Water in cylinders, manifold tested?

[legoman67]

1979 Mercruiser 255 MIE. We are stumped on this. We had everything ready to go, engine was cranking over fine. Filled it up with coolant for the first time and nothing, no turning. We pulled the plugs, and the starboard side had water in the cylinders(it poured out), so we pulled the manifold off, sealed it all up with a hose, and turned the hose on, and the hose started bulging and the manifold was dry. we resealed everything, put it all back together, and put it on the engine, it cranked over for a little while, and it wasnt starting, then we pulled the plugs again and decided to dry them out and blow some air into the cilinders. We cranked the engine over afew times with the plugs out, after about 20 seconds of cranking over all the sudden water started comming out of the cylinders again. We cranked it over for awhile before we pulled the plugs and it was turning over fine, and it acutally ran back in feburary when we ran it on the ground. Plugs were relatively dry when we pulled them out after cranking, and no water came out for the first like 20 seconds of cranking without plugs... head gasket? there is a decent amount of water squirting through... its never one particular cylinder either, which makes it hard to believe in the head gasket, its always one that has the most water, then the rest just kinda shoot out droplets, but its not consistantly one cylinder.

the port side is COMPLETELY dry, and no water EVER has been in ANY of the port cylinders...

HELP!!

 

[jtybt]

Re: Water in cylinders, manifold tested?

Did you check the crankcase for water?

Water can get in from the intake manifold. A loose one will usually get water into the crankcase.

If you're getting water in only one bank, it's most likely from the exhaust manifold on that side. Could be cracked. How old is it?

Valves adjusted wrong can cause problems. Cam installed wrong can do the same thing but not on only one bank.


need more info.

 

[legoman67]

Re: Water in cylinders, manifold tested?

not sure of manifold age, always been on closed cooling, oil is clean, we figured it was the manifold, but like i said our test of the manifold seemed to be fine, unless there was a discrepancy in our testing?

engine ran fine back in feburary, i cant say for sure if these are the same manifolds as are on it now, but here is a video of the last time it ran.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QYMC76yodo

only things removed or changed since then are the manifolds, havent opened the block up any further then that, no timing or valve adjustments or anything.

how would i check the intake manifold?

 

[totx]

Re: Water in cylinders, manifold tested?

Is the engine filled with anti freeze?

Maybe do a compression test...

 

[legoman67]

Re: Water in cylinders, manifold tested?

not right now, just fresh water, once we get it running right then it will get antifreeze.. no point in just shooting antifreeze out the cylinders.. but it had antifreeze in it before, and it will get more when we stop the leaking..

i was thinking about doing a compression test

 

[captmello]

Re: Water in cylinders, manifold tested?

If you put antifreeze in the engine, you could determine if the water is coming from the closed system or the raw water system. If its raw water, it would have to be the Exhaust Manifold and/or riser, and if its the engine side it would have to be the intake manifold. I'm thinking its the exhaust side.

Let us know what you find out.

 

[legoman67]

Re: Water in cylinders, manifold tested?

the manifold is on closed cooling as well..., pretty sure it is closed coolant thats leaking too, i found a brand new OEM manifold for 150$ canadain, so i am going to get that, and if its not the manifold then what the heck, ill have a spare.. for that price.. (dealer wants $680 for the manifold OEM, $500 for it aftermarket)

what exactly goes wrong with the intake manifold? how do i check it?

 

[jtybt]

Re: Water in cylinders, manifold tested?

Just re-torque intake to specs.

Do compression test to make sure the cylinders and head gasket seal is good.

 

[totx]

Re: Water in cylinders, manifold tested?

not right now, just fresh water, once we get it running right then it will get antifreeze.. no point in just shooting antifreeze out the cylinders.. but it had antifreeze in it before, and it will get more when we stop the leaking..

i was thinking about doing a compression test

Ok,

After what I understand you bought the engine in February,
and did a test run on the ground.

Temperature have been below freezing since then?
Was wondering if you could have a crack from freezing.

From my point of view you don't drain a closed cooled engine in winter.

No reason to fill antifreeze when you know you have a leak,
you should avoid that...

Drain down some oil from the oil pan, to check for water.

I think it's important to run the engine as soon as possible to blow out the water.

Drain down cooling water and start it for 20-30 sec
let it cool down and repeat one more time.
(Search forum for water in cylinder, Don S have a couple of post about it).

Did you have a close look at the riser?

Good luck, you guys are doing a great job

 

[coastalcruiser]

Re: Water in cylinders, manifold tested?

Found this by doing a search for "water in cylinders" originally posted by Ziggy
http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Bullet/01/01_13.pdf

One thing that I noticed is you have the same log style manifolds as my old engine, the riser/manifold gasket may or may not have a block off plate so maybe that's been missed or is leaking? I think the riser is raw water so it can get into the manifolds from there. I know you said it has new gaskets but wouldn't hurt to double check