i have a 496 HO in a fountain fever 29. I continually burn a hole at the top of my wet exhaust on the starboard side. i have read previous forum article on here about this issue and have tried everything.
I have replaced impeller, replaced ball valve, changed starboard rise with port riser, grinder top of bellow down.

It still appears and feels to me that the exhaust hose is is touching the top of the bellow. could i be running the wrong type of wet exhaust hose. is there a flex wet hose that i can run. I have an angle (down) from where my exhaust tip is to angle of my riser. i feel like my exhaust hose (brand new) doesn't bend at all so i continually hits the top of the hose.

Could the motor be out of alignment. i am at a lost of what else to do. any help or recommendation would help.

Derrick

When you say exhaust hose touching top of bellow, what bellow are you referring too?

Sounds like your hose might be at too steep of an angle and the hot exhaust is blowing at that spot of the hose rather than down the hose.

Picture ?

I burned a few holes in the top side of my 496 exhaust hose before I realized the down angle was the problem. It caused the inside of the hose to contact the flare at the top of the riser output creating a U-shaped water shadow and hot spot on the hose. I bent the top of the flare down ever so slightly to allow water to pass by and it's been problem free ever since.

Exact same issue and repair on a set of short EMI's. The bell flare barely touched at top side and burnt thru hoses here and there. Reduced edge of bell flare a little to let water thru and wallah. Good for dozen years or so and still going.

The bell is very similar.

I did exactly the same thing with the same result, it was a easy fix.

its in the service manuals how to install the exhaust and the angle to make sure water flow does not back up

When I moved my 496 up 3” I tried to get away with making the offset up with hose but after almost burning a hole thru said screw the hose and replaced with some home made tail pipes. Think I still have them actually.