Water leak from engine block

[Jon D]

Sorry to make my first post to this group be a problem, thanks in advance for any advice that can be provided.

I have a 2007 Yamaha SX210 with the 110 hp version of the MR1 and believe I just tracked down the source of a small amount of water that has been appearing in my engine compartment. On the starboard side of my starboard engine between the water hose that goes into the block and the temperature sensor I believe I have a very small amount of water seeping out of some tiny holes in the block, possibly only forced out when the thermostat is closed. The area it is coming from is out of site but I managed to get a video today and took the below picture of the area tonight (I believe the water is coming from the dark spots circled in red). I have not had any overheating problems or issues related to this other than noticing less than 1/2 inch of water in the center compartment under the engine.

Do I have a major problem here or am I safe to put some JB Weld on it and keep an eye on it?

What could have caused this, seems very strange? I am the original owner, fresh water use only, always garage kept (except a week or two a year). When I winterize I rev the engine several times without any water hooked up then try to gravity feed 1 gal of RV antifreeze into it and rev the engine several times again before I fog it. Never been any visible rust/corrosion anywhere on the boat.

 

[buckbuck]

I believe @itsdgm, @Seadeals and @cybuch have had this same problem. Perhaps they will chime in.

 

[Bruce]

Welcome Aboard and sorry you are having a problem.

 

[captras]

...seems a strange place to leak, but I am sure somebody hear week have some insight to share!

 

[cybuch]

@Jon D , sorry you are having this issue. This seems to be happening more and more. I had the same issue, except my crack started on the inside and was leaking water into the oil and eventually started leaking out of the side of the block. I had to replace my motor, due to the crack on the inside, but I believe @Seadeals JB Welded his with success. Im not sure how long he has ran it that way, but I know he stopped the leak. Fingers crossed the JB Weld will work for you too!

 

[Jon D]

Thanks @cybuch, seems like even if the JB Weld works for a while it might just buy time, this stinks, can't believe you had to replace the engine. Any clues what caused it?

 

[itsdgm]

Thanks @cybuch, seems like even if the JB Weld works for a while it might just buy time, this stinks, can't believe you had to replace the engine. Any clues what caused it?

That's a bummer @Jon D Yes I have had the exact same crack in the exact same location. Mine was discovered after having a stuck valve which required removing the head. The leak was made worse each time the mechanic torqued the head down. However it's possible that it was leaking all the while and went undetected because it was initially such a small crack.

I ended up swapping engines and rebuilding my original engine with a good used block. It's sitting waiting for either a waverunner to drop it into or I'll keep it as a spare in case "the other shoe drops"

 

[Seadeals]

Yep. Same exact place @Jon D . I am VERY convinced the castings of this vintage have a vulnerable mold part line that is prone to cracking. I ground into my crack (yours is a bit bigger than mine) and used plain old JB weld. It logged another 5 hours of duty on the water today with no issues and good oil. You will need to pull the motor; but a weekend's work could buy you time like me. I will let everyone know if it ever starts to fail or milkshakes on me. For yours, I would expand the area of the JB weld surface patch to run around the probe and hose fitting since it is a little bigger. The big part of the crack is on the inside of the block in the cooling water passage surrounding the cylinder sleeve. In what part of the country has your boat lived?

 

[Jon D]

Thanks for the additional replies.

@Seadeals I am in Eastern PA a bit north of Philadelphia, normally boat in the Delaware river up toward Trenton (very tidal but never get down even close to the salt water line). I trailer and keep in my garage other than if I do a "boat vacation" where it stays in a very clean fresh water lake for a week, last year for the first time it was in a lake for 4 weeks without being pulled.

I have a 2 week "boat vacation" coming up but am not sure I am up to the task of pulling the engine (or have time) before then, probably don't even have all the tools I would need. Was going to try to figure out how to get access to the area today but car and house also had stuff breaking so had to deal with those emergencies. Not sure what I will do, maybe just run it as is until I figure out how to go about pulling the engine. I think it would need to leak a huge amount more before being a cooling or real water in the boat issue and I figure JB Weld on the outside isn't going to fix a catastrophic internal leak anyway if that it in the works. I wonder how many people have this going on and don't even realize it, I had just replaced my scupper through hull and was being super aware of where any water in the boat was coming from so noticed something couldn't be explained then felt that it was warm. I think it might have been doing it last year but I never checked the temp and I thought it was coming from wet people/stuff above.

Has anyone talked to a dealer or Yamaha about this? Since they don't even use these engines any more I'm sure Yamaha would care less even if it were newer... It just seems odd that I've heard how reliable these engines are and people use them in much harsher conditions than I do yet a few of ours are self destructing for no apparent reason. On Friday I posted a reply on a large facebook boaters group to someone asking about Yamaha jet boats and I included in the response how low maintenance mine has been - felt the need to post back today saying 48 hours later things are looking much different.

 

[Seadeals]

Thanks @Jon D. Most of us documenting the issue have been in warm climates. The local dealer who services Yamaha boats and skis told me the only crack damage he had ever seen was from freeze damage. Naturally I don't buy that. I don't think Yamaha is concerned about 10+ year old product other than learning to improve future designs which they can sell us. They just want to keep satisfaction in balance as not to hurt the brand. Some of the issues members have posted about their new boats would bother me much more than my crack (after 10 years and 250+ hours).

This could be a very isolated batch of castings; but the depth of this forum exposes the anomaly and links the common victims as if it is rampant. All machines, regardless of a reliable reputation have an Achilles heel (weak link in the chain).

Your crack is a bit bigger than mine and smaller than everyone else. You caught it early. That improves chances a repair will prevent or significantly delay a catastrophic failure. With the help I received (thanks again @itsdgm, @Andy S and @cybuch ) pulling the engine, repairing and installing could happen in a weekend. I know that is intimidating, and things seem busy for you. In your shoes, I might consider doing nothing until after the boat vacation (can't miss that). Ignorance would have been bliss. The issue isn't finding a crack, it's finding it too late (when it catastrophically fails).

Whatever you decide to do, we are here to help.

 

[Aaron Tonks]

Has anybody found a fix for this yet, besides a new engine? Were did you find the parts? Can you buy a new block and install it in its place? I have a 2005 SX230 HO
@Seadeals is the JB Weld still holding?

 

[parkerexpress]

I just got finished putting J-B weld on my engine block in the same place. I did not pull it out to do this I just laid sideways and twisted my arm around enough to where I was able to get a coating on most of it but I'm sure I did not get it on all of it. I have it 2006 230sx that I bought four weeks ago. The previous owner said it leaked the entire time he had it but never knew it was coming from the block. We're going to see how long it lasts. I'm not sure what to expect but fingers crossed at least I slow down the leak. The crack of mine seems to be 2 and 1/2 inches long. If something happens I'll just be buying a casting from SBT and having it put in. I love the layout of the boat and don't plan on getting rid of it because of this. Does anyone here think it's worth a call to Yamaha to see if they'll do anything? At least maybe give me a good deal on another one? With all the people I've seen talk about a crack in the same place I agree that I don't think it has anything to do with winterization.

 

[Jon D]

@Aaron Tonks I put J-B weld on mine 2 years ago as best I could without pulling the engine. I think it stopped the leak for the remainder of the season that I did it but last year it started leaking again but I believe a bit farther back although I have not pinpointed exactly where. I have yet to notice any issues related to it other than a small amount of water I believe mostly during hard acceleration.

 

[parkerexpress]

I did mine as best I could too, the only part I could not reach was up were you are mentioning you are seeing it now. There just is no way to get in there. But like you, the motor runs fine, oil looks good, I'll just run it till something happens.

 

[parkerexpress]

Well, as always, I checked the oil after a couple rides and it appeared to have just a smidge of milky color. I sucked out 2.5 quarts, let it sit in the pan, and then poured it out. The pic is the result. Looks like the crack finally got me. I gonna keep running it for a bit but I will need an engine sometime next year. A little water probably wont cause catastrophic failure next ride, but it's coming. Question is, should I get a sbt remanufactured Yamaha block or one of their own castings?

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

try to locate a good p w c and use the engine probably cost you a lot less

 

[parkerexpress]

I like that idea cobra jet. I been trying to find out which PWC models had that MR1 motor. Still looking, but so far I having gotten any solid info. Btw, I am going to order some of your fins once I figure this out. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Ok here is what you do. use this site Research New Boat Prices & Used Boat Values and it will tell you the exact engine a P W C has, there were 3 different HP ratings your boat has 140 hp engines so when you fill in the info and be sure to have the model and the year correct it will tell you if the ski has the 110 hp the 140hp or the 160 hp M R 1 engine. That will also give you an idea of what the ski is worth .

 

[parkerexpress]

That is great info CobraJet, I greatly appreciate it. I may tackle this myself as I have heard they are not that hard to get out. In fact, there was a writeup on ehre somewhere that I plan to use. My skills are garage mechanic level so other than a ceiling winch, I should be good. Your thoughts?

 

[cybuch]

Thats what we did, bought a used Waverunner with the HO motor and replaced the one in the boat. Then we shipped the broken one to PWC in new york and had that rebuilt. When we got it back we put it back in the jet ski and keep it as a backup motor, that we also play with. Unfortunately, the other motor in the boat got the crack and we pulled it and replace it with a SBT motor, it has been rock solid, except it leaks oil from somewhere, I can't find. We didn't use the3 JetSki backup motor, as we have too much fun with it.