Offshoreonly.com - 525 Header Failure??

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If need be, I would assume (since they are aluminum heads) that the holes can be drilled/tapped into the heads for the old style header or a Stainless Marine/Keith Eikert bolt patterns?? Worst case, a welder can fill the holes in the heads and drill/tap for the old bolt pattern, right??

May be a lot of work but if someone is doing a rebuild...especially if the rebuild is due to header failure..:eureka:

I am switching to eddie marine headers. dont want to replace anymore engines.

So what do you do if you want to purchase a used boat with 525's?

I ran Stellings for a few years in fresh water, set up a pump that drained the pipes and sent the water overboard after I shut down. Finally said the heck with it and bought some KE's aluminum castings. 400+ hours and life is good:D

Brand new set of CMI's pinhole leak port side at four into one weld location. Leaking to outside big problem/ little problem?

Mine developed a pin hole external leak also. In and of itself my understanding is that it represents a little problem. However, it is indicative of corrosion and raises the ugly spectre of internal leaking.

you would think that CMI would have a little better quality control, maybe use a different grade of stainless, or make the tubes thicker, there has to be an answer

I had a guy that had a shop next to mine in Naples that was a excellent welder.He had moved over from Miami and just had huge pile of Stellings laying aroung to be welded all the time. I used to spend quite a bit of time with him examining failures.

Being i had just purchased a new set of Tubular headers i was very skeptical about my new purchase after seeing how many he repaired all the time.

From what i could see and from talking to him many of the problems stemmed from overheats or debri clogging the jackets and causing a hotspot . Vibration and lack of support for long heavy tailpipe -muffler combos was a problem also.From what i could see failure was just the nature of the beast.

Quote:

Originally Posted by restabr (Post 2258872)

Mine developed a pin hole external leak also. In and of itself my understanding is that it represents a little problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raylar (Post 2149862)

I think with the cost of motors you stainless header owners at the beginning of each season should rig a simple pressure tester fitting and hit them with let's say 50 psi air pressure, cap the pressure and watch for leakage. Got leaks! Don't run'em until repaired! An Oz. of prevention worth a pound of cure! Seems I heard that somewhere before?

Ok the past week-end we ride on Lake Champlain , and it`s look i have maybe motor trouble on the way , my motor run fine , can reach max RPM ,and have good idle
and for the gage every thing look Ok ,
Oil pressure 45-55 psi
Temp oil 220 to 230
Water temp 160

i always check my fluid level every morning

but when i check the oil dip monday morning ( after 2 day of boating ) the level raise and the oil turn very dark , and the oil smell gaz or burn oil , the only thing i have found so far is the cool collar on the port side of the motor is externaly leaking ( not torque enough ) ,

i have remove all the spark plug and found the cyl. num 3 ( port side ) , have some little drop of liquid on the electrode ( i don`t know what is it gas or water ? ) , the four front plug are more lighter brown color (1,2,3,4) , and the rear (5,6,7,8) are more chocolat brown color

tonight i going to do a compression test .....it`s possible to all the problem will come from the cool collar ?? , i am maybe just on alert mode , but it`s better to prevent than say i am sorry !!!

Ok guy sorry for my poor english , but if you can take time for me , it`s going to be very appreciated
A friend from North of the Border

CIAO

Quote:

Originally Posted by 25 hors la loi (Post 2259565)

Ok the past week-end we ride on Lake Champlain , and it`s look i have maybe motor trouble on the way , my motor run fine , can reach max RPM ,and have good idle
and for the gage every thing look Ok ,
Oil pressure 45-55 psi
Temp oil 220 to 230
Water temp 160

i always check my fluid level every morning

but when i check the oil dip monday morning ( after 2 day of boating ) the level raise and the oil turn very dark , and the oil smell gaz or burn oil , the only thing i have found so far is the cool collar on the port side of the motor is externaly leaking ( not torque enough ) ,

i have remove all the spark plug and found the cyl. num 3 ( port side ) , have some little drop of liquid on the electrode ( i don`t know what is it gas or water ? ) , the four front plug are more lighter brown color (1,2,3,4) , and the rear (5,6,7,8) are more chocolat brown color

tonight i going to do a compression test .....it`s possible to all the problem will come from the cool collar ?? , i am maybe just on alert mode , but it`s better to prevent than say i am sorry !!!

Ok guy sorry for my poor english , but if you can take time for me , it`s going to be very appreciated
A friend from North of the Border

CIAO

Easy way to tell is to loosen up the header and pull it away from the block and see if any water has settled down into the bottom of the tubes. Then I usually crank the engine over with the spark plug removed to see if any liquid (water) shoots out of the spark plug hole (it's best to do this with a starter button hooked up so you can crank it while you're in the engine room). If water shoots out you either have a problem with the header or a head gasket or even a hole in the head....

The rise in oil level is strange.... Is it milky in color?