exhaust manifold overheating

[Capt.T]

I just had a marine mechanic install new exhaust manifolds on my 1991 5.7 liter Mercruiser, which is sea water cooled (Lake Michigan). He made a mistake by using the wrong metalic gasket (the solid gasket for closed cooling systems) on the port side (he used the correct gasket on the starbord side) and during my first trip with the boat, the new exhaust manifold overheated to the point of burning off the paint. I slowly returned to the marina and they took off both exhaust elbows to discover the error. They changed the wrong gasket and installed new gaskets on both manifolds. My question, could the new exhaust manifold be damaged due to the overheating? Thanks for any advise....

 

[KaGee]

Re: exhaust manifold overheating

Sorry to hear that Capt.<br /><br />I would demand a replacement. That's a boneheaded error. The manifold could possibly develop cracks, if not already.<br /><br />What about the riser and the rubber exhaust bellows? Did they at least replace the rubber??

 

[bjcsc]

Re: exhaust manifold overheating

I sure feel bad for all the good marine techs out there. There are a bunch of imposters giving them a bad name. It was the riser that overheated, right? I would also demand a replacement. Good thing it didn't start a fire...

 

[Capt.T]

Re: exhaust manifold overheating

Last summer I cleaned the exhaust elbows with muratic acid.....it worked great, they came out like new. Today I'll do some more checking of the rubber exhaust components. I'll also discuss the situation further with the marina shop owner. I also think he should replace the burnt exhaust manifold.<br />Thanks for your replies......

 

[Don S]

Re: exhaust manifold overheating

They better replace the manifold, riser and both hoses that connect the riser to the Y pipe, also the exhaust shutter on that side. And if the shutter is burned and missing, they need to pull the drive and find the pieces of the old shutter.<br /><br />That wasn't a marine mechanic that did that. I would find out which mechanic impersonator did the job and make sure he never touches your boat again. Not only was he not able to figure out that gasket was wrong, but he also didn't run the engine to check his work.<br />If all that shop did was install the correct gasket for the repair of the screw up, they obviously shouldn't be used for any future repairs as well.