Water leaking from engine - 5.7 GXI-E

[CaptnO]

Hey Guys, started my boat for the first time this season this weekend and notice that water was leaking from the engine back towards the back right side. Any clue what could of happened here?

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AuJJRiXELTI6gp9du976ixm8eQ6gxQ?e=yHC0SE

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AuJJRiXELTI6gp9ckG0gk8SRrUxqJA?e=khtZTn

 

[Fun Times]

Where do you live? Did it get really cold this winter?

 

[CaptnO]

Where do you live? Did it get really cold this winter?

We had like one bad week where it go into the teens earlier this year other then that it was okay. Im right by Washington DC

 

[Fun Times]

It appears you may want to inspect the engine block and components real close for any possible cracks due to possible freezing if a drain plug wasn’t left out… but first, by chance, did the engine get drained last year?

 

[ChooChooSnakeMan]

My thoughts are you may be leaking from a drain plug that maybe didn't get tight from being loosened for winterizing or the other thought which is very bad is that it wasn't winterized or not winterized correctly and you have a cracked engine:-( I hope not but getting into the teens will do it.

 

[tpenfield]

This might be the first cracked engine block of the 2024 season.

BTW - the starboard engine mount stringer is also cracked. You should have a look to see if is is wet/saturated.

 

[alldodge]

Motor is coming out

 

[Dillusion808]

Pray for you its just a plug on a manifold or something and nothing cracked.

 

[Lou C]

Sorry to say you’re goin to be pulling the engine looks like the water in the block froze and popped the freeze plug(s) in the flywheel area. No water drains there. Also you seem to have a crack in the starboard side engine mount pad.

 

[kenny nunez]

Are you getting water in the oil? Chevy engines usually crack under the intake manifold which is the thinnest area of the block.

 

[cyclops222]

You have a LOT LOT of water leaks. Have to pull the engine. AFTER who ever sees all the different water streams coming out. FIRST ! Sure looks like no one drained the boat for winter storage.

 

[tpenfield]

Before you have the engine pulled . . . do verify where the leak is coming from. Items mentioned in this thread are . . .

• Core plug
• Exhaust manifold crack
• Engine block crack

There are some engine block drains, on either side of the block, but the leak looks to be too far back for that possibility.

 

[Scott Danforth]

We had like one bad week where it go into the teens earlier this year other then that it was okay. Im right by Washington DC

what steps did you take to winterize the boat?

 

[Lou C]

I bet your answer is either one or both of these core plugs
that's a huge amount of water all of it coming from the flywheel housing.
And if there is water in the oil, likely the block is cracked.
A forever problem with raw water cooled inboards, you forget just once you're done.
Meanwhile at the Nassau County boat show that I just attended, 99% of the boats were outboard powered.

 

[Bt Doctur]

I agree, core plug or cracked block

 

[CaptnO]

I bet your answer is either one or both of these core plugs
that's a huge amount of water all of it coming from the flywheel housing.
And if there is water in the oil, likely the block is cracked.
A forever problem with raw water cooled inboards, you forget just once you're done.
Meanwhile at the Nassau County boat show that I just attended, 99% of the boats were outboard powered.


View attachment 395993

I was wondering where those plugs were. Yea my mechanic looked at it the other day and said the same thing that most likey one of those plugs got pushed in. I heard something rattling before seeing all the water coming in. We checked the oil and it seemed fined so the plug might have saved the block. Ill have to wait 2 weeks until we can get the engine pulled out though so we can properly examine anything.

Unfortunately towards the end of last season my father passed then my trailer got stolen so the boat was left in the water all winter. I thought I drained the blocks but with all that going on it is possible that I might have forgotten. I did buy a heater for the engine compartment but by then it might have been to late.

Could someone help me locate the part number for those plugs? That would be greatly appreciated. The one's that I found was labeled under Core plug - Part No. 3852100 however I found a few different part #'s for core plugs so just want to make sure

 

[Lou C]

Sorry to hear of your loss of course other things take a back seat when you have to go thru things like that. Maybe with the boat in the water you might get lucky. Here in Long Island the water never froze solid like it can when the winters were colder and salt/brackish water doesn’t freeze till it hits about 28*F. One way to tell is to pull the intake & look for milky oil and cracks in the cam valley

 

[Lou C]

You know I didn't realize at first, you were the guy who had the water ingestion problem with the Chapparal right? and went through at lot trying to eliminate that. Did you ever solve it?
I put Volvo style (actually was designed by OMC, Volvo just used their design)
exhaust on my old '88 4.3 when I did a top engine overhaul and I never had a water ingestion problem. My engine originally had the old OMC one piece V6 manifolds and I never had water ingestion issues with those either.
However, this is a pre-vortec engine so they are less prone to reversion, which is related to more aggressive cam timing.
I recall it maybe being due to the height of the elbows, there are taller elbows both from Volvo and Barr marine aftermarket also sells them. Something about an added on swim platform IIRC.
Volvo also added one way check valves in the elbows to reduce vacuum in the exhaust system, these came on the Vortec V6 but could be added to a V8 if you felt your problem was reversion.....

 

[CaptnO]

Sorry to hear of your loss of course other things take a back seat when you have to go thru things like that. Maybe with the boat in the water you might get lucky. Here in Long Island the water never froze solid like it can when the winters were colder and salt/brackish water doesn’t freeze till it hits about 28*F. One way to tell is to pull the intake & look for milky oil and cracks in the cam valley

Thanks Lou appreciate that. Unfortunately we had one damn week where the Potomac river froze so that might of been it.

 

[CaptnO]

You know I didn't realize at first, you were the guy who had the water ingestion problem with the Chapparal right? and went through at lot trying to eliminate that. Did you ever solve it?
I put Volvo style (actually was designed by OMC, Volvo just used their design)
exhaust on my old '88 4.3 when I did a top engine overhaul and I never had a water ingestion problem. My engine originally had the old OMC one piece V6 manifolds and I never had water ingestion issues with those either.
However, this is a pre-vortec engine so they are less prone to reversion, which is related to more aggressive cam timing.
I recall it maybe being due to the height of the elbows, there are taller elbows both from Volvo and Barr marine aftermarket also sells them. Something about an added on swim platform IIRC.
Volvo also added one way check valves in the elbows to reduce vacuum in the exhaust system, these came on the Vortec V6 but could be added to a V8 if you felt your problem was reversion.....

Great Memory! Yes sir. It turns out that was a bad Ignition Coil and we found some loose ground wires as well. So It could of been a combination of booth causing the ignition to shut off while I was in motion. After I replaced that it ran like a champ all season.