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HELP Water in engine

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wbertot

Contributing Member
"So I pulled plugs and had wat

"So I pulled plugs and had water in my engine. I immediately got the water out replaced plugs and oil since I was told it could have just been reversion from not coming out of plane correctly and took the boat out again. Well guess what..

I am still getting water in my engine. From what I gather the only way water could get in is either through a bad manifold/riser, a bad head gasket or reversion. I would rule out reversion in this case since I was very careful and paying strict attention when coming off plane on my last trip.

It is important to note that I went out for about 1 hour anchored for 2 and came back for 1 hour with no problem. I flushed the motor out just fine this past Saturday. On Wednesday I tried to start it and it would not. Checking the plugs showed water again.

Any ideas how i can distinguish if it is the bad head gasket or bad risers/manifolds? What other things would allow water to get in? Please help me solve this darn problem. Thanks."
 
"A few questions: What make an

"A few questions: What make and mod of engine??? Size of boat? Straight pipes, thru transom, thru hub, thru cavitation plate??? Age of manifold. Age of engine. Operating environment salt or fresh??? Temp issues? Cough or backfire??? Salt water cooling?? Compression check? Pressure check? White plume in exhaust gas??? Knock?? Water in tank? Water in filters? Water in oil? TIA"
 
"Hi,
if you are running in sa

"Hi,
if you are running in salt water, can you determine in any way if the water in the cylinder is salt or fresh water? (basic test for chlorides if you have access to a lab or a chemist friend; ultimately you may even CAREFULLY taste a sample!) If it is salt water then it came either from the oil cooler or from the exhaust riser (if corroded internally). If it is fresh water then it could be a blown cylinder head gasket. A leak down test will tell you if this is the case. You will get air bubbling in the heat exchanger (cap removed) if the gasket is blown from the fresh water side to the cylinder where water is being found.
If you are running in fresh water then the water in the cylinder will be fresh water wherever it's coming from. The leak down test as above will determine if it's the gasket. If the gasket is sound then bring the cylinder where you are finding water, to the exhaust stroke and then force water under adequate pressure through the exhaust manifold in the normal direction of flow. If you notice water entering the cylinder (with the plug removed, of course), then your exhaust manifold is corroded and leaking raw water into the cylinder. Possibly you might need to remove the jabsco pump impellor and put the cover back in place to get a good flow through the system."
 
Ok to answer some of the quest

Ok to answer some of the questions...

Volvo Penta 5.0 Gxi on a Four Winns Vista 248

Manifolds are just over 4 years old

Saltwater environment using raw water cooling.

No white plume in exhaust.

Compression about 120 across all cylinders although changes as the water comes out

No water visible in the oil when i checked the stick.
I believe we have saltwater based on a very inexperienced taste test.
 
My guess is that you'll fi

My guess is that you'll find the exhaust manifolds badly corroded and leaking raw water into the cylinders via the exhaust valves. Four years seems to be the limit for exhaust manifolds in salt water.
 
"It seems to be the manifold.

"It seems to be the manifold. A pin hole could be dripping water into the exhaust chamber of the manifold while the engine is at rest. During startup, a small amount would be sucked into the cylinders. This occurs because of a design feature called "valve overlap". The remission (reflux?) theory seems to be nonsense. I have seen this only one time in a very old Volvo (Eaton) with transom pipes and no risers, straight shot out the back. When anchored at the stern, a heavy surge appeared to force some water back into the piping. This was never proven but was plausible given the facts, eg, as long as the boat was operated in calm water there was no problem."
 
Wow Dennis I think you are rig

Wow Dennis I think you are right on it. Now that u mention that when I went to start it after the last use it sounded like it was gonna start just fine and then I could tell there was no spark (plugs got wet).

Manifolds are coming off tomorrow. I will let u know how that turns out.

QUESTION: Would bad manifolds have an effect on power?
 
"Excessive amounts of water in

"Excessive amounts of water in the exhaust passages, via severely corroded manifolds, will have the same effect as a blocked exhaust pipe in an auto engine, creating excessive back pressure and preventing the air / fuel mixture and eventually exhaust gases from flowing at the design rate through the engine, which then loses power."
 
"Pulling the manifolds should

"Pulling the manifolds should be done due to age. You can't go wrong by inspecting them at this time. At a minimum, they would need cleaning and flushing. Does the water enter into both banks or just one? You imply that the engine is losing power. I had not heard that. Also, you reported that cylinder compression changes when the water is expelled. Some of these things need to be clarified before tossing the manifolds. As a matter of physics, gaps in seals and surfaces tend to expand when cool and contract when heated. Therefore, one could presume that a cracked manifold might behave normally under way and act up when the engine is cool. I suppose that a head gasket could do the same but don't know. The presence of oil or water in a cylinder can affect compression since a thin layer of fluid can act as a sealing agent and show temporarily higher compression readings. Large amounts of water can decrease the piston displacement and drive compression readings to the roof. Bottom line, after hearing about the power thing, the head gasket may still need to come off. However, since no gas plume was seen and no engine stuttering or gasping was reported, that should go to the bottom of the list, IMO."
 
"hi there i hope you can help

"hi there i hope you can help me, i have a 2004 glastron sx 195 with only 80 hours from new. while leaving port today my volvo penta 4.3 190 bhp died and would not start again. towed back in and checked for loose wires etc. when i took the plugs out to check spark i noticed the left hand 3 were all wet and fowled with what appears tobe water ????????? i must stress i never had any performance issues or any reliability issues of any nature. just done compression test and all is good, temp and oil pressure was fine. i use in salt water all the time, hope you can help thanks. damien"
 
"So I pulled the manifolds and

"So I pulled the manifolds and risers and they were severly corroded. The port side manifold had water in both chambers explaining where the water was coming from. (hopefully the only place).

Gaskets, risers and manifolds replaced on both sides.

My power question was just in order to understand if I could have been losing power. This boat is new to me so I was wondering if there was some more potential. Power has been consistent and never dropped since I have had it.

Damien your issues sound very similar to mine. Do you flush your engine after EVERY use? If the water was on just one side I would guess manifold as well. But the experts here can tell you more. The just taught me a bunch ;)"
 
"i used to flush but have not

"i used to flush but have not done for the last 3 or 4 days out. took the plugs out and left over night, cleaned the plugs up, reinstalled and fired her up. ran to normal temp while flushing and seems ok. hope i got away with it but wont really know until i give it a run in the marina. is it hard to take off the manifolds off as i think its worth a look because salt water in pistons is not good."
 
"Hello just had hydro lock on

"Hello just had hydro lock on volvo penta 4.3l eng today and traced back to a leak from the breather hose from left manifold into carb . when I took off the breather hose there was water in it and the butterfly valve into carb is rusty from the ingress of water. On testing, the valve on the exhaust manifold is stuck open and instead of sucking out fumes from carb ,exhaust gases and water are forced back up the breather and directly into carb and into engine. Any ideas on how to solve problem ie is it just necessary to replave valve. thanks John Gale"
 
"Damien,

If u have decent r

"Damien,

If u have decent room in your engine room and a good socket set the replacement of both the manifolds and risers can be done in about 4-5 hours.

You need to see how that water came in. If your not flushing all the time the corosion will be quick. From what I was able to gather 2-4 years is the lifetime of some of the risers in manifolds in saltwater."
 
"thanks walter, their's pl

"thanks walter, their's plenty of room in the engine bay so that wont be an issue. Im just going to give another good blast around the port and have another look. when my engine stalled on saturday i was caught in the wake of a big sunseeker ahead and nearly turned me over, so i think their could of been some iversion as i stopped pretty fast. also the plugs seemed to be moist when i removed them and droplets of water came out when i cracked over the motor? but the plugs should have wet anyway as i was tryin to start the engine for 10 minute before i got a tow. maybe im in denial"
 
"You gotta run it if you want

"You gotta run it if you want to test it. Only way you gonna know.

With that said, Dennis up in this thread believes inversion as u call it is nonsense. I guess I too wanted to believe this was the case with me since my boat is just 4 years old but sure enough he was dead on with the description of what happened to me and pulling the risers and manifolds proved it.

If you don't want to do the whole thing you can remove the exhuast hoses from your risers and get a good idea of the conditions they are in just by looking at them. As a newbie I was quite surprised in what I saw...

Best of Luck. Walter"
 
"hi all, well i brought my boa

"hi all, well i brought my boat to the slip and let it into the water still on the trailer behind the jeep, dropped the leg in and ran at different revs ranging from 2000 to just under 4000 rpm. everything seemed as normal, great response as unusal, temp normal, no unusal noises,however i did notice an improvement in oil pressure !!! im hoping thats a good thing. normally sits quarter on tickover and half at 3000rpm now seems to be sitting between quarter and half on tick over and half to 3 quarter at 3000 rpm. should i be excited or am i heading for a fall???? thankyou in advance"
 
"Let it cool and try again tom

"Let it cool and try again tomorrow. I originally removed the water from my engine, replaced plugs and oil and was able to run great for a whole day. Two days later my problem came back again."
 
"hi walter, sorry for not gett

"hi walter, sorry for not gettin back to you sooner. I have just had a wonderful weekend of boating and i can tell you it was a relief. the boat ran like a dream and hit speeds up to 50+ mph. i took of the manifold to check for any moisture and seemed to be good, the only thing i noticed over the weekend was the temp guage seemed to rise to 3 quarters when going slow but perfect when under way. i dont know weather i should be concerned, because before i removed my manifold and exhaust i never had any heating issues at all.???? love your comments. Damien"
 
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