Bilge filling with water?
 

My bilge keeps filling with water. Both bilge pumps keep kicking on while at speed and pumping out a lot of water. The extension boxes are dry and I cant see water coming in when the boat is still. If the engines are running I still cant see any water. I get up to speed and the bilge pumps start pumping water out like crazy. Where can it be coming from?

I had a crack in my oil cooler. Would barely leak at idle, would poor water at speed.

That makes sense to me as well Dave...If it was a hose or transom leak you'd see it while sitting as well.

How warm is the water being discharged ?

If it's ambient, it's coming from somewhere before
the coolers/heat exchangers.

That does make sense. Where do i look/how do i tell which one it is?

Dunno the temp, the automatic bilge pumps would pump it out and it would be dry whenever I would stop. I wouldnt have even noticed but I looked over my right shoulder today and I saw both bilges pumping like crazy and it ran for about 2 miles. next time I will disconnect them and see if I can feel the temp.

we still need to figure out how to diagnose which one it is...

Sometimes, when theres a leak, there will
be a hard water stain that develops where
the water runs along....you can look for the stains
on hoses, etc.

The last time I had to track down a leak, I had to
take out the seat back, and have a friend drive the
boat while I looked for the leak......he had to run it
90 mph before I could find something....it was
a inlet hose from the thru hull pickup.

Keith cant you just put it in neutral and take the engines just off idle to get it to leak and you should be able to see it or hear it ??

No, I tried that. Couldnt see anything and had it up to 2000rpm. Didnt do a thing. This has to be ALOT of water for it to make 2 bilge pumps run almost full time.

you know anyone with one of those hero go pro video cameras those thigs are small and will fit i a very tight place you could actually video it that way

Yeah, my wife driving the boat at anything over 50mph and me in the bilge laying on top of 2 hot motors will not result in anything good!

OK guys, I dont think its the oil cool. I climbed all over both of them and there is no sign of water or stains.

What else could this be?

Boat has to be moving in order to get water inside....Speedometer tube or fittings on the transom asseembly where the tube would connect to? But not sure about thr amount of water you are talking about unless both sides are unhooked.

I have a gps speedo.

Is there anyway to pressurize the freshwater system to potentially force the water out?

what about hooking up a garden hose to the flush out fitting

That might work. I was even thinking about taking the hose off the "out" side of the seawater pump and hooking it to a garden hose.

But does a regular home style garden hose have enough pressure?

Your house water pressure should be at least 40 psi. You may have to pinch off the hoses from the thermostat to the exhaust manifolds to generate a little pressure in the system.

Try hooking a hose to the water pick up for
the speedo, I see you have a gps but the pick
up steel has water going in the hose to where they
plug it. The seams on the hose usually crack.
hopefully thats it, cheap fix if it is.

The seal for my exhaust tip was broke and everytime the boat came off plane water would gush in around the tips. Just a thought.

I hate to tell ya but the best way to figure it out is going to be hanging in that bilge while running. Just becareful and do it when it is very calm water and no one around. Just a thought but I would check all the freeze plugs maybe one is loose and only leaks when you have full pressure??????

Figure out if the water is warm or cool 1st like JT suggested. My guess is you have a leak.....:party-smiley-004:

did you find out where your leak is????

DUDE, next time you need someone to run your boat 90mph, Look no farther! :evilb:

Got a picture of the engine compartment? A detailed picture? What about poor sealing at the exhaust tips, exhaust running down the transom... Maybe your exhaust bellows if you have Silent choice, or your exhaust block off plate if you do not have silent choice. Fresh water inlet hose.

If you say it gets worse with speed then I doubt its the silent choice or exhaust block off, since a leak from there would slow while the boat is in motion. Obviously leaking more with more water flow, so I highly doubt its just leaking from anything mounted to the boat through the transom.

I would try your fresh water inlet hose and fitting.

I've heard of the impellor housing cracking (plastic ones)

had a crack in my speedo line were it met the transom! its blocked off and a gps is in there now.... filled up to the bottom of the oil pan before i knew it and the auto bilge switch didnt kick on... luck i stopped from it handling poor and found it! :angry-smiley-038:

He's got brass ones on the 496's...I'd start looking at water hose on transom or pull out the speedo tube and plug it with silicone or plug off the port on the transom assembly like I did..If those aren't the issue it has to be a water hose but that should show just running or sitting.

If it were the speedo I would plug it at the Transom Asym just my opinion. A little brass plug is a lot better than trying to crimp a piece of Plastic Line. Real easy to do while TA's are off the boat.

Thats what I did!!!!:drink:

Well, the exhaust manifolds are off. And after 4 hours of laying on my engine upside down I have a headache and I am tired of looking. Next week, I will disconnect the fresh water pump and pressureize the starbord motor fresh water system to see if I can get a leak. Nothing has hard water stains but there is more salt on the starboard motor. with the exhaust off I have clear view of the oil cooler and nothing looks "bad" I assume it is a small hole near a hose clamp somewhere because everything is still together and nothing blew off.

Is there anything visual I can check for on the oil cooler?

How about the springs in the water dump actuators? Did you check them? They do go bad, and they won't start to dump water until you have 10-15 lbs. of water pressure.

whats the deal with the leak,,,,how about the exhaust block off plate at the transom,,:cool: http://www.teambajamarine.com/photop...php?photo=9764