1988 Evinrude 175 water in 1 cylinder

[kekray13]

Hi all, new member who's very impressed with the offered knowledge.

I can't stop water from seeping into my port side top cylinder. Compression in all 6 is b/t 95 -100. Pulled head and found that a portion of the water jacket eroded away right up to the sleeve. Cleaned it out and applied marine-tex(gray). Had head resurfaced and installed new gasket. Still leaking.

Found a possible engine replacement- 1987 150 Johnson. Wasn't impressed with compression readings. b/t 70-75 1st 5 and 65 in starboard bottom. Engine was not run 1st. Mechanic hooked up a weak battery to crank and was dead by the time we did last cylinder. Mechanic says low compression heads and gaskets are installed.

Any suggestions

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 1988 Evinrude 175 water in 1 cylinder

Is there any chance the block could be built back up by aluminum welding by the sleeve? You could then redeck the block and be back to like new. Would require a complete teardown. Not sure what you mean by "engine replacement." Do you mean that you would change out the whole engine, or use the 150 as a donor block to get your original engine going? You won't be able to use much off the 150, as it is a small bore flatback, and your 175 is a big bore bubbleback. The exhaust adapters are different, so the blocks won't switch. You would only be able to swap the complete engine. Compression on the 150 is low. It should be in the 90-95 range, perhaps a little more if it is a GT/XP. Plan on doing some rebuilding of the 150.

 

[shearpin]

Re: 1988 Evinrude 175 water in 1 cylinder

I'm facing the same problem dealing with a 1991 150 evinrude. I 1st thought about welding up the casting but then the thought of to much heat near the sleeve could warp it, let alone the thought of how much alum. would needed to be removed before you had good useable alum. . So my next plan of attack is to contact a copper gasket manufacturer for about 95.00-110.00 depending on who you talk, you can have a set of close tolerance gaskets made up. Yes you may give up like .3 on the compression but you would have a working engine.
With the use of the copper gasket you may have to retorque the heads after a heat cycle. But the up swing would be a gasket set that may outlive the engine. let alone a gasket that you could remove and reuse over and over. Can you say "decarbon heads?"

 

[F_R]

Re: 1988 Evinrude 175 water in 1 cylinder

I have not had any luck with welding the area in question, nor the epoxy type stuff either. This is speaking of salt-water corrosion. There just didn't seem to be any solid metal to weld to. BTW,the welder guy I used was an expert. Maybe there are better experts or methods now.

 

[Dhadley]

Re: 1988 Evinrude 175 water in 1 cylinder

The 1988 175 is the same (basically) as the older 235. The 150 is a "flat back" crossflow. You can interchange them but you'll need the 150 adaptor plate, tuner and exhaust can. Basically everything inside the mid section housing.

The water jacket area can be successfully welded. The trick is to get it clean. Glass beading at least.

A copper gasket will turn the block into a battery. Especially in salt water. Thats why no one uses copper gaskets now. Well, years ago one aftermarket company did use gaskets with copper impregnated in them and it'd eat up a block in no time.

The most common solution is to resleeve the block using a flanged sleeve.

 

[kekray13]

Re: 1988 Evinrude 175 water in 1 cylinder

Thanks for the suggestions. The 150 was a possible engine replacement not for rebuilding. Don't have the time anymore to perform an overhaul. Brought the 175 to a mechanic today who inspected my work. the marine tex is holding. He thinks the intrusion may be coming from the exhaust manifold area. He suggests opening up, cleaning and replacing the gaskets.

 

[Dhadley]

Re: 1988 Evinrude 175 water in 1 cylinder

To do that the powerhead will most likely have to come off. If so, pressure check the powerhead so you can pinpoint the problem.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 1988 Evinrude 175 water in 1 cylinder

These engines can leak water into the cylinders from the exhaust cover. Look for gasket problems and for casting porosity. My 83 pumped water into the bottom cyl. Took the exhaust off and found a hole in the inner exhaust cover. Casting porosity from the factory. No wonder the prior owner got rid of it. At high speed would pump water into #6. Had it welded and no more problems. Lay the inner cover flat and put water on it. Check for leaks.

 

[mikesea]

Re: 1988 Evinrude 175 water in 1 cylinder

as mentioned the exhust could be another possible place for leak,there are also orings and a very expensive gasket at the exhust plate ,I want to offer you an opinion here,based on some experience with those engines,if you have one bad section whereby the alum casting at the cyl wore away,you likely have more spots,,often times the areas of concern have such a build up of corrosion salt,whatever,its not always apparent,when I was doing rebuils,I would glass bead aroud those areas and the weaknesses showed up bigtime,saw many do the marine-tex fix and in short order it failed,at this point you have a engine that should you decide to can rebuild,it will be costly to do it right though,prior to all the newer engines from the loopers up,I had a customer that loved (dont really know why) those bubble back v-6's .He had us put flanged sleeves(gives a totally new sealing surface of steel)in a 6 cylinders ,then he did the rebuild with all new pistions ,berings gaskets,he was is a lobster fisherman and the engine ran ALL DAY,from trap line to trap line,I cant imagine the hrs.it had or has.Point is,do it right or dont,you WILL have more issues with the cyl.castings and likely the exhust,its the nature of the beast.Those old v6 cross flows are dinosaures compared to the new tech.and you might get a great newer second hand for the money it would take to resurrect DINO.

 

[kekray13]

Re: 1988 Evinrude 175 water in 1 cylinder

Thanks again guys for the suggestions. I will have to weight this one out. Especially if I have to remove the powerhead to work the exhaust manifold area.

I need an opinion. The 87 Johnson 150 i was thinking of buying. Compression really bothers me at the 70-75 range. The dealer says low compresion heads and gaskets are installed and everything is fine. Also the engine was sitting in the shop for god knows how long, cold and had a weak cranking battery for the test. Am I crazy to put this engine on my boat? $2000 installed and my engine as trade-in.