87 OMC 5.7 Water in Cylinders

Toothdoc

Cadet
Joined
Aug 25, 2008
Messages
9
Hello,
I came across this site by accident and it's great. Here is what I have. My OMC 5.7 exhaust manifolds and risers were replaced 6mos ago after one got blocked and melted the connector at the end of the riser(yes it smoked like crazy and was quite embarassing). I ran the boat one time out of water and all seemed fine. When I took it out, after a short period of time running, it overheated, temp hit about 230. Turns out the impeller completely failed and sent the remains into the power steering cooler. Replaced the impeller, riser gaskets and rubber exhaust connectors (again)and hooked the boat up to the hose. When attempting to start, the starter cranked it over a few times and then it wouldn't crank at all. Both batteries are new and were fully charged overnight. Starter is almost new. Pulled the plugs and water poured out of all 8 cylinders. There is no water in the oil. The compression test resulted in the following: 1.) 75psi 3.)90psi 5.)50psi 7.)75psi 2.)60psi 4.)100psi 6.)70psi 8.)130psi. I still have not performed a wet compression test or leak down. I think at this point I may have a combination of some bad valves and possibly head gaskets. Although this explains the compression, I am not convinced that I could have 2 bad head gaskets putting water in all 8 cylinders. I think the water is coming from the manifolds somehow. They are GLM, very poor quality castings are common on them. I don't know how likely it is that both of them would leak after such a short period of time. Before all of this began the engine ran great but always had to be cranked a lot to start hot or cold even with the choke working properly. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks
 

HT32BSX115

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
10,083
Re: 87 OMC 5.7 Water in Cylinders

Howdy,

Sounds a lot like riser gasket/manifold leaks on both sides. How long was the water in the cyls?

With those kind of compressions it sounds like the engine is basically toast.

I had a similar problem with my 87 OMC King Cobra 460. The riser gaskets were leaking (slightly) The engine seemed to run ok but if it was shut down for 5 to 10 min or so (like, long enough to pick up a skier etc) It would hydro-lock upon start up. (although my compression numbers were 155+ psi all cyls)

If I let it sit longer, like an hour or longer it would crank right up.....no hydrolock. Removing spark plugs would reveal water in 2 cyls on each side. I discovered that both riser gaskets were leaking so any water in the riser/elbows would run right into the exhaust port and right thru any open exhaust valve. (not all exhaust valves were open at any 1 time)

I didn't fix it by replacing the gaskets though.....I fixed it another way...

If you let the water sit in the engine for any length of time you may be replacing or rebuilding the engine.

If you do that you'll have to weigh spending a lot of money on a 21 year old boat vs just parting it out and finding another boat.

At the minimum you'll be pulling the heads and getting them done along with replacing both manifolds/risers if they're either defective, cracked, rusted thru, etc.


Regards,


Rick
 
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