Crusader 454 Intake Manifold Gasket Problems....
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Crusader 454 Intake Manifold Gasket Problems....
Gents,
Little bit of background....when I started my starboard motor briefly a while back one of the things I did was check the oil and all looked good. The motor only ran for a short period to make sure there were no major problems. Everything was fine.
Now, I'm in the process of cleaning and painting everything. During that process I drained the oil and I noticed the oil appeared to have water in it. It was that mocha coffee brown and was very thick. That tells me water. The perplexing part is that there were no signs of this from when I started my motor before. But I can see how it could happen since this thing has been sitting for so long and when I started it up that's when the problem could have surfaced.
I've read about the problems of the water cross-over passages rusting on these so I investigated a little bit. Everything looked fairly decent but when I simply touched the intake gasket around the cross-over area the gasket broke off very easily because it was so dried out. I removed some of the gasket as you can see in the pics below and was surprised to find a rather large orifice. These holes are simply covered up by the gasket. There can’t really be any sealing effect because there is nothing on top of the gasket at this point. The gasket just covers the hole. I’ve played around with Chevy v-8’s before and have never seen this or an intake manifold that doesn’t cover the entire head surface.
These holes appear to be blind and do not go anywhere. They are just part of the head casting for some reason but they do not go down into the valley or anywhere.
My question is, does this look right? I plan on installing a new intake gasket. I’m thinking that since the gasket was so dried out the high probability is the sealing aspect of that cross-over is severely compromised. What say you?
Little bit of background....when I started my starboard motor briefly a while back one of the things I did was check the oil and all looked good. The motor only ran for a short period to make sure there were no major problems. Everything was fine.
Now, I'm in the process of cleaning and painting everything. During that process I drained the oil and I noticed the oil appeared to have water in it. It was that mocha coffee brown and was very thick. That tells me water. The perplexing part is that there were no signs of this from when I started my motor before. But I can see how it could happen since this thing has been sitting for so long and when I started it up that's when the problem could have surfaced.
I've read about the problems of the water cross-over passages rusting on these so I investigated a little bit. Everything looked fairly decent but when I simply touched the intake gasket around the cross-over area the gasket broke off very easily because it was so dried out. I removed some of the gasket as you can see in the pics below and was surprised to find a rather large orifice. These holes are simply covered up by the gasket. There can’t really be any sealing effect because there is nothing on top of the gasket at this point. The gasket just covers the hole. I’ve played around with Chevy v-8’s before and have never seen this or an intake manifold that doesn’t cover the entire head surface.
These holes appear to be blind and do not go anywhere. They are just part of the head casting for some reason but they do not go down into the valley or anywhere.
My question is, does this look right? I plan on installing a new intake gasket. I’m thinking that since the gasket was so dried out the high probability is the sealing aspect of that cross-over is severely compromised. What say you?
- prowlersfish
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- Mike Kulp
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My Crusaders are basicly the same way and have been this way for years with no problem, I do think new gaskets will cover this opening but really do not seal it. The thing I am wondering is where did the water come from, I would check risers and elbows if theye are compromised the water could leak down the exhaust manifold into a cylinder and then the crankcase, is the engine raw water cooled possibly exhaust manifold, does it have a engine oil cooler, and possibly intake gaskets or head gaskets. Hope it is something easy.
Mike 1986 10 Meter mid cabin
Re: Crusader 454 Intake Manifold Gasket Problems....
I rebuilt my port 454 crusader 3 years ago and now my center ports are burning through and are opening up as yours have.. and now have an exhaust tick.. no water and shouldnt have.. you probably have an issue with you exhaust manifolds..ive been advised to use the crusader part# 30221 gasket set (ebay).. which i didnt use on the rebuild.. my starboard has 1500 hrs and has a very slight sign of burning after 12 years of use so i think with proper install (torqing) they will be fine.. hope that helps
- prowlersfish
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Re: Crusader 454 Intake Manifold Gasket Problems....
He sold that beautiful 10 Meter years ago. Good info
Boating is good for the soul
77/78 TROJAN F36 Conv.
6BTA Cummins diesels
Life is to short for a ugly boat
77/78 TROJAN F36 Conv.
6BTA Cummins diesels
Life is to short for a ugly boat
Re: Crusader 454 Intake Manifold Gasket Problems....
Have the intake checked for trueness. A machine shop will be able check and machine the flange surface.