Two minor prods with the 1987 Sea Ray. It has a 3.7 liter mercruiser I/O
engine with a closed coolant system. So I have a antifreeze tank, overflow
tank, and a big cylinder on the side that antifreeze and water runs through.

To keep the antifreeze in the overflow tank between the add and full
lines I usually have to add in one to three cups of coolant into it each
time I take the boat out. I can start the boat up and turn it on and off
and run it for a while in the yard and the coolant amount stays the same and
no smoke comes out the back.
When I take it out on the lake and I turn it off in the water and let it
sit there for any amount of time more than a minute or so, and then start
it up a bunch of whitish smoke comes out of the back appearing to come from
the exhaust. It smells like exhaust with a hint of antifreeze. This is
where I am losing the coolant, but I dont know where its leaking at. Oil is
not milky and this problem has stayed consistant for the whole summer so
far.

The second problem that may or may not be related to the first problem
is that I have a leak in hte boat. The leak is down at the bottom of where
the outboard peice comes through the transom. The leak is not big enough to
make the bilge pump run for for a little bit every once in a while, but
water is definitly coming in. To get to whatever is leaking the outboard
peice is going to have to come off. How much to places usually charge for
such a task?

Thanks for any info you got!
Cameron

"Ree-Yees" wrote in message
news
Two minor prods with the 1987 Sea Ray. It has a 3.7 liter mercruiser I/O
engine with a closed coolant system. So I have a antifreeze tank,
overflow
tank, and a big cylinder on the side that antifreeze and water runs
through.

To keep the antifreeze in the overflow tank between the add and full
lines I usually have to add in one to three cups of coolant into it each
time I take the boat out. I can start the boat up and turn it on and off
and run it for a while in the yard and the coolant amount stays the same
and
no smoke comes out the back.
When I take it out on the lake and I turn it off in the water and let
it
sit there for any amount of time more than a minute or so, and then start
it up a bunch of whitish smoke comes out of the back appearing to come
from
the exhaust. It smells like exhaust with a hint of antifreeze. This is
where I am losing the coolant, but I dont know where its leaking at. Oil
is
not milky and this problem has stayed consistant for the whole summer so
far.

The second problem that may or may not be related to the first problem
is that I have a leak in hte boat. The leak is down at the bottom of
where
the outboard peice comes through the transom. The leak is not big enough
to
make the bilge pump run for for a little bit every once in a while, but
water is definitly coming in. To get to whatever is leaking the outboard
peice is going to have to come off. How much to places usually charge for
such a task?

Thanks for any info you got!
Cameron

White smoke out the exhaust and a loss of coolant points towards a blown
head gasket. Water coming in at the transom, looks like a bad bellows.

"Ree-Yees" wrote in message . ..
Two minor prods with the 1987 Sea Ray. It has a 3.7 liter mercruiser I/O
engine with a closed coolant system. So I have a antifreeze tank, overflow
tank, and a big cylinder on the side that antifreeze and water runs through.

To keep the antifreeze in the overflow tank between the add and full
lines I usually have to add in one to three cups of coolant into it each
time I take the boat out. I can start the boat up and turn it on and off
and run it for a while in the yard and the coolant amount stays the same and
no smoke comes out the back.
When I take it out on the lake and I turn it off in the water and let it
sit there for any amount of time more than a minute or so, and then start
it up a bunch of whitish smoke comes out of the back appearing to come from
the exhaust. It smells like exhaust with a hint of antifreeze. This is
where I am losing the coolant, but I dont know where its leaking at. Oil is
not milky and this problem has stayed consistant for the whole summer so
far.

The second problem that may or may not be related to the first problem
is that I have a leak in hte boat. The leak is down at the bottom of where
the outboard peice comes through the transom. The leak is not big enough to
make the bilge pump run for for a little bit every once in a while, but
water is definitly coming in. To get to whatever is leaking the outboard
peice is going to have to come off. How much to places usually charge for
such a task?

Thanks for any info you got!
Cameron

Sounds like a cracked head. When the motor is cool or lighly loaded -
no leak. Once its loaded and heated the head contorts slightly and
the crack opens, letting small amounts of water into the cylinder.

You can try a coolant system pressure test, but if its cool it may not
happen. You can warm it up first - With the radiator cap OFF!! and
try a pressure test. I had the same problem on my old I/O, but it was
intermittent. Finally had the motor torn down and the mech showed me
the head cracked near a valve seat.

Thats the bad news. The good nes is that if you have to pull the
motor anyway you're going to have to pull the outdrive and you can fix
that other leak.

Good Luck

FishFan

Oh, I meant to say that when you fire it up in the water it will only smoke
for 5-10 seconds, smelling like antifreeze, and then it is gone. If you go
out on the lake for 3 hours and never turn the boat off it never smokes and
never loses antifreeze. I dont know if that makes a difference or not?

How much about to fix a cracked head gasket? I feared that this could be
the case, but I thought normally if you had a cracked head gasket a little
water would make its way into the oil and it would turn milky?

Also, can I just keep adding a little coolant forever? Problem doesnt seem
to be getting any better or worse. Getting the leak fixed at the same time
would be a plus I guess. I need new shift cables installed anyways ($200)
so maybe I can get it all done at the same time.

How do I do the pressure test? If I take the radiator cap off wouldnt the
coolant just come up out of the top?

Also if it was letting water into the cylinder how woudl this explain it
smelling like antifreeze and loozing some antifreeze?

Thanks for the info!
--Cameron

Sounds like a cracked head. When the motor is cool or lighly loaded -
no leak. Once its loaded and heated the head contorts slightly and
the crack opens, letting small amounts of water into the cylinder.

You can try a coolant system pressure test, but if its cool it may not
happen. You can warm it up first - With the radiator cap OFF!! and
try a pressure test. I had the same problem on my old I/O, but it was
intermittent. Finally had the motor torn down and the mech showed me
the head cracked near a valve seat.

Thats the bad news. The good nes is that if you have to pull the
motor anyway you're going to have to pull the outdrive and you can fix
that other leak.

Good Luck

FishFan

It also seems like I could recreate the leak with the smoke in the driveway
if it was a head gasket. Could it be some kidn of exhaust manifold leak if
it was water cooled? I dont know if mine is, but I'll try to checkand see
tonight.

--C

"Ree-Yees" wrote in message
...
Oh, I meant to say that when you fire it up in the water it will only
smoke
for 5-10 seconds, smelling like antifreeze, and then it is gone. If you
go
out on the lake for 3 hours and never turn the boat off it never smokes
and
never loses antifreeze. I dont know if that makes a difference or not?

How much about to fix a cracked head gasket? I feared that this could be
the case, but I thought normally if you had a cracked head gasket a little
water would make its way into the oil and it would turn milky?

Also, can I just keep adding a little coolant forever? Problem doesnt
seem
to be getting any better or worse. Getting the leak fixed at the same
time
would be a plus I guess. I need new shift cables installed anyways ($200)
so maybe I can get it all done at the same time.

How do I do the pressure test? If I take the radiator cap off wouldnt the
coolant just come up out of the top?

Also if it was letting water into the cylinder how woudl this explain it
smelling like antifreeze and loozing some antifreeze?

Thanks for the info!
--Cameron

Sounds like a cracked head. When the motor is cool or lighly loaded -
no leak. Once its loaded and heated the head contorts slightly and
the crack opens, letting small amounts of water into the cylinder.

You can try a coolant system pressure test, but if its cool it may not
happen. You can warm it up first - With the radiator cap OFF!! and
try a pressure test. I had the same problem on my old I/O, but it was
intermittent. Finally had the motor torn down and the mech showed me
the head cracked near a valve seat.

Thats the bad news. The good nes is that if you have to pull the
motor anyway you're going to have to pull the outdrive and you can fix
that other leak.

Good Luck

FishFan

How does one test the heat exchanger to see if Im leaking a little out of
that?

"Ree-Yees" wrote in message
.. .
It also seems like I could recreate the leak with the smoke in the
driveway
if it was a head gasket. Could it be some kidn of exhaust manifold leak
if
it was water cooled? I dont know if mine is, but I'll try to checkand see
tonight.

--C

"Ree-Yees" wrote in message
...
Oh, I meant to say that when you fire it up in the water it will only
smoke
for 5-10 seconds, smelling like antifreeze, and then it is gone. If you
go
out on the lake for 3 hours and never turn the boat off it never smokes
and
never loses antifreeze. I dont know if that makes a difference or not?

How much about to fix a cracked head gasket? I feared that this could
be
the case, but I thought normally if you had a cracked head gasket a
little
water would make its way into the oil and it would turn milky?

Also, can I just keep adding a little coolant forever? Problem doesnt
seem
to be getting any better or worse. Getting the leak fixed at the same
time
would be a plus I guess. I need new shift cables installed anyways
($200)
so maybe I can get it all done at the same time.

How do I do the pressure test? If I take the radiator cap off wouldnt
the
coolant just come up out of the top?

Also if it was letting water into the cylinder how woudl this explain it
smelling like antifreeze and loozing some antifreeze?

Thanks for the info!
--Cameron

Sounds like a cracked head. When the motor is cool or lighly loaded -
no leak. Once its loaded and heated the head contorts slightly and
the crack opens, letting small amounts of water into the cylinder.

You can try a coolant system pressure test, but if its cool it may not
happen. You can warm it up first - With the radiator cap OFF!! and
try a pressure test. I had the same problem on my old I/O, but it was
intermittent. Finally had the motor torn down and the mech showed me
the head cracked near a valve seat.

Thats the bad news. The good nes is that if you have to pull the
motor anyway you're going to have to pull the outdrive and you can fix
that other leak.

Good Luck

FishFan

I have twin 3.7's and what you describe is a common problem for these. The
leak in normally between the
manifold and reservoir. It usually means that you have to
replace the reservoir and the gasket. If you pull the #4
plug you will probably see that the piston in that cylinder
looks very clean on top. That is because that is the first
cylinder it leaks into. Mine broke the piston in half before
I paid attention to it. You might want to check it a little
sooner to save LOTS of money.

Terry
"Ree-Yees" wrote in message
news
Two minor prods with the 1987 Sea Ray. It has a 3.7 liter mercruiser I/O
engine with a closed coolant system. So I have a antifreeze tank,
overflow
tank, and a big cylinder on the side that antifreeze and water runs
through.

To keep the antifreeze in the overflow tank between the add and full
lines I usually have to add in one to three cups of coolant into it each
time I take the boat out. I can start the boat up and turn it on and off
and run it for a while in the yard and the coolant amount stays the same
and
no smoke comes out the back.
When I take it out on the lake and I turn it off in the water and let
it
sit there for any amount of time more than a minute or so, and then start
it up a bunch of whitish smoke comes out of the back appearing to come
from
the exhaust. It smells like exhaust with a hint of antifreeze. This is
where I am losing the coolant, but I dont know where its leaking at. Oil
is
not milky and this problem has stayed consistant for the whole summer so
far.

The second problem that may or may not be related to the first problem
is that I have a leak in hte boat. The leak is down at the bottom of
where
the outboard peice comes through the transom. The leak is not big enough
to
make the bilge pump run for for a little bit every once in a while, but
water is definitly coming in. To get to whatever is leaking the outboard
peice is going to have to come off. How much to places usually charge for
such a task?

Thanks for any info you got!
Cameron

Your leak "at the bottom" of the outdrive may be a rotten transom......

Bill
"Terry Rago" wrote in message
news:MJlJc.82343$%_6.81673@attbi_s01...
I have twin 3.7's and what you describe is a common problem for these. The
leak in normally between the
manifold and reservoir. It usually means that you have to
replace the reservoir and the gasket. If you pull the #4
plug you will probably see that the piston in that cylinder
looks very clean on top. That is because that is the first
cylinder it leaks into. Mine broke the piston in half before
I paid attention to it. You might want to check it a little
sooner to save LOTS of money.

Terry
"Ree-Yees" wrote in message
news
Two minor prods with the 1987 Sea Ray. It has a 3.7 liter mercruiser
I/O
engine with a closed coolant system. So I have a antifreeze tank,
overflow
tank, and a big cylinder on the side that antifreeze and water runs
through.

To keep the antifreeze in the overflow tank between the add and full
lines I usually have to add in one to three cups of coolant into it each
time I take the boat out. I can start the boat up and turn it on and
off
and run it for a while in the yard and the coolant amount stays the same
and
no smoke comes out the back.
When I take it out on the lake and I turn it off in the water and
let
it
sit there for any amount of time more than a minute or so, and then
start
it up a bunch of whitish smoke comes out of the back appearing to come
from
the exhaust. It smells like exhaust with a hint of antifreeze. This is
where I am losing the coolant, but I dont know where its leaking at.
Oil
is
not milky and this problem has stayed consistant for the whole summer so
far.

The second problem that may or may not be related to the first
problem
is that I have a leak in hte boat. The leak is down at the bottom of
where
the outboard peice comes through the transom. The leak is not big
enough
to
make the bilge pump run for for a little bit every once in a while, but
water is definitly coming in. To get to whatever is leaking the
outboard
peice is going to have to come off. How much to places usually charge
for
such a task?

Thanks for any info you got!
Cameron

Bill Sheffield wrote:

Your leak "at the bottom" of the outdrive may be a rotten transom......



(snip)

OR a leaky boot.

Rotten transom - sheesh!!!