utilityman
New member
"Well we waited too long to re
"Well we waited too long to replace the manifolds/risers on our pair of Crusader 350 XL engines. The popping sounds I previously reported may have had something to do with the riser leaking. Our port engine ran rough/no power in late September (same one that was popping) and I could hear a lifter making a lot of noise on the port side. I changed the spark plugs and found rust/crud on 3 of the plugs on the port side of the engine, the other side was normal. It ran better, but it still had no power, so after 10 minutes I decided to dock it and leave it until I could replace the manifolds and check things out. When I pulled the valve cover off on November 10th, I found that one of the intake lifter rocker arm studs had been pulled up a half an inch and this piston had no compression. I brought the head to the machine shop and one valve seat on this piston was too corroded to be repaired. (They’ll sell me a rebuild head for $250)
The starboard engine had been running fine in September, but when I removed the manifolds I found a lot of rust/water in the starboard side manifold, the other side looked normal (dry and black). I pulled the bad head off and found wet sand like material in two of the pistons. This head is in the shop and I've yet to hear its prognosis. I checked the compression on the remaining head on this engine and it was #2=180, #4=140 #6=165 and #8=160. I’ve yet to check the compression of the other head on the port engine, but I’ll make sure they are OK before putting this engine back together. The engines have approx 663 hours on them. The pistons and cylinders are coated with WD-40 and everything is covered in plastic until I can get back to work on them again
Assuming all the cylinder walls look about the same, my plan is to clean up the pistons (wipe out crap, emery cloth any rust, vacuum) and reassemble the engine (all new gaskets, intake manifolds were cleaned at the machine shop, and carburetors were professionally rebuilt), dump the oil, refill with a low weight multi oil (5W-20), Start the engine and get it run long enough to circulate and warm the oil, then dump oil and replace with the recommended SAE 40 oil, then do all the final adjustments to the engine.
Besides not waiting 11 years to do the risers and manifolds again, are there any other recommendations?
Thanks
Ron"
"Well we waited too long to replace the manifolds/risers on our pair of Crusader 350 XL engines. The popping sounds I previously reported may have had something to do with the riser leaking. Our port engine ran rough/no power in late September (same one that was popping) and I could hear a lifter making a lot of noise on the port side. I changed the spark plugs and found rust/crud on 3 of the plugs on the port side of the engine, the other side was normal. It ran better, but it still had no power, so after 10 minutes I decided to dock it and leave it until I could replace the manifolds and check things out. When I pulled the valve cover off on November 10th, I found that one of the intake lifter rocker arm studs had been pulled up a half an inch and this piston had no compression. I brought the head to the machine shop and one valve seat on this piston was too corroded to be repaired. (They’ll sell me a rebuild head for $250)
The starboard engine had been running fine in September, but when I removed the manifolds I found a lot of rust/water in the starboard side manifold, the other side looked normal (dry and black). I pulled the bad head off and found wet sand like material in two of the pistons. This head is in the shop and I've yet to hear its prognosis. I checked the compression on the remaining head on this engine and it was #2=180, #4=140 #6=165 and #8=160. I’ve yet to check the compression of the other head on the port engine, but I’ll make sure they are OK before putting this engine back together. The engines have approx 663 hours on them. The pistons and cylinders are coated with WD-40 and everything is covered in plastic until I can get back to work on them again
Assuming all the cylinder walls look about the same, my plan is to clean up the pistons (wipe out crap, emery cloth any rust, vacuum) and reassemble the engine (all new gaskets, intake manifolds were cleaned at the machine shop, and carburetors were professionally rebuilt), dump the oil, refill with a low weight multi oil (5W-20), Start the engine and get it run long enough to circulate and warm the oil, then dump oil and replace with the recommended SAE 40 oil, then do all the final adjustments to the engine.
Besides not waiting 11 years to do the risers and manifolds again, are there any other recommendations?
Thanks
Ron"
