Okay a bit of an update.
I decided to move the boat from the shop I took it too to get the oil changed. They were perhaps more outboard savvy vs. inboard savvy.
So I took it to the place that had a 1994 3.0LX called Peterson Marina in Waupaca, WI. At least these folks are able to tell me that they believe the water is entering through cylinder number four. So they are working to determine if it is: 1) bad exhaust elbow manifold gasket, bad manifold or internal crack.
They did ask if I knew anyone who may have pulled one of these engines in case it is a crack in the block. They see that it is really a tight fit between the manifold and the top of the edge of the rear deck where the manifold is under the rear section of the engine bay near the transom.
They described the issue for them as follows:
The reason it is so difficult to get apart is the clearance above the exhaust elbow. That elbow has studs coming up from the manifold, not bolts going down, this means you have to lift the elbow to get it off the manifold....not enough clearance. So you can take of the manifold and drop it away from the elbow.
In order to do this you have to swing the manifold away from the block and drop it, however there are 2 studs in the manifold as well making it impossible to turn it, you would have to pull it straight off the side to get it off but you can't because of the elbow being attached. Catch 22 on this one. It may be possible to pull the engine entirely by removing the back seats from the boat and go forward with the engine and then up, but the boot on the exhaust elbow is not usually flexible enough to do that.
The entire job is one of those things that you just start taking it apart and deal with the issues when you get to them, but that is not very cost effective and no way to give an estimate on a job like this as we don't know what we will run into getting it out of the boat...once out, you run into the problem of making everything work with a new block/engine, then you have to get it all back in.
I hope this helps.
Is there a "secret" to extracting a 140 engine with these clearance issues? Are they missing something obvious in terms of removing that rear engine cover (vented cover) in the back to get at the manifold or exhaust elbow?
I was thinking you could go through that hatch to remove exhaust coupler or perhaps the purpose is to access other areas?
Anyone that has removed the engine from this kind of configuration and "how" you unraveled the puzzle would be very helpful.
Thanks - Bob
