DURANGOKID59

I was out cruising the lake saturday, and was going in to a turn, and the motor made almost a growl noise, but not in a good way. It didnt feel like anything was wrong, and so I tried to put the throttle back down, and it would go over 2500 rpm at full throttle. I limped it back to the dock, and got to looking in to it, and on the starboard side, the #1 and #3 cylinders didnt feel warm, so I dont think I was hitting on all cylinders. When I pulled the plugs, those two looked pretty shot, and the #3 had water on it. Im guessing blown head gasket? Does this sound right as far as a preliminary diagnosis? Is there any way to be sure, are there any tests I can run to be more accurate? Thanks for the help in advance. Its a carbed 454 out of a 92 Outlaw if that helps at all.

GOODT

compression test or even better a cylinder leak down test will tell you for sure

DURANGOKID59

Ill give that a shot and go from there I guess. I was talking to a local guy and he said to check the timing also, if it jumped time, the exhaust valve could have sucked in a little water if its out of time. Does that sound feasable as an option also?

BajaRunner

I always hear the old timers talk about jumping time first. you dont see it that often, more than likely a head gasket.

compression test.

GOODT

as stated very unlikley, more likely as stated in other post back wash from a quick slow down with silent choice open, head gasket

just tring to figure out what the "GRAWWWWL " could of been

DURANGOKID59

Thanks for the replies, I guess Ill get to work and see what I can come up with.

mats

Could also be a leaking exhaust riser gasket. Quite common if you have a stock exhaust.