1989 Evinrude 88SPL (E88MSLCER) Cooling

[drobertsobx]

I wish I had an answer for you.
Just looked at the gasket on line as you I’m sure you have found they all look like your.
Please let us know when you get it figured out.
All the Beat

I have researched gaskets all the way up to 120hp in all years surrounding 1989 they all look like the one I have.
My theory now is the gasket broke allowed channels to clog, water always takes the path of least resistance... So it was overheating because the water was basically going from inlet to outlet not much around the cylinders... Might explain why it was slow to overheat, that and all the crud preventing heat transfer???

 

[tphoyt]

Come on Racer help this guy out he wants to go fishing.
You often remind me of my automotive tec instructor. He would let’s us a scratch our heads for hours to figure things out on our own and looking back it was a very effective way for us to learn how things worked. But every once in awhile he would give in and help us find the answer.

 

[drobertsobx]

It's hard when the first time you do something you have no idea what the original gasket looked like... Then the placement of the part seems to show no way for water to get there...
Then the questions, is it the wrong gasket, wrong covers... why isn't this making sense etc etc

Sorry for being such a bother.

 

[drobertsobx]

I have searched everywhere I can think of.
If there ever was a gasket that was cut to allow water from the head to come in contact with the cover, it must have been discontinued long ago.
I can find only the one image (attached in an earlier post) that shows a gasket that would allow water contact with the cover.
I don't know what type of gasket was in the motor when I took it apart there was very little of it left.
All I know for sure is that unless you cut the gasket that is available today, water will never touch that cover unless the gasket fails due to water pressure pushing it out into those channels.

That gasket creates a closed water cooling system within the head, water enters the top from the block, circulates through the head and exits at the bottom into the thermostat housing finally to the exhaust housing from the thermostats.
Pictures show the head on the bench. The bench would represent the block indicating the two holes supply water from the block.
Blue line shows the water path. The top of the head then has that gray gasket placed on it, then the cover.

I can only assume that the gasket getting wet then drying will naturally collect the minerals through seepage and or wicking of the water through it.
The gasket would eventually act as a sponge as it gets weaker and retains more water. This would then allow the gasket to press further into the channels... that may account for the mineral deposits in those channels if this type gasket was used.

I run exclusively in salt water, the gaskets are cheap and the process of replacing them takes minimal time. I will replace them every couple years to try and prevent further deterioration of the covers.

The question was never about the water entering the head from the block (the two holes), it was about water contacting the cover that appears to be designed to have water contact.

With the available gasket there is simply no way for water contact to happen.

 

[drobertsobx]

I have searched everywhere I can think of.
If there ever was a gasket that was cut to allow water from the head to come in contact with the cover, it must have been discontinued long ago.
I can find only the one image (attached in an earlier post) that shows a gasket that would allow water contact with the cover.
I don't know what type of gasket was in the motor when I took it apart there was very little of it left.
All I know for sure is that unless you cut the gasket that is available today, water will never touch that cover unless the gasket fails due to water pressure pushing it out into those channels.

That gasket creates a closed water cooling system within the head, water enters the top from the block, circulates through the head and exits at the bottom into the thermostat housing finally to the exhaust housing from the thermostats.
Pictures show the head on the bench. The bench would represent the block indicating the two holes supply water from the block.
Blue line shows the water path. The top of the head then has that gray gasket placed on it, then the cover.

I can only assume that the gasket getting wet then drying will naturally collect the minerals through seepage and or wicking of the water through it.
The gasket would eventually act as a sponge as it gets weaker and retains more water. This would then allow the gasket to press further into the channels... that may account for the mineral deposits in those channels if this type gasket was used.

I run exclusively in salt water, the gaskets are cheap and the process of replacing them takes minimal time. I will replace them every couple years to try and prevent further deterioration of the covers.

The question was never about the water entering the head from the block (the two holes), it was about water contacting the cover that appears to be designed to have water contact.

With the available gasket there is simply no way for water contact to happen.

Also want to note the 2 holes in the Head Gasket to the Block (supposedly designed to supply water to the jackets) centered top and bottom have no associated pathway to the water jackets on these heads.

They simply dump back into the ring an inch away from the 2 supply holes through the gasket on the top feeding the head and to the thermostats at the bottom, they are literally doing nothing on this head.

I don't know if this is a SPL thing or what.

The gasket is clearly visible (could not get a good picture) through the 2 holes and when in place through that hole to that solid triangle between the 2 holes that are angled down towards the the head cooling channels.

This is where I would expect to see a hole drilled to the water jacket if this hole was to supply water to the jackets and then dump the water to the thermostats, as the design suggests that triangle would have to be level with the head surface and flat in order to seal a hole drilled there to have pressure.

The cover clearly has this pathway cut into it, but that gasket is solid there are no small holes in it at the top or bottom (as the picture shows with the bolts and gasket on the jacket cover), no possibility to feed those channels.

So no holes in the head to the jacket, no holes in the gasket to the cover but we do have holes in the head to block gasket that do nothing.

I see no way for water to get there directly from those holes in the
Head to Block Gasket or the Head to Jacket Gasket.

If I am missing something or my logic is flawed please let me know.

 

[drobertsobx]

I cleaned up slightly the jacket cover I replaced (It was cracked at the spark plug hole in 2 places and pitting looked to be almost completely through one of the channels) so I never bothered to even clean it (just ordered a used one on eBay that was fresh water use) and a different type gasket pattern appeared based on the black ridging (gasket) and white brownish (Water) I see.

All I did was toothbrush the crud from the channels with hot water, if there was paper covering those channels the majority has long since dissolved into the crud.

It looks as though the gasket that was on this cover/head at some point ran only around the outside edge and around the spark plug holes and rails on one edge, yet clearly there is paper covering portions of these channels in the pic below.

All I found on the cover side of the head was either silicone gasket or sealer as far as I could tell (Picture of the head on the motor also reposted showing no large pieces of paper).

What paper was found is on the original pic of the covers posted again to this comment, very little paper left on them. Nothing about any of this makes any sense.

The cover itself looks like at some point in time water was feeding the top of the cover and exiting the bottom (there is a water pattern visible in the cover for this assumption by the mineral deposits).
Those areas are now perhaps only a thousands or so lower than the the outside edge (I don't have anything that can measure it accurately) on both the top and bottom of the cover... Credit card across I see no light where the 2 holes would exit the head to feed those channels if they existed in the head.

I have no idea what is going on but it would seem that the cover had either a custom gasket cut or was identical to the new ones and the rest of the paper was carried out of the head by the water or dissolved (no paper or silicone found in old thermostats just frozen shut with minerals).

Not even gonna pretend to know anything just stating what I see and posting pics so others can see.

I did install the purchased gaskets with sealer last night.

I still have the block left to Salt-Away, not going to run a continuous clean with a pump, I have cling wrapped the cylinders and my plan is to spray wait for foaming to stop then rinse with a gallon garden sprayer of water, I want to see they are clean not hope they are.
Initial start and short run the thermostat hoses will be left off in case any chunks come off, don't want to clog up the brand new thermostats.

I will for sure be watching the laser temp after installing the hoses... monitoring both the covers and heads.
If the covers are getting overly hot I guess I will purchase new cover gaskets and modify them to allow water to contact the covers.

Since it looks like Johnson was only supplying them with a hole slightly larger than the telltale (though it would have good pressure on it) Not gonna even attempt to calculate how much water would go through those covers, I might just drill 6 or 8 holes over each channel and then connect them with a cut maintaining separation of the channels seen in the cover as rails there must be a reason they put them there to follow the channels in the head.

Hell almost 35 years old who knows, but the part numbers do match the numbers listed on the parts sites but functionality does not (no holes in the heads or gaskets to supply the water).