bolts on exhaust plate.

man.....14 out clean, 4 broke....5 more to go. Seems the broken ones were gonna break no matter what I did. Taking my time...taking my time....heat, pb, heat, tap, heat, pb...etc. Didn't anyone ever thing of studs?

 

[Justinde]

Re: 1989 Force L 125 water seeping out of bolts on exhaust plate.

I replaced mine with studs;-) You are going well. Now just get a good quality ( or 2 or 3 or 4) tungsten drill bits, start small, then go up from there. I found that the battery drill had better torque than the electric, and 'cut' better and was easier on the drill bits.

Plenty of lube........

 

[jeepmaned]

Re: 1989 Force L 125 water seeping out of bolts on exhaust plate.

Update: I ended up breaking 8 total. Not my fault on any, just rusted bolts. I have drilled and tapped 4 of the 8 so far. I have new gaskets coming, as well as a plate. The old plate showed some warped detonation or heat or something in the exhaust area. I could hammer most of it flat, not touching the gasket mating surface, which is fine, but wondering if anyone has had this and knows what caused it. I have had some loud backfiring when it has been difficult to start. Thanks for the tips....they are helping me save a $$$$block.

 

[pnwboat]

Re: 1989 Force L 125 water seeping out of bolts on exhaust plate.

Very common to see a warped plate. As long as there are no cracks in it, it's usually OK. I made a new plate out of thicker .060" stainless steel and it seems to be holding up much better. It was a real bear to cut though.

The plate is in close proximity to the exhaust ports, so I would imagine it can get pretty hot. Even though it's cooled by the water flow that goes through the exhaust cover, it still gets hot enough to warp.

 

[jeepmaned]

Re: 1989 Force L 125 water seeping out of bolts on exhaust plate.

Just an update and big thank you for all the help. The broken bolts are all drilled out and re-tapped. Cover is ready to go back on when gaskets and new plate get her. The mail got delayed because of a storm here, which means I aint in no hurry to get on the water. Keeping the drill straight and steady and centered was key to not messing up my block. That and patience. Thanks to all.