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Water leaking into boat while on the muffs

N

nova250xl

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"This is a 1980 Wellcraft with

"This is a 1980 Wellcraft with twin 260 mercruiser (MR) sterndrives. Doing some work while its on the trailer, I have the port engine on the muffs and the boats drain plug is out. When I start the engine I notice that there is water coming out thru the drain plug. The water is hot which means to me that the leak is not coming from the hoses or fittings for the drives water pump. I cannot find any leaks around the manifolds, risers or the rubber exhaust pipes where it connects to the Y pipe. I suspect it may be a leak or crack in the y pipe where it connects to the transom plate but with the twin engines there is just no way to see it for sure.
I think the only way to fix is to pull the port engine. Any suggestions or ideas to make this any easier???
Thanks in advance for any help."
 
"if its raw water cooled, you

"if its raw water cooled, you may want to check the freeze plugs in the block. Sometimes they go due to so-so winterizations.

you may be able to let the bilge dry and then spread some newspaper out underneath. Start the suspect up and have an observer look for that telltale drip. Then you can mmake the decision to pull or not."
 
"Bill. Is this your first fire

"Bill. Is this your first fire up after winter storage? If you live in an area where it freezes hard, you could have any number of problems if it wasn't properly winterized. Anything from a cracked block, cylinder head, or exhaust manifold.Did the motor start and run ok when you fired it up? Is there any discoloration (milkiness) in the engine oil? I'd be surprised if the Y pipe cracked during the winter. If your outdrives were left down during the winter, any water there would have drained out. Hope for a frost plug, but be prepared for worse.
Good luck."
 
"Thanks for the replies and so

"Thanks for the replies and sorry I forgot to mention that I am in Florida, no winter lay up. The engines run great, oil looks good. I guess if I put it in the water and do not start the engines it would continue to leak if its the Y pipe."
 
"Nope, no water leaking from t

"Nope, no water leaking from the block as far as I can tell. The engine compartment has a fiberglass liner directly below the engines so i cannot see directly into the bilge, but the liner itself is dry. The curious thing is that the water stops flowing from the drain plug when i shut the engine off and leave the water on at the muff. I would think if it was a block drain or freeze plug it would continue to trickel out."
 
Get a dye additive for antifre

Get a dye additive for antifreeze and put it in a large tub full of water. Remove the prop if needed and run the engine enough to use up most of the water. Get a black light amd extension mirror and look for the dye trace coming out of the engine. You should see the trace on the liner then look above it.
 
"Thanks to all for the respons

"Thanks to all for the responses, I will give them a try over the weekend. Rats, I wanted to have her in the water by Memorial Day."
 
"Try and use a small mirror to

"Try and use a small mirror to look at the bottom of the y pipe where it bolts to the transom. One of the wifes lil compact make up mirrors works well
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