Water in cyclinder and oil.

seahawk215

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I flushed out the oil and changed filter and put in new spark plugs. Tried to start engine. It tried to run for about 5 seconds then would not fire again. Pull out number 7 spark plug and turned engine over and water mist was spruting out of cyclinder.
Ok must be failed riser then. Removed riser and riser appears to be ok. When I removed the exhaust hose from the riser I slid it back on the fiberglass pipe far enough so that it was free of the riser. Then I noticed that the exhaust pipe was full of water right up to riser connection. There is about a 1/2 inch space between the pipe and the riser which connects with 3 inch exhaust hose.
This does not seen normal to me for the water to be in the exhaust pipe. I think what is happening is as soon as the engine starts to crank over the raw water pump is pumping and without the engine running the water is coming back up the riser directly into the exhaust manifold. As the engine sits at an angle number 7 is the lowest point so the water shows up there first.

The wrong rotation starter was not what was causing the water intrusion.

I did replace the exhaust pipes as the old cast iron pipes were on there way out in bad shape. The rest of the exhaust system is fiberglass. The cast iron connected to the fiberglass elbow witch is connected to the fiberglass can muffler.

Now I am a little worried about the newly rebuilt engine although it is running fine.
 
Water level in the exhaust pipes should be same as outside water level. Yours was higher??

[FWIW- When I unfasten & raise my riser/elbows and twist them to break the seal to the exhaust hoses, I seal those hoses by inserting a large (reversed, so I can still pull it out) PVC pipe cap and hose clamp , to make sure they do not slip down and sink the boat while I clean the mating surfaces and prep the new elbow and gaskets .]

Do you have room for a riser spacer/adapter to get the riser safely high enough above the W/L to meet engine mfgr's min height spec and keep water out of the engine?
 
Had to be higher. I believe most if not all the exhaust system is above outside water level. Maybe not as I didn't really look at that.
You can see the fiberglass elbow in this pic of the rebuilt engine be fore I put the exhaust manifolds back on after taking them off to get engine through the door.



That then goes into a large water lift muffler. I thinking that the water level in the water lift muffler is high but not sure why that would be.
I will take a couple of pics of the exhaust system tomorrow.
 
Make sure plug wires on the dist cap for #5/#7 are in the right order.

May be optical illusion, but I don't see the distributor shaft.

Where does exhaust exit the boat...and how high. Water level in the can should not
be higher than the water line. Also make sure the hoses going to and away from the
can are in the right order.
 
The exhaust exits the side of the boat near the stren. Charlie that pic is of the other engine but was the only one I could find with a shot of the elbow. Nothing else has changed from there back.
 
Old exhaust



New exhaust



Side discharge



Water lift muffler



In the new exhaust picture you can see that I removed the riser. That was the pipe that was full of water. I may have found the problem as the exhaust may not be going down enough to the muffler. I would think that the water would drain out of the exhaust pipes by gravity when the engine is off. Since I used 5 inch exhaust pipe to replace the old cast iron which was 3 inch and then tapered to 5 inch. it may be going at a slight incline upwards
 
The starboard engine exhaust . You can see it all hooked together.

 
Randy:
With a water lift muffler cranking will fill the muffler and possible drown the engine because there is no exhaust to push out the water. Hard to tell the levels in the pIX but that muffler will contain water and it looks quite close to the engine level.
 
I just don't like the way that water lift is connected. I would like to lower it and make both input and exhaust ports on the can at the top. The internals should have the output pipe that goes down to about 4" from the bottom and the input just enters at the to and maybe a short 90* down pipe. That way, any water collecting in the can won't drain back into the engine.
 
Looks like you have room to add the manifold to riser/elbow adapter-spacers to raise risers. Higher above W/L the better if there is room, and it would add helpful incline angle .
 
Ok put all back together. No water in exhaust pipes.Had taken apart at elbow on water lift muffler and let drain out. Cranked motor over and still won't start. Did get a little sputter . Still getting a little water in cyclinder. Has to be bad riser I guess. This is a 1986 boat so the exhaust system has worked fine for the last 30 years. I just think all the cranking filled everything up without the pressure from exhaust to push it out.Back to square one.
 
Certainly a good valid point about the exhaust design working for the past 30 yrs.

Very sorry to hear you found new water after all your work. Hope you can get that squared away before more damage takes place.
 
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