2002 4.3L Mercruiser leaking water

[Bfett]

Good advice avarice. It's my intent to only remove the bow end starboard side mount. Engine realignment sounds beyond my abilities. Do I still need to remove the drive?

I think the mount may be bonded to the hull with some type of sealant as it won't budge even with a good tap with a hammer.

I have searched the forums and can't find any details about this....

 

[Bfett]

SHould be three 3/8s bolts holding the triangular shaped upper half of the mount to the engine. With the lag bolts out, and those three bolts out of the block, the entire motor mount should just pull out. I would not have done anything with the big inner bolt and nuts.

Actually, I had one bolt on the bottom of the triangle and two nuts on the top. The two studs come out of the block and through the steel plate that is supporting the water separation filter.

The large nuts came off so east that It's probably good I took them off... They needed more torque!

 

[Bfett]

No Title

Bracket #9 is the part that is attached to my engine mount.

 

[Rick Stephens]

Gotcha. My filter is remote mounted. Lots easier to slip the mount out with no studs holding it. Motor should lift at the front an inch or so even with rear mounts bolted up without a problem

Rick

 

[Bfett]

Update: ​ I have discovered the problem with the mount. This engine has the fuel filter attached to a bracket that is then attached to the DOUBLE SIDED STUDS in the motor mount. One you pull off the filter, you can pull the bracket and then access the bolt heads.

Once the two bolts were removed, my mount came off easily. I can now access the core plug hole for reinstall ( I hope). Nothing looks cracked, but I know that means nothing except I can't see it :/. Clearly there was a touch of water left in the motor as I can see the corrosion line about 1/8 of the way up the plug.

On to cleaning up the plugs and holes and then hopefully reassembly! Im hopefully going to have a good engine yet.....

 

[Rick Stephens]

Go for it! Fingers crossed. Half hour on the muffs will tell the tale.

 

[Bfett]

Since I enjoy having my head in a bulge all day, I changed my spark plugs and fuel filter while I was at it.

The animal is reassembled and I fired it up for a few minutes on muffs. Temp was getting up towards operation and I shut it down. Need to let that sealant cure up.

In the end I had to do three plugs. The one on the starboard and both port side (the one under the mount was partly pressed out).

Thanks again for the great support. I'll post pics if I can get the size down. I took several for the next guy who has this issue!

Brian

 

[R055]

Since I enjoy having my head in a bulge all day, I changed my spark plugs and fuel filter while I was at it.

The animal is reassembled and I fired it up for a few minutes on muffs. Temp was getting up towards operation and I shut it down. Need to let that sealant cure up.

In the end I had to do three plugs. The one on the starboard and both port side (the one under the mount was partly pressed out).

Thanks again for the great support. I'll post pics if I can get the size down. I took several for the next guy who has this issue!

Brian

If you're using your phone an easy way to get the size down is screen shot the original picture and post the screenshot.

 

[Bt Doctur]

For you you pop 3 core plugs and not crack the block is a record.Now to find out what you did wrong so it dosent happen again.
You would have had to forget to remove the block plugs or the holes were clogged . A block contains about 2 gallons of water so removing a plug will show a
good drain for atleast a minute or more.

 

[Scott06]

Similar thing happened to my neighbor last year pushed out a freeze plug (he waited until after it froze to winterize) replaced plug, ran it, no water in the oil after idling for 1/2 hour. Used it for 3 weeks the had the crank case full of oil. It took a couple of hot cold cycles to start leaking into the oil. Hopefully your luck is better, just keep an eye on the dipstick.

 

[Bfett]

Up to temp today on the muffs and everything looks good. I believe I did not have the engine level when it drained and the extra water settled in the area of the core plugs. I'll keep an eye on it, but I agree, it looks as if I am a very lucky guy.

Next year i will drain, pump with antifreeze, and redrain.

 

[Bt Doctur]

you would have had to have the bow pointed straight up for that scenaro, that would have the block drain half way.
You need to find out EXACTLY what happened.drain, pump with antifreeze, and redrain. may still cause the problem .
When you finished with the repair and test run, remove the block drains and see what happens. Does about 2 gallons of water comes out or just a trickle or none at all.
And all you have to do is pour A/F into the circ hose and manifold hoses, no need for a pump.And if you used a outdrive setup to introduce the A/F into the motor thats where the problem is.

 

[Rick Stephens]

We get to below zero here in the winter in Idaho. I never ever use anti freeze. I warm up the engine, pop all the drain plugs out, pull a couple hoses and let it drain while I pull the outdrive and start pumping the oil out of the engine. No need for anti freeze if you get the block empty. As a number of old timers around here say: "Air Don't Freeze".

Rick

 

[Scott Danforth]

Air doesn't freeze. Pull plugs, drain, leave plugs out till spring

 

[Bfett]

And all you have to do is pour A/F into the circ hose and manifold hoses, no need for a pump.And if you used a outdrive setup to introduce the A/F into the motor thats where the problem is.

I used to do that with a boat 15 years ago. The block cracked one year when the winter was especially cold. That's why when I did this boat I was very careful to follow all of the directions in the service manual for winterizing. in fact, if they didn't make it so easy I wouldn't do it myself. The only step I didn't complete was pouring in some antifreeze and I did't do that because of the "air don't freeze" advice that is out there. I believe this is bad advice by the way because we're not all professional boat winterizers and antifreeze gives a lot of room for error....

At any rate, I ran the boat hard today for a few hours pulling a tube. Oil is nice and dirty, in need of a change, but no signs of water. Engine temp stayed right at 175. My bilge is dry.

I did not buy a lottery ticket, but I drove around without pants on instead. Of course I didn't get caught because apparently I'm the luckiest guy alive...

 

[Bt Doctur]

The way I read your post is that the core plugs on both sides of the engine came out. That says you never drained the block. The question is "How and Why" did it happen. Scotts post saying leave plugs out till spring only works if the plug goes into a brass fitting and that screws into the block. Simply removing a brass plug from a cast iron hole allows the hole to rust up and makes installing the brass plug very difficult if not impossable.
Since you have had it running and did not find water in the oil I would pull the block drain plugs to see how much water comes out.
If little or nothing comes out the block is filled up with debris above the drain plug.

 

[Bt Doctur]

The block cracked one year when the winter was especially cold. Done correctly I dont see that happening. Otherwise the blocks in all the cars in your area would suffer the same fate.

 

[Bfett]

I was especially half assed that year. I will find out why it did not drain completely, but I assure you I pulled five plugs, poked crap in there and watched water drain.

I then pulled hoses and drained hoses.....

In Michigan, your block cracks when it's full of water. The core plugs won't save it, nor will leaving out drain plugs. I'm beyond lucky to have a functional engine.

I'm planning an oil change one of these nights now that I know my motor is worth it. At that time I'll pull the plugs and see what happens. If it is plugged up I'm concerned because it could cause hot spots due to poor circulation. I think there is a flush procedure for the motor? Maybe I should just do it.....

 

[Bfett]

Last night I finished up my oil change and cleaned the bilge. I then proceeded to remove the five drain plugs from the motor and this is what happened:

The exhaust riser plugs were removed on each side and very little water came out. I stuck a metal poker in the holes and there was no blockage.
The plug by the serpentine cable was removed (power steering pump?) and I had a nice free flowing stream of water
The plugs on the block were removed and I had immediate water that slowed to a trickle. When I poked the holes I broke through the bits of rusty crud and then had a free flow of water out both sides.

Root cause of issue: crud plugged up my engine block drain holes

I drained the bilge into a bucket afterwards and estimate about 3 gallons of water was drained from the engine.

Looking back, I realize that I poked the holes, but not hard enough to break through the rust. I did not have the intimate knowledge of my engine that I now have today thanks to this issue. I now understand the design, manufacturing and function of my engine block!

Thanks again everyone for all of the advice. It's guys like you that enable guys like me to complete tasks that would otherwise be beyond our abilities!

BF

 

[BestDay2023]

Hi BFett - How did this end up for you? We are in the same boat!