Water in #4 cylinder

[Auxlarry]

Just got done with a complete powerhead rebuild. .030 over bore, new pro v pistons, bearings and electrical components on an 85 115 horse crossflow. Took it out over the weekend and it ran great for about an hour, tried keeping the rpm's under 4000. It started to bog a bit and I shut it down and had it towed back to the dock. Got it home and checked electrical, good strong spark on the tester and all cylinders were between 126 and 128 psi but when I pulled the plugs I noticed the #4 plug was full of water. Pulled the head and couldn't see anything wrong with the head but had beads of water in the cylinder. Cleaned it up and replaced the head and fired it up on the muffs and I can tell it's still fouling out on 4. Where should I look? the shop told me when I had it bored that the block was clean and no apparent cracks, etc. All new seals and gaskets.

 

[JDusza]

Hi,
Water in a cylinder is a bad head gasket or a cracked block / waterway. . There's really no other way to get water inside. Tighten the head to 10% over spec (guessing 33-35 ft-lbs). See if that helps. Are you sure it's water and not unburned fuel? I'm no expert but 0.030 over sounds like your cylinder walls are pretty thin.
If you can. get your block magnafluxed. That'll show you invisible cracks. Ask your shop how they determined no cracks.....
J

 

[boobie]

Could be the exhaust cover gaskets.

 

[Auxlarry]

JDusza - the shop that did the work is very good and have been working on outboards for years, I'm pretty comfortable they checked the block thoroughly but I will ask them. The head gasket looked good when I pulled it off, didn't see any indication of blow by and I could see that it sealed well around the cylinders but I will install a new one when I dig into it further. I question the even compression on this cylinder to the rest but weird things do happen. Thanks for the reply, much appreciated! .

 

[Auxlarry]

Hi boobie - I'm thinking that as well even though I replaced the gaskets and the surfaces looked great. when I installed the gaskets I applied permatex #2 on all the surfaces so I was hoping that would keep me from getting a leak. I was wondering after reading some other posts if it might be the lower shaft seal? I replaced it but can that cause water in the lower cylinder? Thanks...your posts are always helpful!!