Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

[chrishick]

Hi folks,

I pulled a stupid human trick yesterday. Launched the boat and got about 1/2 from the ramp when the alarm went off because the engine was overheating. I left the cap off of the engine flushing tube on the motor, so the raw water pump was sucking air. I put the cap back on and tried to idle the motor to cool it off. I shut it off and on a few times over the course of a 1-2 minutes trying to reset the alarm. I don't remember the exact sequence, but at some point the motor would not start, it would just click.

I got to work on it today and found the cylinders full of water Cranked it over without the plugs to get rid of the water, then sprayed WD-40 into each cylinder and cranked.

I checked the raw water impeller and it was missing a few blades. I pulled the thermostat and plan to replace that also. I pulled the starboard exhaust riser also to check the condition and look for flappers that might have melted. It looks like I don't have flappers in the exhaust on this year motor. The boat is an 05 and I don't know if the previous owner was as anal as me about flushing the motor after each use.

So I have two questions. First, what could have caused the water in the cylinders. I read something about backwash through the exhaust? Is this possible? I'm thinking cracked/warped heads or bad riser/manifolds are out because I had water on both sides of the motor.

Second, what does a bad riser/manifold look like? Mine has some crud but it looks mostly open and clear. I've attached some photos of what they look like.

Any other things I should be looking at? Thanks in advance for any help.

Chris.

 

[Don S]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

When it was overheating, and you shut it off, did it diesel? Sometimes the engine will diesel backwards and can suck water back into the cylinders thru the exhaust. What is the Volvo serial number on your engine?

 

[slasmith1]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

As the proud owner of 2 vp 5.7 gsi dp's i would not put either back on my boat. you can see rust trails where there should be gasket and by the level of rust i would just replace while it is apart better a couple boat bucks for manifolds and risers than thousands for new engine.

 

[mikeneal]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

A couple yrs ago i hit plastic bag and badly over heated my 5.0GL and filled cylinders with water. Turns out the riser gaskets failed and after several oil changes to get milky water out and obviously new gaskets the motor was OK. Need to get water out of cylinders and get some WD40 or oil in cylinders right away.

 

[Don S]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

i would just replace while it is apart better a couple boat bucks for manifolds and risers than thousands for new engine.

You gotta be kidding!!!!
Unless this thing overheated so much that it melted all the rubber hoses, those 2005 manifolds and risers do not need replaced. Obviously the gaskets do, with the proper OEM gaskets. But don't go overboard for no reason.
Those manifolds and risers have never seen salt water from what I can tell. They look perfect.

With no water to the raw water pump because the flush cap was loose cost you the impeller, and probably riser gaskets. But don't give up on them till you can find out if they are bad or not.

 

[chrishick]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

Thanks for the replies guys. I have some larger versions of the photos which are a little better resolution.
http://www.roamingnomads.com/riser1.jpg
http://www.roamingnomads.com/riser2.jpg
http://www.roamingnomads.com/manifold1.jpg

FWIW, this motor has around 120 hours and has been 100% saltwater.

It didn't diesel that I remember, but I had a lot going on and I wish I could recall all the details more clearly.

Serial # is 4012150295

Thanks again for the help guys.

 

[chrishick]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

Oh, one more thing. The temp gauge never went over 205-210ish and it never ran abnormally. When I opened the engine hatch I expected all hell to break loose (steam and heat), but it seemed surprisingly cool in there. I could feel some heat coming off the engine but it didn't seem like more than normal.

After the alarm went off it ran for a total of maybe 2 minutes and only at idle speed.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

Bet you'll never do that again! Introducing cool lake water into the already overheated engine could have caused the water to instanly flash to steam, I did this once on an overheated car engine, added water and it started banging and chugging something fierce just before it erupted steam and water from the radiator, (was young and stupid) I think this may have caused your manifold gaskets to say bye bye and next came the hydrolocked engine, (click click) nothing.
All in theory of course.. Don's a professional and has inspected way more manifolds than most of us have ever seen so heed his advice.


Whoops, did n't see your last post I was replying with this one at the time.

 

[captmello]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

While you can see some corrosion in the manifold, the mating surfaces between the riser and manny look good. I bet if you keep flushing you could go a few more years. You can see were the saltwater backed down the manifold and rusted the exhaust passage.

 

[Don S]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

Personally, I can't see what the sealing surfaces on the manifolds and the risers look like, only what the old gasket looks like. Why water got in there? Who knows, 3 years even in salt water hasn't killed them from the pictures, freeze damage? Normally EFI engines don't diesel, let alone backwards. especially after finding out it never got over 260?
Time to do some serious cleaning and inspecting of the manifolds and risers.
Is this engine raw water cooled, or does it have a closed cooling system?
Things just don't add up, especially the hollow riser bolts in the center picture of post #6.

 

[chrishick]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

It is raw water cooled. I'll have to check out those hollow riser bolts tomorrow in the daylight. I'm thinking that is just a concave surface on the end of the bolt, but it's hard to tell from the photo.

I'm pretty sure it didn't diesel, but can't rule out the possibility.

The boat has never been north of Tampa FL so that rules out freeze damage (well almost).

I will clean up the mating surfaces tomorrow and see what they look like. Should I try to clean the passages and internals also?

 

[slasmith1]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

I don't care what anyone else tells you looking at those pictures replace while it is apart according to you they have been used exclusively in salt water for three years it shows in the pics they are due to be replaced. It may save you a couple bucks now but doing it right once, well thats priceless.

 

[captmello]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

I don't care what anyone else tells you looking at those pictures replace while it is apart according to you they have been used exclusively in salt water for three years it shows in the pics they are due to be replaced. It may save you a couple bucks now but doing it right once, well thats priceless

hard to disagree with that.

How much? 800 or so in parts, Merry X-Mas

I'd still run them and watch the temp, fluids, etc.

 

[krisnowicki]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

I don't know if this will break the rules. But, I live in Florida and got my risers and manis from http://marinesupermart.com/ He is located in jacksonville and will cut you a huge discount. He is an old throttle man retire(ee) and sells parts part time. That is if you are going to replace them, you could save a couple bucks.

 

[chrishick]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

I don't know if this will break the rules. But, I live in Florida and got my risers and manis from http://marinesupermart.com/ He is located in jacksonville and will cut you a huge discount. He is an old throttle man retire(ee) and sells parts part time. That is if you are going to replace them, you could save a couple bucks.

WOW Thanks for the link. He is 1/2 the price that I've seen at other suppliers.

How are the aftermarket manifolds & risers compared to the genuine Volvo ones? Are they considered to be of equal quality?

I'm still mulling over if I will replace them or not. Seems like the general opinion here is about 50/50. They don't look that bad to me and if I can get another 1-2 years out of them I will. I can see the logic of doing them now while I am in there, but on the other hand, they aren't that hard to replace later down the road either. It's not like main bearings that you have to tear down the whole motor to get at them.

I cleaned the mating surfaces today and they are fine. The riser bolts that look hollow in the pictures just have black paint on the end of them.

Thanks again for all the replies.

 

[Don S]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

Salt water OEM manifolds normally last 6 to 8 years on the charter boats that I used to work on. They were salt water only boats used an average of 6 months out of the year.
You can replace them if you want, but I really don't think that's your problem, and without some cleanup of the gasket surfaces and some checks for leaks, I sure wouldn't just throw them away.
There is water in them, but you don't know why or how it got there. And installing new manifolds that are only 3 years old without doing some testing is a real expensive test.

 

[chrishick]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

Sorry, double post.

 

[chrishick]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

Thanks Don. I do I go about checking for leaks?

 

[Don S]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

Consider this, the engine and manifold, and y-pipe is overheated, the boat is sitting in the water. Now what happens when it cools down? Yup, the air contracts and forms a vacumm. Guess what that vacumm does?

I can't imagine all the valves on an engine no leaking enough to prevent the cooling down from sucking water up. Even if it could, the flappers were never designed to have a perfect seal, only to prevent waves from sloshing up into the exhaust manifolds through the risers. Besides, in 99, Volvo stopped using the flappers in all the SX and DP-S drives. You can't even buy them anymore.

Volvo also uses a metal shim gasket between the manifold and riser now, and an overheat can cause them to leak.
I would clean and check the gasket surface for flatness and to make sure it's not corroded away. Put a new gasket in and run it and see what happens..
The engines also live right on the edge of reversion. Long idle periods of idle will have traces of water left in the manifolds. But it won't be enough to actually get into the engine. The exhaust blows most of it out.

 

[Gazza1]

Re: Volvo 5.7Gi-E Overheated, are risers bad? Pics included.

I don't care what anyone else tells you looking at those pictures replace while it is apart according to you they have been used exclusively in salt water for three years it shows in the pics they are due to be replaced. It may save you a couple bucks now but doing it right once, well thats priceless.

My original manifolds, 260hp mc, were used in salt for over 10 years before I had any problems, in the last couple of years the boat wasn't used very much and the salt content is a lot higher here downunder. Those manifolds look OK to me and the "hollow bolts " are just indentations..
As Don (I think" said), just clean them up but make sure that ALL the impeller bits are not blocking anything.
Cheers and good luck