OMC water leak at Intake gasket?

[jmeydenbauer]

I replaced the intake manifold gaskets on my 77 OMC 235hp (Ford 351) this weekend and I noticed anti-freeze leaking up between the manifold & head. The part that has me stumped is the leak is coming up from bewtween the # 2 & 3 cylinders. There isn't a water port there, just an exhaust port for warming up the carb. I pulled the intake off and I didn't see any signs of water in the exhaust port but it was wet around the gasket there. I did notice that just above the exhaust port, there is a hole about the size of my pinky finger that was filled with antifreze. This hole is on both heads. Half of the hole sits above the intake manifold and half below. The hole appears solid. I'm not sure why the hole is there, maybe it's something from casing the heads.<br /><br />Any ideas what may be going on here?

 

[pine island fred]

Re: OMC water leak at Intake gasket?

hey, looks like we have another potentional water coming out of the carbs. what is it with these ford blocks ? bigbird-20 check water fountain in carb thread. regards fred

 

[Boomyal]

Re: OMC water leak at Intake gasket?

Why did you replace the gaskets in the first place?

 

[jmeydenbauer]

Re: OMC water leak at Intake gasket?

I replaced the gaskets because of a slight vacuum leak that I had between the #2-3 and #5-6 cylinders.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: OMC water leak at Intake gasket?

Are you running a stock manifold? Did you have the surfaces checked for true? When you get a gasket kit, there are two different intake manifold gaskets. Could you be using a wrong gasket? Or possibly have them flipflopped?

 

[jmeydenbauer]

Re: OMC water leak at Intake gasket?

No, I didn't check the surfaces. I noticed that the front and rear seals were different but the actual intake gaskets were identical. Are you sure they're different? I used gaskets for a truck and not specifically for a boat ... didn't think that would matter especially with FWC. I also asked here just to be sure.