Locating a Blocked Cooling Passage

[WREKS]

It is at the bottom and sticks out a little bit farther than the ones near to it. I made these to help me work on the engines. Laylows

 

[IN2H2O]

Ok got to that rear plug and pulled it finally. I let it drain and additionally took the shop vac in blower mode to the oil tank and blew out as much as I could. Cycled the motor with the lanyard pulled for about 5 seconds twice, that produced a few more ounces. Replaced filter with new and preformed the following tests.

Left glass was oil straight from bottle into glass to see if pump was aerating. It looked very milky at first but settled out in about 15 minutes
Center glass was after 3 30 second run's with a minute or 2 cool down in between
Right glass was after 20 minutes on the hose without the Y fitting clamped



So I'm defiantly getting bypass somewhere. Not sure best way to track it down? Are there more common area's? or things that are easier to take apart first or do I just randomly start removing bolts? From what I've researched so far it could be a o-ring type seal in the upper expansion chamber. Corroded headers, or warped head..

 

[Scottintexas]

so you drained the oil and then ran it with cooling water flowing ??

If so, at least you've determined it's currently happening and not left over water,

drain it all again and get good oil in it, so at least while your working on the problem it's not sitting with oil/water mix,

My first guess would be exhaust manifold,

Are you going to pull the engine or try to work on it in the boat ? we've got a couple of threads, one buckbuck pulled his engine with assistance from fork lift, and another built a gantry with lumber,


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[Babin Farms]

Check this thread out

https://jetboaters.net/threads/2004-yamaha-sx230-water-in-oil.31924/

 

[IN2H2O]

I wanted to be 100% certain the leak was from the exhaust since this is a new to me boat and I don't know its history. My guess water has been sitting in here for a long time. At least 6+ months. Assuming it has, is there anything I should be inspecting? I'm very familiar with the 2 strokes but this is the first ever 4 stroke I've had an issue with so never really dug into one. I'm far from a mechanic but decent with my hands.

In regards to finding the current leak I really don't want to pull the motor as the first resort. Are there any simpler things to check first to work my way up? This is the 'hoist' I made to do the LS2000 motors, think it would work for the 232?

 

[WREKS]

Add a load leveler where it hooks to engine lifting loops. Add some casters to your gantry bases in order to play it out of the opening. Use a double pulley system with a boat winch overhead. Engine weighs about 200 lbs. I would leave the ECM behind.

 

[IN2H2O]

I'm going to try and test as much as I can before removing the motor but I'll take those tips if it comes to it

 

[buckbuck]

My concern from the picture of your dip stick a couple pages back is you can see oil on the stick when cold. I have no oil showing when cold on my MR-1. Either your oil level is way too high or you have lots of water mixing in. So just a side note, your air filter are probably oil soaked.
It is not hard to pull these engines. It will make it much easier to tear down. When I pulled mine I had to take the ECM with the engine but that did not add too much complexity. You will need two people.

 

[IN2H2O]

It oddly does not specify in the owners manual but I have been filling the oil to at least the low level when cold and making sure its not above the full level when warm. Filter is not soaked or even wet in the slightest.

I know you guys think its the exhaust mani and from what I've seen I agree. However I think I'm going to start with a leak down test to see if its the head. Seems like a problem area that WREKS had found some time ago.

Is there a good way to pressurize the cooling system to confirm where the issue is coming from?

I'm having a hard time envisioning pulling this motor without a legit setup. I need to find a thread and see what all is involved. Is it even possible to remove the mani on the starboard motor without pulling the motor? My gut is telling me by the time I build a hoist, schedule time with a friend to come over to help to remove and get a friend back over to reinstall i'd be able to replace the mani inside the hull even if 1 bolt takes a hour or something crazy. But again I dont know what is all involved with pulling the mani while the motor is installed. You guys are the experts in this arena.

Reading further it seems like a cracked block is also a possibility. It would be nice if somehow I can hone in on the issue before turning a wrench. Going to poke around a bit more

 

[WREKS]

There are actually two pumps in your oil pump. One is a Scavenge pump that fills the oil cooler tank. The other is a Feed pump that delivers the oil for lubrication. To my knowledge, the Feed pump pushes oil through the oil filter.

 

[buckbuck]

The service manual did a very good job of instructing me when I pulled mine. If I recall correctly, there are some bolts located on the bottom of the exhaust that I determined would have been nearly impossible to access without removing the engine.
My, then, 11 year old daughter helped me pull mine.

 

[WREKS]

I do not think you can fix certain problems such as water in oil and overheating due to biofouling without removing the engine. It was easier for me to fabricate a crane and remove the engine first.

 

[IN2H2O]

The service manual did a very good job of instructing me when I pulled mine. If I recall correctly, there are some bolts located on the bottom of the exhaust that I determined would have been nearly impossible to access without removing the engine.
My, then, 11 year old daughter helped me pull mine.

When you say pull do you mean entire motor or the Mani only?

 

[IN2H2O]

Digging through the FAQ threads came across this photo of a common cracked block creating water/oil mixture. The headers look different. I'm assuming this is a photo of the non HO motor? By chance was this primary an issue for the MR-1 non-HO motors?

 

[IN2H2O]

Found this #17 Gasket pretty beat. Looks like a potential area I could have been having water entering the exhaust. What are the odd's this is the root cause?

 

[Scottintexas]

Certainly could be, just depends how much you want to gamble on more oil changes vs taking more stuff off,

I'd gamble you found it and try it

 

[WREKS]

I think that gasket was the problem with Brad_Ct's motor. Is 16 in good shape?

 

[IN2H2O]

#16 is in good shape. I got the bore scope looking down into the # 34 manifold right at the red arrow. This is the low point at which I'm assuming the water would collect and corrode though? I'm not seeing a whole here. Am I looking in the right spot?



All 4 'holes' look the same

 

[Scottintexas]

Normally we see the corrosion where the head and manifold meet

 

[IN2H2O]

Oh wow. I guess that's probably an area of high heat that's softens the alluminum. I can see why many pull the motor to get these next 2 piece off. I'm not even sure if the bolts will drop out between the hull and header.

Would there be some way I could pressurize the water jacket on the motor side with a compressed air hose and feel for air inside the header if there was a leak?

Or less desirable maybe even fill the waterjackets with water and use the bore scope to see if water is making its way inside the exhaust passage as it should puddle up and collect at the bottom of that 'U-pipe' where I can get the bore scope