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

do a compression test and a cylinder leak down

DURANGOKID59

I didnt have a compression gage handy, but with the plug out, it would blow your thumb off the hole, so it has some compression. What does a cylinder leak down consist of? Im new to the marine applications.

Stormrider

Water in the cylinder?
Bad exhausts? Check the risers and manifolds.

DURANGOKID59

Yeah, there were droplets of water on the #3 cylinder, so it wouldnt fire. I guess now that you mention it, my solenoids for my silent choice went bad, so for this weekend, I wired the baffles open, until I get my new solenoids. Possible water just came in and got past the safety flap and down in to that cylinder?

GOODT

yes

DURANGOKID59

If thats the case, is there going to be anything to fix, or just wait till it dries out and it should be good to go?

jeff32

I'd go for an engine oil change to make sure you don't have enough water in oil to damage the engine, then run it and check again for water

HotPursuit

If you were running the water didn't come from the transom.
Sounds like exhaust leaking.Leak down will give the answer and pressure check the exhaust.
If you were sitting with the engine off and enough water entered through the tips you would have hydraulic the open cylinder.Steel stock exhaust I'm betting,good luck.

DURANGOKID59

Thanks for all the ideas guys. Im going to do a compression test and a cylinder leak down today. I do have one more question for doing the leak down. Do I need to have the system full of water when doing the test to see if it is leaking in to that area? I plan on running the hose and muffs if need be, but wasnt sure if the system needed to be pressurized to get an accurate test done. Thanks.