175hp Johnson Crossflow

[rammerjammer05]

1988 Johnson 175hp crossflow.
Upon removing head to inspect piston and head gasket noticed that head gasket had a small rear in #5 cylinder starboard side. All pistons and cylinder walls line good other than ot of carbon build up on top of pistons. While inspecting the heads I noticed that the #3 cylinder had a good amount of pitting in it. Not on the mating surface but in the concave part of the head the piston dome goes onto. Spark plug was ok and no damage to piston or spark plug hole. Looks like a some point a ring or something came apart and done the damage. Motor is running fine other than a fuel problem at WOT I'm working on (carb leaking). Compression is 80PSI on all cylinders. Only reason for replacing head gaskets is I just received this motor and could see a little water leaking from a head bolt. Do you think it would be OK to run with the head in this shape or just replace it.

 

[racerone]

Any damage on top of #3 piston ?----If not the motor was likely rebuilt.----Any numbers on top of #3 piston.----Numbers on others ?-----Broken piston rings is a very , very common failure on crossflow engines.----Will happen to all of them.----It will run fine with the damage to that cylinder head.

 

[rammerjammer05]

Any damage on top of #3 piston ?----If not the motor was likely rebuilt.----Any numbers on top of #3 piston.----Numbers on others ?-----Broken piston rings is a very , very common failure on crossflow engines.----Will happen to all of them.----It will run fine with the damage to that cylinder head.

No damage to #3 piston or any of the other pistons or piston walls.the engine was rebuilt by my grandfather 7 years ago and was mostly only run and 1/2 throttle it's entirely life he just didn't care much about getting there in a hurry. It has sat unused for about 2 years since he past and I acquired it and am in the process of getting it back running .The numbers on all pistons are the same I double checked. I ordered 2 new head gaskets and new head bolts. The original bolts were pretty nasty. Glade to hear the head will be OK. I also checked the heads to see if they were warped and they were fine. As soon as it's back together I plan on doing 2 doses of seafoam to clean the carbon build up. I just want to get it back to the way it was when he had it so me and my son can enjoy it like I got to with my granddaddy.

 

[the bluesguy]

1988 Johnson 175hp crossflow.
Upon removing head to inspect piston and head gasket noticed that head gasket had a small rear in #5 cylinder starboard side. All pistons and cylinder walls line good other than ot of carbon build up on top of pistons. While inspecting the heads I noticed that the #3 cylinder had a good amount of pitting in it. Not on the mating surface but in the concave part of the head the piston dome goes onto. Spark plug was ok and no damage to piston or spark plug hole. Looks like a some point a ring or something came apart and done the damage. Motor is running fine other than a fuel problem at WOT I'm working on (carb leaking). Compression is 80PSI on all cylinders. Only reason for replacing head gaskets is I just received this motor and could see a little water leaking from a head bolt. Do you think it would be OK to run with the head in this shape or just replace it.

I have a 96 v4 crossflow and found the same thing on my head..to make a long story short this motor was trash but i decided to have it bored and honed for oversize pistons, in order to avoid any further damage to my new cylander walls and pistons i went over the head with a magnet and found and removed any steel ring pieces embedded in the head,