Quasi-phantom water leak

[Gybson]

Hi All!
Snagged a 1987 Citation from a buddy of mine this spring and she's *almost* ready to put in the water. She's running like a champ, but she has a small (steady drip, no stream) water leak from near the front of the engine. I've replaced all the hoses, t-stat, etc. I've replaced the gasket for the t-stat housing and water pump. All of the little 1/8" holes in the manifold are plugged, but I'm still getting this small leak. It seems to be coming from either the freeze plug or the manifold. Could it be a blown gasket? What's the likelihood of each?

Kind of scary thinking about water going through your intake...makes hydrolocking your motor 1/8" away!

Motor is a 1987 140HP (3.0L) Mercruiser Outdrive. Freshwater cooling system.

Thanks in Advance!

 

[achris]

Re: Quasi-phantom water leak

Sounds like your buddy didn't winterize it properly (and maybe that's why he's selling it???)... The manifold has a crack in it, and it's possible the engine block has too.... If the manifold crack is only on the outside, then you MIGHT be able to just JB it up, but if it's outside and inside, new manifold time... .Check the block, keep a lookout for milky engine oil....

Chris....

 

[Gybson]

Re: Quasi-phantom water leak

Sounds like your buddy didn't winterize it properly (and maybe that's why he's selling it???)... The manifold has a crack in it, and it's possible the engine block has too.... If the manifold crack is only on the outside, then you MIGHT be able to just JB it up, but if it's outside and inside, new manifold time... .Check the block, keep a lookout for milky engine oil....

Chris....

$500 inc trailer, so I'm not complaining

It was winterized properly... All the plugs were out, he had it fogged, fresh oil, etc. The oil is pristine and you can actually still see mostly through it, It's such a slow leak that I'm kind of hoping that JB will take care of it if that's what you recommend...

I ran it for 30 minutes on the trailer with a pair of muffs on the inlet and it ran like a champ. Oil before/oil after both looked great. Just drip, drip, drip along the side. I about crapped my pants when I first started it as it was streaming out the side, but I realized I left the petcock open at first (whoops!) but after I closed that, it was simply drip, drip, drip. I'd rather not shell out 2-300 on a new manifold, but I will if I have to...