Cooling Water Distribution

[JohnJan]

My engine spews considerably more cooling water out of the port exaust pipe than the starboard exhaust pipe. So much so that the starboard pipe will begin to emit steam long before the other which makes me wonder if the starboard side is getting adequate cooling.

Any thoughts on why this might be?

Should both pipes flow the same amount of water?

What determines the distribution of water to either side of the engine?

Thanks in advance!

John

[JohnJan]

Ok, anybody? Any thoughts at all? Anything?

[djm]

I asked the question about the steamy awhile back never got a clear answer. It happened to my 1987 pachanga, the exhaust was rusted out. Then it happened to my Baja with only 47hrs on it. The risers had to be torqued down, they were leaking slightly.

As long as your riser/manifold gasket is working properly and you can touch the riser without burning your hand, your OK. That's all I got, best of luck with it.

I have the same problem with my 7.4 MPI. The starboard runs hotter by about 30-40 deg. (according to temp. probes), depending on how hard I run. I dis-assembled the starboard exhaust riser, found some sand and rust, but it did not make much of a difference. The engine only has about 75 hours on it.

[blue thunder]

With the engine running check the firmness of the hose feeding water to each exhaust manifold. If the hose on the side that steams is noticably more firm, you have obstructions in the manifold passages... probably rust and in need of service or replacement. That's really all it could be other than a kink in the hose. If you had an internal gasket leak the flow wouldn't be reduced.

Good luck,

BT

Had the same problem, spent a lot of money replacing risers, manifolds and gaskets, after all said and done it turned out to be the T divider. Even fooling around with that took a long time but finally figured out that it wasn't postioned correctly. It must be level in order for it to distribute the water properly to both manifolds. It worked for me. Hope this helps.

I recently had the same problem. Tons of steam and little water flow out the pipes. I have a stock 260 Merc and the T section with the spring and balls was totally filled with crud. I cleaned everything up and now have tons of flow. How should those balls be adjusted???

[JohnJan]

Thanks all. I'm sure the pipes are clear but I'm going to look at the T-fitting. The check balls are clear but maybe there's something else going on...

I have noticed the same on my carbed 7.4 and my EFI. found a small stone in the carb engine SS riser fixed the majority of the problem but there still seems a differance. From experance I know that the Chevy cirulation pumps on SB and BB s flow different to right and left banks. A fix for this is to run an aftermarket pump. Stuart pumps was one of the first to address this situation and has helped solve this problem on several auto applications. Havent had a chance to try swaping to a Stuart pump on either of my boats at this time to see if it is a fix. Removing the ciculation pump and using a crossover might help but due to design / space limitations positioning of inlet to cross over could lead to the same situation. Personaly the ciculation pump will not be replaced in my boat for I do not know if raw water pump supplies the pressure need in an automotive engine to cool the heads properly possibly causing steam pockets.

I would take out the T fitting and run the hose underneath full blast to see how the water gets distributed on both sides. Thats how I figured it out, leaning it towards one side caused water to go more towards that side, leveling it out caused both sides even distribution.