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valve or lifter noise?


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'00 RLX with 325 Monsoon II, 210 hours. boat has been running excellent all year. I skied a couple sets this morning, then the wife and kids each skied. went in, did a little work, then back out at lunch to pull my youngest for a couple of sets through the mini course. boat sputtered a little at takeoff, but then seemed fine. after her run, slowly puttered from the course to the dock, and noticed what seemed to be a tappet or lifter noise (kinda sloppy). put my ear to starboard side of valve cover, and sounds like it is coming from the rear of that.

hard core gearheads, what would you look at first (by the way, all gauges and fluid levels were normal - i.e. oil gauges bouncing as usual)? hopefully nothing major here. only thing unusual is it is REALLY hot here (close to 100), but the boat temp was normal - closed cooling, always right at 160).

thanks for any advice.

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The first place I would look is an exhaust manifold leak, right where the head meets the manifold. That will give you a very scary sounding and amazingly mettalic tapping noise.

If it's not that, tapping noises are generally not good. I had an aquaintence with a boat that developed a tick at idle, turned out to be a collapsed piston skirt...

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m3fan was right on. i went back out later this afternoon, and started her up, and what i thought was "ticking or sloppy" was actually and exhaust leak. as i let it run, it got a little louder, then eventually it got consitently loud. put my hand on the inside of the elbow of the exhaust riser, and felt the air blowing out. there is actually a hole there about the size were you could stick a pencil in it.

now the big question is, why isn't water leaking out of there, only air?? also, can i run it like that for my early morning set, before i get to order a new one from SKIDIM tomorrow, or will that do some damage?

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one more question. Other than the SKIDIM EOM part, does anyone know if that part can be gotten in stainless steel (or some other material) and where i could get it. I run in brackish. I have FWC, so the internals of my engine are hopefully in great shape, but exhaust manifolds and riser obviously aren't doing too well. it kind of bums me out that I only got 5 years out of these. I flush after most uses (although I do admit i don't always get to it), but I am WAAAY better at maintenance on this engine than I ever was with my MC, and i got 12 years out of the rises and manifolds on that boat.

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If it is leaking out of the elbow, cancel the morning set. If you can stick a pencil in there, order a new riser or manifold, whereever the hole is. What you don't want is water getting into the engine and ruining it. I'd call SkiDim ASAP.

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that's what i figured. it is in the riser, and is in the outer sleeve, which probably just exhaust, no water. but better safe then sorry. i am waiting for skidim to open now (and staring out at the flatest water Mad.gif ).

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Just a thought. If one side is badly corroded you will need to replace both I would think. I wonder if the new ETX manifolds will fit instead - they are one piece and alloy and are meant to last pieloads longer.

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Just a thought. If one side is badly corroded you will need to replace both I would think. I wonder if the new ETX manifolds will fit instead - they are one piece and alloy and are meant to last pieloads longer.

Would those be Meat Pie Loads? Dontknow.gif

Edited by SacRiverRat
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Just a thought. If one side is badly corroded you will need to replace both I would think. I wonder if the new ETX manifolds will fit instead - they are one piece and alloy and are meant to last pieloads longer.

Would those be Meat Pie Loads? Dontknow.gif

Not in the US - only in NZ. I believe that the US customs calls for Cherry Pie loads.

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