Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

[dabigkahuna]

Here is some history, I have a 2005 SV-211 with about 280 hours on it. I use it in salt water, but I have a fresh water flush system and I use Salt Away after each use. I have been very carefull to flush the engine after each use, for usually 20 minutes or more. Also, I am very carefull to use the Salt Away per the instructions, which means turning on the Salt Away at the end of the flush and turning your engine off before you run out of Salt Away (leaves an anti-corrosive residue in the manifolds).

So the other day my boat wouldn't start. I had enough voltage, tried both batteries, and still no cranking. I removed the side panels from the engine compartment so that I could access the starter and about had a stroke when I saw the condition of the motor under the manifolds. There were tell-tale signs of a water leak coming from the manifolds (looks like in several places along the gasket, but I'm not sure). The starter was covered in salt crystals and the hot wire (the small red one) with the 100 Amp fuse was just totally shot. I was totally suprised to see that, cause I wash my boat and my engine compartment like an OCD freak (ask my friends, they hate washing the boat with me!). But, I never took off the side panels, so I never could see what was going on below the manifolds and along the bottom of the engine. I do try to spray the entire engine down with Salt Away after each use, but I guess I couldn't get the right angle to catch the starter area.

Anyways...sorry for the long post, but is it normal to have that type of leak in my situation?

[Mikeski]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

Salt and wakeboard boats are a difficult combo. When we used to run out boats in salt we would completely coat the motors with rust-oleum clear before the first time they went into the water. Since we were on the promo program getting new boats each year we had lots of opportunities to test different things. Exhaust manifolds are always a challenge. The exhaust manifolds see salt water even if your boat is equipped with fresh water cooling. I would suggest a 15 minute engine running flush after every outing plus a fresh water spray down of the complete engine compartment. You might want to get a gooseneck sprayer so you can get the bottomside of the manifolds.

In my opinion it is definately not normal to have a leak a the exhaust manifolds, salt or not. Keeping the underside of the manifolds from rusting will be quite challenging since the water jacket does not start for about 2" up the exhaust ports.

Does your boat have the ZR6?

[dabigkahuna]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

Yes, my boat has the ZR6.

I did coat the entire engine with a Military Grade Anti-Corrosive Coating designed for Aircraft and Weapon Systems before the boat saw any salt water.

I do flush the engine for at least 15 minutes followed by a 1 minute Salt-Away flush after each outing.

What a Gooseneck Sprayer?

Thanks for your feedback!

[imported_pjdave]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

i was about to ask the same question about if your engine was a zr6?

have noticed our last 2 zr6's leaking on the manifolds. we replaced the gaskets and re-torqed them down.

[dabigkahuna]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

PJDAVE - did you replace the manifold gaskets or the riser gaskets? Did this solve the problem? Did PCM warranty this?

[Mikeski]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

About a year ago there was a great post from somebody at West Coast Correct Craft or other dealership giving the details of what they do to the boats going to the San Diego Aquatic Center. There were something like 50 things including a removal, regasket, and retorque of the exhaust manifolds before the boat even hit the water. Too bad my memory is vague on the post but there was considerable attention taken about the exhaust manifolds. I am not familiar with the ZR6 exhaust manifolds, never even seen one so I am not sure how the water passages work. I just installed new aluminum manifolds on my boat that have a dry joint between the manifold and riser. This arrangement requires a hose connection between the manifold/riser but I think it's a better solution, but these won't work on the ZR6. Even if they did, I don't know if I would recommend running aluminum manifolds in salt. On the other hand aluminum might actually last better than cast iron? Something to think about. In looking at SkiDim's online catalog I see a set of riser gaskets for the ZR6 available. Since they are the only thing available for the the ZR6 exhaust it is somewhat of an indicator that this is something that fails. It might be interesting to swap manifolds with Indmar's one piece aluminum high flow units.

In general I have been a little disappointed with the PCM versions of the GM motors lately. I think Indmar is getting more out af the same motors with better airflow management and tighter computer controls.

[dabigkahuna]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

Mikeski, thanks for the feeback. I got the list from the Mission Bay Aquatic Center, and yea, there is a lot of things they do. I called Indmar and they said they wouldn't sell me the aluminum high flow units (they are probably hoping I get really pissed off at PCM and eventually switch to a boat that has Indmar engines). Oh well, I could probably find someone with a Malibu to order some for me. I am also looking at the Hi-Tek Marine Stainless Steel header/manifild unit, these really look good! http://www.hitekmarine.com.au/indmar-pcm.htm But...the guy I talked to is only familiar with the 5.7 PCM, he doesn't have any experience with the ZR6. So, I got to try to figure out if he can make those for my boat. Wow, what a pain! I thought I wasn't going to have any problems until way down the road.

[jbwake]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

You dont need to go to the expense of buying new manifolds that is a massive overkill! Just replace the riser gaskets and then re torque them once in a while. I'm part owner with pjdave and it was just our riser gaskets that leaked and it was covered under warranty.

On our 2nd ZR6 we noticed the small leak very early so we gave the bolts a re torque (they were a bit loose) and we havent had a problem since. It seems as if they require a re torque after you have used them a few times and then they are fine. I checked them again the other day (100 hours)and the bolts didn't move. Problem solved :grin:

[Mikeski]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

BigKahuna,

I was giving opinions and venting a little in my post. As JBWake suggests the new manifolds are probably waay overkill. My manifold upgrade did not provide a noticable increase until I measured it with the GPS, and my issues was very specific since my boat was only about 2mph too slow for me to single foot barefoot.

I am guessing you are satisfied with the performance of your ZR6? If that's the case I would probably just recommend that you pull the exhaust riser elbows, clean them up, copper kote the gasket surfaces, replace the gaskets and retorque them down. They are fairly heavy, I would guess that the pounding they take from general use causes the gaskets to compress resulting in the need for retorqueing. This probably a good agenda item for the annual service. Now that I have aluminum manifolds I will need to retorque the block to manifold bolts annually, so I may have actually increased my annual maintenance.

[Mikeski]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

One more thing, the loss of weight from changing manifolds reduces your wakeboarding wake...

Since I ski this was a desired effect, but again I am probably the oddball in the group.

[dabigkahuna]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

Ahhhh, much better now! I'm glad to hear that it may just be a gasket and torque issue. I will start with this approach. As far as the ZR6, I am totally happy with the engine (It is a GM, so yea, I'm stoked!). I am trying to get away from maintenance issues, but it sounds like changing the mainifolds may be overkill (I hope). I will see the condition of the manifolds and risers when I pull them.

Some people have warned me about water leaking into the motor, would this be a problem then if the gaskets wear out? Just wondering, cause this could turn a minor problem into a MAJOR problem.

JBWAKE - Did you have to contact PCM directly for getting the gasket covered under warranty? Did they reimburse you, or did they send you to the dealer to get that taken care of. I'm trying to figure out how to handle warranty issues with the motor & drivetrain. I talked with Herb at West Coast Correct Craft and he said that I do not go through Nautique, which kinda suprised me.

[ag4ever]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

From what I have seen, my dealer goes directly to PMC for their warranty items.

[jbwake]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

We had to go to PCM direct as we are in Australia and didn't have a local dealer at the time. In your case the dealer that sold you the boat should look after this for you as that is their job.

[dabigkahuna]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

I want to post some pictures, but how do I get my photos down to the right size? Can somebody help me with this?

[imported_pjdave]

RE: Water leaking from exhaust manifolds, is this normal?

resize pic in paint or photoshop if you have it. 800x600pixals is a good size