water it two cylinders

[b0mbtrack]

i have got a remanufactured block that is getting water in cylinders 2 and 4.
last year i put it in because it got water in it from bad manifolds and risers. so i got new of those and new block.
what happens is i can get to about 3600 rpms only and that is how i first noticed the problem.
i pull the plugs and crank the engine and it comes out a lot on number two and a little on number four. I can keep my finger over the hole with a rag and it starts to get less and less coming out but if i let it sit for a bit then turn it over a lot comes out of number two and i go through the same process of putting my finger over the whole with a rag. then if it sits again more will once again come out.
i at first thought it was from that side of the engine being too low to the water line so i raised the riser and it is now 16" above the water line and doing the same thing.
my guess is a bad head gasket but i can't imagine why after such a short time of using it.
also, when i pulled off the riser to add in a spacer i looked in the manifold and there was pools of water in there. (i did drain both the manifold and block before pulling off the riser).

 

[b0mbtrack]

Re: water it two cylinders

mercruiser v-8 carbed. salt water cooled.

 

[b0mbtrack]

Re: water it two cylinders

i thought maybe for some reason the gasket has blow between numbers two and four and is leting water mainly into number 2 and some into number 4

 

[wire2]

Re: water it two cylinders

Has the engine ever been overheated, even once? All it takes is seaweed blocking the outdrive water intake for a few minutes. It happened to me once, resulting in both 5.7 heads warping enough to allow water and compression to leak between 2-4 and 3-5. I had to remove the heads and surface grind them to make them flat again.

 

[b0mbtrack]

Re: water it two cylinders

no, the engine has not over heated.......yet!!
i can't think of anything else though that woud cause this other than the head gasket, i would hate to go through all that work though and have it still do the same thing

 

[b0mbtrack]

Re: water in two cylinders

Re: water in two cylinders

i guess i should ask if there is anyway to test for a bad head gasket? do they have a way to do that?

 

[b0mbtrack]

Re: water it two cylinders

ok i took the plug out of the block to drain the water then i did a leak down test on number two cylinder. during the leak down i put a stethescope up to the plug in the block and you can hear it leaking there with no mistake at all. somehow it is leaking into the cooling system (salt water cooled). could this be that head gasket?