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2.3L Ford Cobra Taking On Water

Y

yahoo50

Member
I replaced u- joint Boot on boat as part of annual maintenance a few day's ago it did not leak it was just 5 years old.I backed boat into water yesterday and a small amount of water was coming in and leaking off of the bottom middle of inside transom plate. The boat did not leak last season...I can not tell where the water is coming from:confused: . I pulled the drive when i got home last night and no water in the boot. Reassembled it today and took back to the lake and same result...Can anyone tell me what other places the water could be coming in at and maybe to do some troubleshooting to make sure of where it is leaking at. It leaks about a gallon in about 5 minutes or so....
Thanks for any and all advice... Supposed to go camping in about 5 weeks
Thanks
Ernie
 
Seems to be a common problem with these little omc's, I'm currently having the same problem. Its the hose that the shift cable goes in. Theres a fitting that the hose attaches to that is steel and corrodes and loosens up and eventually leaks water into the bilge. The only way to get the fitting repaired is to pull the engine.
 
Mr Mustang has been having the same problems with his 2.3. His suspicion is the shift cable hose. Otherwise the outer transom may need reseal to boat.
 
Does The Motor Have To Be Pulled To Replace The Transom Seal ? If The Motor Has To be pulled What Should One Be Prepared To Pay For This Work. I Could Probabally Do it My Self But Dont Know How Long It Would Take And If I Would Have The Time To Do It.
Thanks
Ernie
 
I was wondering is there such a bilge pump that will come on auto when water level gets up some ? Could this leak Get bad enough to sink my boat while in use?I Love this boat it has been a good boat.I look at it as if you are not going to spend the money then there is no use in owning a boat. Has anyone pulled and installed This Perticular motor and drive for I was wondering how long it would take.I have an original owners manual, anything to look for or pay close attention to? Any Special tools needed? I have installed many, many, car and truck motors and tranny's so I think I could do it. Just thinking that if it is something I should Leave to a Boat Shop If it Does Not Cost Twice Of what the boat is worth...
Thanks
Ernie
 
Does The Motor Have To Be Pulled To Replace The Transom Seal ?

I think you mean the shift cable hose. Technically, no, it can be done with the engine in place. It would be like removing your wisdom teeth by going in through your ear, but it can be done.

In theory.

Removing the engine makes it easier by far. Thing is, most people do not have the means to take the engine out by themselves. If you have a tractor with a loader or a forklift at your disposal it is a snap. Not many do, so they end up paying Mr Marina to do it and that can really hurt at $90 an hour labor rate plus parts.

So this is where you have to ask yourself; do I go ahead, bite the bullet and get it repaired? Or do I just use it as it is, knowing the boat won't sink as long as my bilge pump is OK and plan on fixing it during the off season? It's a chicken/egg dilemma.

If your boat is trailer stored and you are a day user, I'd probably just say F it and go. If it sits in the water all the time you gotta fix it.
 
I am a day user and it is trailered when not in use. I have an overhead wench and it looks like i could pull the motor straight up and out of the boat, I just dont want to get it tore apart and run into something that i cant handle like a $400 tool that will only get use once or something along those lines. and I would think that if I pull the motor I should go ahead and reseal the transom while Im that far into it ? So are you saying the shift cable boot can be replaced without removing the motor?What about the transom seal? Engine removal also ?I was trying to think of a way to troubleshoot this so I would know for sure where the water is coming from.
And is there a fitting the shift cable boot fits onto or is it a unreplaceable part of the inner transome plate ?
Thanks
Ernie
 
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Yea I was a day user last year and knew water came on but it was never a problem. When I let my boat sit in the water for a couple weeks, thats when it began to be a problem, I had to go over to the boat and start it every other day or else the battery would die from the bilge pump running every couple hours. I don't see how you could go about replacing the hose with the engine in, like o2batsea said, its a big pain in the ass.
 
Well my local boat mechanic told me how to check for leaks, I raised the trailer high in the front and put the plug in and filled the bilge up to the bottom of the starter (Not touching it though). Sure enough water was coming out around the transom gasket and i moved the shift cable hose around and water poured out of the housing it is attached to. So He quoted me $400.00 Plus parts To pull the motor and replace the faulty parts including new transom gasket seal and put motor and all back in. Our shop rate is about $70.00 an hour here. But I could also have a rotten transom and if that is the case I could be looking at another thousand dollars.
So I will be the taking boat to them today. These guy's have OMC certifications hanging all over thier shop wall.So that Kinda Gives Me A little peace of mind.So my question now is are there any other parts I should be looking at replacing while I am this far into it?
(Motor Out And Transom Exposed)
Thanks everyone
Ernie
 
Golden moment to scrub and paint the engine compartment, but if it's at the shop it won't be possible for you to do it. Also a time to install new shift and throttle cables with good Teleflex ones.
 
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