Riser Hot

Mstrlucky74

Member
Jul 6, 2015
191
NY
Boat Info
1998 sea ray 215 express cruiser
Engines
Mercruiser
Have 1998 215 Sea Ray Express cruiser. Had elbow, risers etc. done beginning last summer. One riser has always been hot to touch....can't keep hand on it for more than 4-5 seconds. The other is warm and I can keep my hand on it. It's Mercruiser engine. Before I take to mechanic is there anything I can check on my own? I'm somewhat mechanically inclined. Thanks.
 
Have 1998 215 Sea Ray Express cruiser. Had elbow, risers etc. done beginning last summer. One riser has always been hot to touch....can't keep hand on it for more than 4-5 seconds. The other is warm and I can keep my hand on it. It's Mercruiser engine. Before I take to mechanic is there anything I can check on my own? I'm somewhat mechanically inclined. Thanks.

Generally, the heat indicates not enough water flow. Since they were just done, were the correct gaskets used? We're they oriented properly? Have you flushed the engine well?

Bryan
 
On Mercruiser's one riser is always hotter than the other. Neither should be so hot you can't touch it. On mine one is almost cool, can lay my hand on it indefinitely, the other is hot, but I can still lay my hand on it. First sign of a failing raw water pump is the risers getting hotter. Best thing short of inspecting the pump is to put a infrared thermometer on them, they should be in the 100-120deg range
 
You likely have a single I/O in your 98 215. I would guess that you don't have a belt driven seawater pump but utilize the pump in the Outdrive for raw water cooling.
Sounds like a flow problem.
When was the last time you changed that impeller?
Is your motor raw water or fresh water cooled?
Is there a clog in any of the hoses or in the power steering cooler?
If fresh water cooled, is there a clog in the heat exchanger?
 
please take my advise and don't spend any more time on this...I had the exact same boat with the exact same concern.....I spent CONSIDERABLE time on this both in research and in tearing things apart to take a look....bottom line is this engine has a cooling system flow that favors the port side of the exhaust....the starboard exhaust will run noticeably warmer to the point you cannot leave your hand on it for more than a few seconds....Mercruiser confirmed this was normal for this engine with that exhaust system and cooling system....

as much as I wanted to find something wrong I could not...it just seemed odd to me that engineers would design a cooling system where one side exhaust would run that much warmer than the other...I had the boat for over 5 years and this never caused any issues.....

cliff
 
Echoing cliffs comment, twin 5.7 with brand new exhaust and starboard side on both motors is 20* hotter once the t stat opens, the hot block water ends up going to that side mostly based on the design of the cooling system plumbing
 
Generally, the heat indicates not enough water flow. Since they were just done, were the correct gaskets used? We're they oriented properly? Have you flushed the engine well?

Bryan

Don't know about the correct gaskets or if they were oriented properly. Is flushing the engine something I can do?
 
please take my advise and don't spend any more time on this...I had the exact same boat with the exact same concern.....I spent CONSIDERABLE time on this both in research and in tearing things apart to take a look....bottom line is this engine has a cooling system flow that favors the port side of the exhaust....the starboard exhaust will run noticeably warmer to the point you cannot leave your hand on it for more than a few seconds....Mercruiser confirmed this was normal for this engine with that exhaust system and cooling system....

as much as I wanted to find something wrong I could not...it just seemed odd to me that engineers would design a cooling system where one side exhaust would run that much warmer than the other...I had the boat for over 5 years and this never caused any issues.....

cliff

Well I bought it to C&D marine and they said there is no issue. Thanks all.
 

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