496 problem
 

Hey Guys,
Anyone ever hear of the air actuator going bad. Its opening up @ 4000 rpms and flooding my bilge. its not a big problem until the boat fills up with water. I'm just not sure if its the actuator or something else causing this to happen.
Anything will be helpful.
Thanks

Mine occasionally opens (higher speeds) and dumps water. But not always. I thought I'd seen a post on this problem a couple of years ago and Raylar had an anwer but I can't seem to find it. I seem to recall another person talking about releasing the air pressure again after making your first run of the season?

The spring tensioner in the air actuator does go bad over time. Its a fairly simple replacement, and if you are under warranty; its a warranty item.

If you don't need or use your air pump system, just pull out the actuator an put a piece of pipe in there instead. This works in a pinch as well as a more permanent solution.

Hey guys,
Thanks for the imput. I just wasn't sure if there was something else causing it to open and wanted to make sure I was addressing the problem.
Thanks again

Mhale00


If you have added headers or exhaust to your engine, be careful, it could be a raw water system high pressure
build-up that will open the valve when the raw water system pressure gets to high. A scan tool can tell you what the system pressure is a higher rpms and then you can check that against what the pressure Mercury lists for correct pressure range. we have seen this in a few header, new manifold system installs.

Regards,

Ray @ Raylar

Hey Ray,
I didn't change anything from last season. Only mods done were the Raylar Kit and the porting of the exhaust that Arron and the guys @ absolute did.
Thanks
Marc

Then I would suspect a weak or bad relief valve. You can take them out, remove the snap ring and clean and reassemble them. Sometimes they just get crudded up inside. If you are never going to be in winter freeze temperatures, the best thing to do is remove them entirely and substitute a coupling between the hoses that feed through them.

Regards,

Ray @ Raylar

I went ahead and took it apart and cleaned it. I will give it a shot this weekend.
Thanks