David, thank you for taking the time to do this video. Excellent and straight forward explanation. Your video could potentially save me a lot of money. Thanks again, Ron
I had a cracked 3.0 Merc. Crack appeared to be internal as I had no exterior leakage and oil was getting milky. Last weekend I constructed a tank of about 8 gallons to allow my cooling water to recirc and used a whole bottle of K&N block sealer, ran for about 15-20 minutes and it appeared to have sealed the crack. Boat hadn't run in 12 years to the accuracy of my temp gage was questionable, but it never got over 185 F or so. I could put my hand in the tank quickly without burning myself so I would guess the temp was less than boiling or 212 F. I ran the engine again this week for about 15 min on the muffs and oil looked good after. Super pleased obviously.
Wondering why this guy didn't just do that, you could just stick prop in bucket out of gear that is full enough to submerge where muffs go and gather with another bucket from pee hole and dump it in first bucket and sit there recycling it.
Just an update. My repair is still holding. The manufacturer said when it works it's almost always permanent, but if the crack is too wide the leak stop may not be able to seal the crack. One more thing. You need to first determine if the crack is into one of the combustion cylinders. Mine was not, but if yours is, all you need to do is remove that spark plug while running the engine with the leak stop in the cooling system. The manufacturer says it can seal a cracked cylinder but to allow it to seep into the crack you can't have the cylinder pressurized.
i gave the boat to a new owner w/ the knowledge and ability to take the risk of dealing w/ the engine core plugs. i was heading to install a new engine or at least pull the engine to get new core plugs in the right way.. good luck.......
@@perryshields8820I'm about to do the same to my 4.3 block in a cuddy cruiser that I just got for a song. I'm going to test compression on each cylinder, and I don't think a cracked cylinder will show much compression on the guage. Plus, cylinder cracks are more rare than other ones
Awesome video, thanks. I wanted to add that if your dipstick tube runs off the drain plug, it’s possible it’s deceiving you. My oil looked perfect the only way I knew it had water in it was because the oil level went up. Of course I didn’t know I had a problem until I washed out my bearings and spun a few of them.
Good to hear it's still working fine, exceptional in fact. These blocks will crack if not winterized b/c the water trapped in the cooling jackets will freeze during cold weather, expand and crack the cast iron.
I had a 5.7 Chevy engine with a bad intake manifold gasket that had the same issue at 65,000 miles. Dealer said they wouldn't know until they tore it down. A friend told me that these were famous for the intake gaskets failing and causing this. I put 150,000 miles on that truck after that with no more issues.
I have this exact problem on the same exact boat..lol you may have just saved me 5k for new long block. will attempt this over next few weekend.. intimidating for me but you laid out video very well
GREAT presentation!! I will certainly save this video. . One thing I don't understand. Where is the water going that you have plumbed into the system coming up from the lower unit impeller. Seems like it would be over pressurizing the system. . I will continue watching for your reply. . . Jake
Nice video. Tank you.. just on my thermostat I have 3 lines (Mercruiser Alpha 4.3 2003) 2 lines from manifolds, large pipe from the pump. Where can I find output water line which. Will be connected to the top of Radiator ? Will appreciate your answer
David, why were you concerned about running the treated water through the exhaust risers? I was going to try and do this without the radiator and just collect the treated water using 2 hoses plugged into the transom raw water outlets into a tub with the lower outdrive submerged. TIA
Thanks for writing. Ultimately I know it doesn’t always work. I’m hoping for a summer and then re power. I’m not getting a lot of water in my oil. Very little actually, but that’s not under strain. Still I think it’s worth a shot. Line up for 4.3 Mercs here.
Nice presentation and appreciate your methodology. You're a fellow son of Rube Goldberg! How many hours do you estimate you have put on the boat since the repair? Must ask, were you paid for your product plug? 4/11/21
Does it have to be used with a radiator or would 15 gallons of water or so covering the outdrive work as well? 3 cans would treat 18 gallons of water, the only thing I can think of is not enough pressure but what is your opinion?
You can do it that way. However that brings the stop-leak into the exhaust manifold heat risers. I wanted to contain the stop leak within the engine. It is also difficult on my boat to collect all of the water coming out because some of it comes through the exhaust and some at the transom
What grinds my gears is they should have built the cooling systems to automatically drain most of the water out completely overnight after shutting it off.
In my opinion this is poke and hope. I use a process made for this. It's a series of threaded plugs that interlock permanently sealing the crack. Its a much better repair. Made by a company called lock-n-stitch.
Lock and stitch works great, IF you already have the engine out and stripped down. This is for guys that just want a quick fix (hopefully fix) while the engine is still in the boat.
@@strikeforcek9149 I pulled mine out. But I could have easily done it in the boat as well. I've only got the 3.0 merc. A v engine would have been a different story.
@@donmunro144 I'm debating doing the same right now. I have a 5.0/305 that is literally brand new with only around 15hrs on it, and it cracked over winter (bad winterization). So debating on using lock n stitch, or just replacing the short block. Such a pain in the ass, all from someone taking shortcuts lol. But, I got into the boat for the right price, so I can't really conplain I guess.
I think with lock-n-stitch you also have to be able to find the crack and have serious access to its location. I have an crack that is accessible and I’m looking at lock-n-stitch and belzona solutions, but have to consider that there may be other cracks I can’t see and this solution could prove quite useful for that.
It usually works very well,provided you *fixed* very well the original overheating problem; it is nothing special,just sodium silicate,also called liquid glass
Ya Ok ....cracked block, warped head, water in oil. Lets see...is some sort of crazy crap gong to fix it....nope, your engine deals with heat, compression and for the most part critical tolerances...
where is the up date? i fear the worst has happened... i got caught by this early freeze and found a core plug in the bilge. i gave up my winterizing day for my wifes borthers son weding i haven't seen in 25yrs...... i am hoping it is just the plug but is there is a internal crackin the block i wo't risk going on the open water of the great lakes. outside crack maybe i would do a repair internal crack no way. re power w/ an outboard/s.
Hi mr Zif001, I have a crack on the outside and iv'e just epoxy metal weld a plate of steal over the crack. not sure if i have a internal leak too, milky oil...
Me too. It's only 7k. But at least I won't do the ole Pistol Shot on the Terrace ARRGH. What size Tee is that? The night hose fits on it and the 2 smaller also fit. But the Tee looks like it the same size on all 3 sides. Geesh .. confused
Im marine tech i fix blocks and wat u did is not right i bet under load ur motor wit water it will turn milky the right fix is open it up and see wat broke and fix
Ingenius!! You are a very smart man! I would have never thought about using a radiator to make a closed-loop
cooling system. Bravo
😊
David, thank you for taking the time to do this video. Excellent and straight forward explanation. Your video could potentially save me a lot of money. Thanks again, Ron
Z😢um 😮😮 k f if😮u ggiu
I had a cracked 3.0 Merc. Crack appeared to be internal as I had no exterior leakage and oil was getting milky. Last weekend I constructed a tank of about 8 gallons to allow my cooling water to recirc and used a whole bottle of K&N block sealer, ran for about 15-20 minutes and it appeared to have sealed the crack. Boat hadn't run in 12 years to the accuracy of my temp gage was questionable, but it never got over 185 F or so. I could put my hand in the tank quickly without burning myself so I would guess the temp was less than boiling or 212 F. I ran the engine again this week for about 15 min on the muffs and oil looked good after. Super pleased obviously.
Anthony Moschella is it still holding up on your 3.0?
@@garydavidson02 unfortunately I have not been able to get it out on the water. Steering cable is frozen in the pivot tube.
Did you mean K & W ?
Yes. The green bottle. my bad
Wondering why this guy didn't just do that, you could just stick prop in bucket out of gear that is full enough to submerge where muffs go and gather with another bucket from pee hole and dump it in first bucket and sit there recycling it.
Just an update. My repair is still holding. The manufacturer said when it works it's almost always permanent, but if the crack is too wide the leak stop may not be able to seal the crack. One more thing. You need to first determine if the crack is into one of the combustion cylinders. Mine was not, but if yours is, all you need to do is remove that spark plug while running the engine with the leak stop in the cooling system. The manufacturer says it can seal a cracked cylinder but to allow it to seep into the crack you can't have the cylinder pressurized.
i gave the boat to a new owner w/ the knowledge and ability to take the risk of dealing w/ the engine core plugs. i was heading to install a new engine or at least pull the engine to get new core plugs in the right way.. good luck.......
David, how do you determine if the crack is in one of the combustion cylinders?
@@perryshields8820I'm about to do the same to my 4.3 block in a cuddy cruiser that I just got for a song. I'm going to test compression on each cylinder, and I don't think a cracked cylinder will show much compression on the guage. Plus, cylinder cracks are more rare than other ones
Awesome video, thanks. I wanted to add that if your dipstick tube runs off the drain plug, it’s possible it’s deceiving you. My oil looked perfect the only way I knew it had water in it was because the oil level went up. Of course I didn’t know I had a problem until I washed out my bearings and spun a few of them.
Good to hear it's still working fine, exceptional in fact. These blocks will crack if not winterized b/c the water trapped in the cooling jackets will freeze during cold weather, expand and crack the cast iron.
I had a 5.7 Chevy engine with a bad intake manifold gasket that had the same issue at 65,000 miles. Dealer said they wouldn't know until they tore it down. A friend told me that these were famous for the intake gaskets failing and causing this. I put 150,000 miles on that truck after that with no more issues.
I have this exact problem on the same exact boat..lol you may have just saved me 5k for new long block. will attempt this over next few weekend.. intimidating for me but you laid out video very well
Any feedback on how it went on your side ?
Yep, he just brought new engine 😅
Sub'd. Thanks, bought a boat with 4.3 only has 600 hours, but it has chocolate milk. Now I feel better, gonna follow your method tomorrow
How’d it go for you?
I got 3.0 but it’s only 4 cylinder.can you lead me to plugging hoses like which has to be plug and block.tyvm
GREAT presentation!! I will certainly save this video. . One thing I don't understand. Where is the water going that you have plumbed into the system coming up from the lower unit impeller. Seems like it would be over pressurizing the system. . I will continue watching for your reply. . . Jake
It dumps out the exhaust
I used bar’s and this method worked for me thanks for the video
Do you think this would work on a Mercruiser 3.0 with an external crack in the water jacket. No water in the oil.
What would you say you spent in all parts for your fix?
Nice video. Tank you.. just on my thermostat I have 3 lines (Mercruiser Alpha 4.3 2003) 2 lines from manifolds, large pipe from the pump. Where can I find output water line which. Will be connected to the top of Radiator ? Will appreciate your answer
Did you get the flow for the 4.3 mercruiser?
David, why were you concerned about running the treated water through the exhaust risers? I was going to try and do this without the radiator and just collect the treated water using 2 hoses plugged into the transom raw water outlets into a tub with the lower outdrive submerged. TIA
Hey. Did you attempt this method? If so, was it successful? In the same boat per se.
@@frdm5774 it did not work. The crack in the valley of my 5.7l was huge. I replaced the motor.
Thanks for writing. Ultimately I know it doesn’t always work. I’m hoping for a summer and then re power. I’m not getting a lot of water in my oil. Very little actually, but that’s not under strain. Still I think it’s worth a shot. Line up for 4.3 Mercs here.
David, Any thoughts on using K&W FiberLock vice the product you used?
David, do you have an update on this? Did it actually work and LAST?
He did comment 1 year later that it was still holding.
Do you think this system would work to seal a head gasket on 5.7 Volvo Penta?
Great video, thank you. Lot's of nice tips. And tricks.
So did this repair work? The real test in on the water with stress on the engine. Love to hear from you David Lindsay.
Still haven't taking it out unfortunately.
yes, still running good
Nice presentation and appreciate your methodology. You're a fellow son of Rube Goldberg! How many hours do you estimate you have put on the boat since the repair? Must ask, were you paid for your product plug? 4/11/21
Hey any updates on how it worked out please? Anything different u would have done? Im doing this tomorrow so any.info would greatly help. Thanks
As long as I believed it was an internal crack I'd do it the same way. However, if you have a crack in a cylinder you must leave that spark plug out.
What if the block is cracked on the outside right between the freeze plug behind the motor mount and the freeze plug behind it?
Does it have to be used with a radiator or would 15 gallons of water or so covering the outdrive work as well? 3 cans would treat 18 gallons of water, the only thing I can think of is not enough pressure but what is your opinion?
You can do it that way. However that brings the stop-leak into the exhaust manifold heat risers. I wanted to contain the stop leak within the engine. It is also difficult on my boat to collect all of the water coming out because some of it comes through the exhaust and some at the transom
Did you ever try it your way?
What grinds my gears is they should have built the cooling systems to automatically drain most of the water out completely overnight after shutting it off.
Do you think this would work on a non internal leak? Mines cracked beside the freeze plug. No water and oil and no misfires
If it's not internal just JB weld the outside.
Have you seen JB weld work? Just curious I also have a crack near my freeze plugs.
In my opinion this is poke and hope. I use a process made for this. It's a series of threaded plugs that interlock permanently sealing the crack. Its a much better repair. Made by a company called lock-n-stitch.
Lock and stitch works great, IF you already have the engine out and stripped down.
This is for guys that just want a quick fix (hopefully fix) while the engine is still in the boat.
@@strikeforcek9149 I pulled mine out. But I could have easily done it in the boat as well. I've only got the 3.0 merc. A v engine would have been a different story.
@@donmunro144 I'm debating doing the same right now. I have a 5.0/305 that is literally brand new with only around 15hrs on it, and it cracked over winter (bad winterization).
So debating on using lock n stitch, or just replacing the short block. Such a pain in the ass, all from someone taking shortcuts lol. But, I got into the boat for the right price, so I can't really conplain I guess.
@@strikeforcek9149 oh that sucks.
I think with lock-n-stitch you also have to be able to find the crack and have serious access to its location. I have an crack that is accessible and I’m looking at lock-n-stitch and belzona solutions, but have to consider that there may be other cracks I can’t see and this solution could prove quite useful for that.
How did it work im really hoping it did because im going to try this. Thanks for the info man.
It usually works very well,provided you *fixed* very well the original overheating problem; it is nothing special,just sodium silicate,also called liquid glass
Did you start with fresh oil when you put the block seal in?
probably, because the oil would have had water in it if the block was cracked
This was bad ass
Good job
What coolant flush did you use to flush the engine? Any updates on the effectiveness of the block sealer?
I don't remember the cleaner, I thought I said it in the video, maybe not. I do remember getting a more aggressive one.
We need an update is it still holding let us know thanks man good info
still holding. Runs better than ever after a valve adjustment
Ill be using your technique but with blue devil
And how did it turn out?
Ya Ok ....cracked block, warped head, water in oil. Lets see...is some sort of crazy crap gong to fix it....nope, your engine deals with heat, compression and for the most part critical tolerances...
where is the up date? i fear the worst has happened...
i got caught by this early freeze and found a core plug in the bilge. i gave up my winterizing day for my wifes borthers son weding i haven't seen in 25yrs...... i am hoping it is just the plug but is there is a internal crackin the block i wo't risk going on the open water of the great lakes. outside crack maybe i would do a repair internal crack no way. re power w/ an outboard/s.
Hi mr Zif001, I have a crack on the outside and iv'e just epoxy metal weld a plate of steal over the crack. not sure if i have a internal leak too, milky oil...
I have done that too with a crack that was only external
After watching the video for 34 minutes, I decided to buy a new engine instead
Me too. It's only 7k. But at least I won't do the ole Pistol Shot on the Terrace ARRGH.
What size Tee is that? The night hose fits on it and the 2 smaller also fit.
But the Tee looks like it the same size on all 3 sides. Geesh .. confused
Why don't you want to try this
Great video but spoilt by that wufull music.No need for it
Im marine tech i fix blocks and wat u did is not right i bet under load ur motor wit water it will turn milky the right fix is open it up and see wat broke and fix
Seems like it did work. As a marine tech what recommendations do you have after your open it up and determine the source of the crack?
Why didn't you just put a gm thermostat housing and thermostat and electric fan on radiator?
I did use a fan at first, it did not provide enough cooling so I had to use water
Great ingenuity @davidlindsay6588 . Everyone would love an update comment or video!