Water in Bilge - Y-Pipe?? Please Help! - Summer Too Short in WI
 

I have a 1995 Bryant with a 7.4 Bravo I. The boat overheated two years ago. I replaced the water pump and everything seemed fine. However I've been taking on water in the bilge. It fills up pretty fast. I thought it might be the bellows so I replaced all three and the gimbal bearing - no luck. I filled the lower part of the boat with water just above where the Y-pipe mounts to the transom plate. I noticed I am getting water out the exhaust port right by the port side ram. I'm assuming this mean I have one of three things wrong. The y-pipe is lose, the o-ring is burned up due to the overheating, or the y-pipe is cracked. Does this make sense? Any other thoughts or things I should test? Is there any chance to tighten the y-pipe or replace the o-ring without removing the engine?

Thanks,

Jim

easy way to tell if the y pipe is loose is to remove the clamps on the oval rubber boots from your diverters to the y pipe and slide them down so the diverter is no longer connected to them. then try to wiggle the y pipe.

many people will tell you you should be able to see if its loose without loosening them boots up but i can tell you in my case that y pipe was rock solid when all attached. i was chasing a water leak also and finally pulled the motor and once i had those rubber boots off my Y pipe would wobble all over the place, infact i took the bottom bolts out of it out with my fingers only, no tools needed.......


anyway theres no way to tighten the lower bolts on the Y pipe or replace the gasket wih the motor in place that i can tell after having all of this apart, the top 2 bolts you might have a slight chance of getting to but that would be about it

Thanks for the thoughts. I was thinking the very same thing, pull the upper exhaust and see if the y-pipe is lose. I plan to do that today. I'll post and update. If it is I don't think I need to remove the engine completely, just remove the the bench seat (very easy on a Bryant) and lift / slide the engine forward a few inches. Hopefully all will work ok.

Thanks again,

Jim

BTW its a 3/8 12 point head bolt on that y pipe, a regular socket wont fit. well at least on mine its a 12 point. just a FYI

I confirmed what you guys thought. It is a lose y-pipe. I hope to raise the engine on Friday. I built a 4x4 structure that will fit in my boat. With some roller I hope to raise and roll the engine forward. However I am wondering if I can get way with simply raising it straight up about eight inches or so. I'll you posted.

Thanks again for the tips. I think I may have identified my bilge leak that's likely plagued me for a couple of years.

Jim

Please take the time to be sure that you have properly engineered your solution for raising the engine. Fully dressed, that is about 1000 lbs you will have hanging there, and we would hate to read about you in the papers. I think a better solution would be a reinforced truss or rafter in a structure with a chain hoist. That is what I used to pull/drop in mine. I sandwiched several 2x8's, and buttressed the truss on each end with a post. I then raised the engine, rolled the boat back on its trailer, and then lowered the engine - reversed the procedure to drop it back in. I don't know if I would trust something that is installed on rollers on the INSIDE of the boat. I can't picture how this would possibly work.

Thanks for the thoughts. We lifted the engine this morning, pulled the y-pipe and found the upper bolts were finger tight. We replaced the o-ring and reinstalled the y-pipe with loctite on the bolts.

The frame worked perfect. I ended up putting 3/4" plywood on the floor of the boat to spread the load. I then bolted about 5' high 4x4s on each side to two 4x4s laying flat on top of the plywood. I then ran an angled 4x4 from the horizontal to the vertical to form a truss. I ran a 4x4 across the top to connect the trusses and then ran 2x4s on angles from the vertical 4x4s to the main cross beam. These helped support the main beam. Finally I ran a heavy piece of steal across the beam to spread the load. In the end I was able to simply raise the engine in place without moving it forward using a heavy-duty come-along.

All in all it worked perfect. I just have one question. Does anyone know the proper torque for the main engine mounting nuts in the front and bolts in the rear. My Merc Bravo Drive manual does not have the engine torque specs.

Thanks again for all the tips.

Jim

my book says rear engine mounts 35-40 ft/lb
front mounts "securely"

make sure you check your engine alignment and bend the lock tabs down on your front mounts so your alignment doesnt move once its good.

also might want to check and make sure your motor mounts into the stringers are tight, mine were loose by about 1 turn on each side, i guess thats expected on a 20 year old boat!

Great, thanks again for all the great advice. I should be back on the water today with hopefully the water staying on the outside of the hull.

Jim