Water in the cylinder

[tom-c]

I have a 1936 Evinrude Fisherman that I’m trying to get up and running. It would not run for more than a few seconds last year so I put it away for future tinkering. Now I’m into it again. I did all the ignition stuff last year and it’s excellent. This year I removed the cylinders and welsh plugs to shake out the rust/scale. A lot came out. Then I lightly honed the cylinders and installed new rings. All back together again and it’s running pretty good but only on one cylinder. The other cylinder was cold so I figured I’d swap the plugs and try it again. The cold cylinder was full of water! The exhaust gasket looks ok but it’s pretty hard. Is it possible that the cold cylinder could be sucking water in through the exhaust if the gasket is not perfectly sealed? Or maybe a pinhole from the water jacket into the cylinder that I cannot see? I really want to get to the bottom of this.

[alber]

Hi!
Sorry, but for me it sounds like a typically hole in the wall to the water jacket. Sometimes when it is a hairfine crack, the motor starts on one cylinder and when it gets warm, the other cylinder can began to work again.

[jeff-register]

Any way the water can get in it will do it. Get all the water passages super clean & look for a hair line crack. Remember when the water gets warm everything expands including all holes & cracks to let water in. Look on the tops of the cylinders. Replace those old gaskets with fresh new ones. I hope you find an easy repair

[r-c]

An old racing trick is to lightly heat the inside of the cylinder with a propane torch and the oil will creep out of a crack or pin hole.
The other problem is water from the exhaust manifold spraying into the cylinder. This could be the gasket or a leak in the manifold. To test the manifold, make plates to block any passage holes and pressurize the manifold with air, use a soap/water mixture to see the leak.
The exhaust gasket can be sprayed with copper coat (availably at auto parts store) (or RTV silicone copper, its high heat resitence) to help seal it.

[tom-c]

On very close inspection today I found a pinhole in the side of the cylinder. The water jackets had a lot of rust/scale that I cleaned out. There was no pinhole when I put it back together so I guess it blew out when I started up the motor. Looks like this one is toast. I’ll have to find a replacement. Maybe Doug Penn will have one.

[tom-c]

Thanks for the copper RTV tip! I’ll use it on those hard gaskets when I put it back together.

[jeff-register]

You might check to see if a machine shop weld the hole. They need to heat up the cylinder before welding it. I hope it isn’t cast iron metal. Frank or Garry know please?

[tom-c]

Doug said he had a cylinder for me. Can’t get it till June though…. ;-(

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