Honda BF225 Leaking Water from Exhaust Cowling

rundbladg

Recruit
Joined
Mar 25, 2019
Messages
4
Hello,

After a long awaited winter, I went to the boat yesterday to fire up the engines and clean up.

After letting the engines run for 10-15 minutes, I check the oil and everything seemed good. Until I noticed water coming out at the bottom of the exhaust cowling. I didn't have time to tear into the engine and plan on doing so this week/weekend.

Also, when in neutral. I rev'd both engines(one at a time) to around 2,000 rpm. After letting of the throttle this engine would stall. I was told that my Idle Control Valves are going bad last year and maybe this is the cause of that.

Any help/leads/tips would be greatly appreciated! feel free to contact me, and ill send a video.

thank you.
 

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Sea Rider

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
12,345
By exhaust cowling you mean the exhaust cover, lid ? if so need to torque the cover back to specs as probably is a bit loose from the factory it was torqued to or the gasket is dried, burnt, shot and need to de replaced with a new one. Check.. BTW, the posted pic doesn't say much..

Happy Boating
 

MattFL

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 20, 2010
Messages
827
I see the water stream. Start up the motor, remove the main engine cover and see if you can tell where the water is leaking from. Maybe the pee stream hose has a hole in it or something simple like that.
 

Sea Rider

Supreme Mariner
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Sep 20, 2008
Messages
12,345
Is the arrow in the pic pointing in the directin of the water leakage ? Remove covers as suggested, turn motor on and check where's the water comming out from. A faulty gasket under powerhead can and will producea a water leak, check if the pan wets with water ?

Happy Boating
 

MattFL

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 20, 2010
Messages
827
On the picture in his first post you can see 3 streams of water coming out from under the plastic cover that covers the gap between the leg and the powerhead. I'm not familiar with the 225, but there might be a drain hole at that location. My guess is you will be able to see the source by running the motor with the lid removed.
 

rundbladg

Recruit
Joined
Mar 25, 2019
Messages
4
UPDATE!

Thank you again everyone to comment and help direct, much appreciated.

Today I took off the extension cover/engine under cover. After starting the engine to determine where there leak was coming from, it was clear that the water was coming out of the extension case rubber seal. Furthermore.... I noticed that 3 of the 11 bolts holding the extension case to the valve assembly/engine block were so loose i could spin the washers. After reading the shop manual I torqued the bolts to spec( 40ft/lbs). Not to mention 7-8 of the 11 bolts were not at 40lbs.

After tightening everything to spec.. the leaking problem was solved.

Last but not least.. I paid 4k last year to have them rebuilt and fix the water/oil problem(Milky Oil). They ended up replacing the main hub bearing... 2 months later that's what they came up with..

Called that marina to get some clarification as to why these bolts were loose. SImply the owner had nothing positive or showed any empathy or sincerity to say the least. He had nothing better to say other than suggesting I should blue Loctite the bolts back and that maybe the gasket was bad..

Can these bolts loosen over time if they were properly set to the factory standards when they reassembled the engine last summer? I find that extremely hard to believe... The bolts I'm referring to are on page 12-58 in the shop manual. 12x50 mm (11 Hex BOLTS) [10]

Now that this issue is hopefully resolved.. I only need to finish upgrading my electronics(saturday) before the walleye jigging season goes full steam in Detroit! Thanks again guys.
 

Sea Rider

Supreme Mariner
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Sep 20, 2008
Messages
12,345
Glad you finally discovered the water leak. Will be surprised how much any bolt can become loose from factory torque specs. Seems that on last work done on your motor the bolts were hand torqued tight and loosened up with motor vibration. It's an excellent DIY work to re retorque exhaust covers, cylinder head, lower pan bolts or any other important bolt that holds parts in place from time to time. It's a plus counting with a torque wrench, way to go.

Happy Boating
 

MattFL

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 20, 2010
Messages
827
Great job and thanks for sharing the solution! If you can, if it were my personal motor and assuming the manual does not call for thread locker; I would remove the bolts, slather them with marine grease and then put them back in. This way if they ever need to be removed again in the future, your odds are much better that they will come out. Check the manual to see if the torque specs are for dry or lubricated bolts.
 

Sea Rider

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
12,345
Great job and thanks for sharing the solution! If you can, if it were my personal motor and assuming the manual does not call for thread locker; I would remove the bolts, slather them with marine grease and then put them back in. This way if they ever need to be removed again in the future, your odds are much better that they will come out. Check the manual to see if the torque specs are for dry or lubricated bolts.

Factory manuals does not state if dry or lubricated when factory bolts are installed, usually are bone dry when assembling their motors. Some states that's not a very good idea to grease all bolts specially the cylinder head and exhaust covers as will tend to loosen up a bit with use and vibration and only checkable with a torque wrench.

What usually do for the cylinder head and exhaust covers is clean their bolts and crankcase threads to immaculate clean perfection. Submerge the bolts in a container with SAE W 20-50 motor oil, remove one by one, dry them a bit with a clean towel and bolt them back. For any other bolst use marine grease brushed evenly with a small brush.

Works for me as I usually tear my crankcase and many other parts from time to time for deep preventive maintenances.

Happy Boating
 
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