150 pro v problem

[joe yarborough]

Hello, I have a 1989 prov 150, I took it out yesterday for the first time in a couple months and noticed it was running a little rough at idle and at about half throttle and that the water pump stream was a little weak also it had a light tapping sound coming from inside the motor. Today I took the spark plugs out to check them and on the right bank there was water on the plugs so I removed the head and I have a blown head gasket. I will be ding the head gasket on my own my question to you guys is there anything else I should be looking for or doing while im replacing the gasket? any help would
be greatly appreciated Thanks JOE

 

[Crimson Creek]

Hi Joe, Not sure if you have already completed your project but a few things come to mind that may help you. If you still have the cylinder head off I recommend taking it to a machine shop. They will be able to do a couple of things for you, primarily the will be able to ensure your cylinder head is clean (for re-installation and proper gasket sealing), the can meare the cylinder head for warpage, and also do whats known as pressure testing to ensure you don't have any cracks that may not be visible to the ***** eye. Secondly, you mentioned that your water stream was weak. Did the engine over heat at all? While the weak stream may be attributed to the blown head gasket, I would also recommend you replace the water pump in the lower unit. This is a fairly simple and straight forward job. After you replace the cylinder head (Ensuring you torque it to spec and in the proper sequence), I recommend you also to a compression test and a cylinder leakdown test to be sure your new head gasket has seated properly. If you are unsure how to do this you should be able to find several resources online to help you.