Crappy Merc exhaust gaskets... again

[J Levine]

My port motor has been using a little coolant this summer and I have smelled coolant in the exhaust at startup so I figured that one of the gaskets on one of the risers was leaking. I order the OEM gaskets sets (I have 3" risers") and today I removed the manifold, riser and elbow as a assembly from both sides of the engine after it has been sitting for a week with out running. Sure enough on the starboard side I found coolant puddled in the bottom of the two middle ports of the manifold. The other side was dry. I cleaned all the castings and put everything back together with the new gaskets. This stupid gasket is only two years old, This design totally sucks. A word to the wise, you need to take these exhaust systems apart damn near every year and replace the gaskets or risk some major engine damage.

 

[sr330daguy]

Try using Aqua Power gaskets,haven't had a problem with theirs.

 

[fc3]

I think the solution is to order either stainless steel manifolds or manifolds and elbows for a Crusader engine. Merc can't even make a @$#%ing gasket without @$%ing it up. I rebuilt the heads on the port engine this year because a cheap crap Mercury Marine gasket failed.

I will never ever ever ever ever buy another boat that is powered by anything that is even remotely associated with those stupid bastards at Mercury. Next boats will either be a used Sea Ray with Caterpillars or a new Regal with Volvo IPS, and no more Mercury half-assed "engineering"

Best regards,
Frank

 

[boatrboy]

Frank- don't sugar coat it-tell us how you really feel

 

[douglee25]

I know Mercury doesn't recommend sealant in addition to those gaskets, but did you use any? I've never found the riser/manifold combo to be perfectly true and for me, I have personally found Permatex 2A or Permatex Right Stuff to fill that void and do a better sealing job than gaskets alone.

Doug