Changing Exhaust Riser Gasket
 

Whats involved in changing this gasket with my setup. It is a Merc Gil Exhaust System. Is it as easy as unbolting the four bolts. Scraping off the old gasket. Putting new gasket in place and re-bolt? Is there a specific torc for those bolts? On a scale of 1-10 how difficult is this??

Re: Changing Exhaust Riser Gasket
 

I had a similar setup to yours and have done this a few times. Its pretty easy, I'd give it a 2 on the difficult scale. Just remove the water hose from the riser, loosen the clamp at the back of it, if you can get the rubber exhaust hose off it will make it easier but its not neccessary. Remove the four nuts and pry it off. If its just a gasket it shouldnt be too hard. I had high temp silicone on mine and that made it more difficult also my tailpipes were full length thru transom so I couldnt use the pipe itself to pry with but you won't have that problem if you can get the rubber hose off. When you get the riser off, tightly stuff a rag in the exhaust hole so when you scrape the gasket nothing falls down in there. Carefully use a shop vac to clean it out if anything does fall onto the rag. I'd call Gil about the torque but I would just tighten them pretty good on mine, I never thought about torque because it would be tough to get a torque wrench on the back two nuts.

Re: Changing Exhaust Riser Gasket
 

What exactly do you mean when you say "you won't have that problem if you can get the rubber hose off". What rubber hose are you talking about?

Re: Changing Exhaust Riser Gasket
 

The rubber exhaust hose that is in between the back of the riser and the transom/exhaust tips

Re: Changing Exhaust Riser Gasket
 

Ok, thats what I thought. Do I just loosen or do I remove?

Re: Changing Exhaust Riser Gasket
 

You need to loosen it but you may not absolutely need to remove it. In other words, don't spend too much time trying to remove it. Just loosen the clamp, then remove the 4 nuts that hold the riser to the manifold. See if it seperates easily. If so, your in luck, it should come right off, if not, you're going to need to pry it off with a screwdriver being careful not to mess up the aluminum manifold. If you can move the riser a little bit, by removing that exhaust hose we mentioned, it will make getting a screwdriver or pry bar between the riser and manifold easier. By the way, are you doing all four or did just one fail?

Re: Changing Exhaust Riser Gasket
 

Just one is starting to leak a little bit, but I'm going to replace all 4!! So, you just lay the gasket in place and tighten the bolts and your done?

Re: Changing Exhaust Riser Gasket
 

There are two gaskets per riser and a heat defuser in the middle. Make sure this is clean. If it has been leaking long you could have valve problems from the water leaking down the manifold??

Re: Changing Exhaust Riser Gasket
 

This is a very simple job to do but also one of the most important. Please take your time with this and make sure you have everything sealed properly when you put it all back together. If it starts leaking into the exhaust then you can eventually get water in your oil and you know what kinds of problems that brings. My suggestion is make the repair then check the oil multiple times your first time back out to make sure you are not getting the "milkshake" This is especially true if you are running synthetic oil as it will not absorb any water into the oil at all. That being said it is a simple job to do just make sure both surfaces are very clean.

Re: Changing Exhaust Riser Gasket
 

Your system should not have water passing through the manifold to the riser except through the hose right? Is it leaking water or exhaust gas? Not to make you nervous but what year is your Bullet and do you run in salt? Those manifolds last about 10-15 years in salt (I know this from the awful experience of springing an unexpected leak in one of mine)