www.iFourWinns.com

Anyone have ticking noise while running this engine? I noticed it beginning with the second-to-last weekend I used the boat this season. It was there again on the last weekend. Sounded like lifter noise or possibly a loose spark plug. Almost sounded like air rather than a mechanical tick. Was there at all RPM's, but no oil leakage or temperature fluctuation.

Dragged the boat over to the stealer to have them check it out. Stealer says one of the exhaust manifold gaskets was bad, so they changed them both.

Had it been June or July, I'd have taken it sooner. Who knows how much time I'd have missed then. They had the boat yesterday morning and called me today to tell me they knew what it was and that it was fixed.

Not really a question, just an FYI for anyone who has this engine and starts to hear ticking- GET IT CHECKED OUT. Especially if you're still covered under warranty.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Wow, glad that's all it was!

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

That would be my first guess. I had a 1978 Camaro with headers and everytime a header bolt loosened, tick-tick-tick. Of course, it could also have been a lifter. Good for you it was just an exhaust gasket.

Kevin

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2003 Sundowner S205, 5.0 GL/DP 220hp
Long Island, New York
My Boat: http://www.edcr.us/boat/

I guess I do have questions now.

Is there anything that "causes" that or is it something I could have prevented by doing things differently? I'm guessing not, but I don't know THAT much about engines.

If this happened once, are the odds increased that it will happen again in the future? Or is this just a one-time deal that is not affected by it happening on a previous occasion (assuming the new ones are installed correctly)?

Thanks.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Bad gaskets could fail for alot of reasons... You hope that it is an isolated case of the person who put your mainifold on at the factory was having a "case of the Mondays".

1) bad torque on the manifold could be the issue?
2) literally a defective gasket?

The only reason you would want to think about if it could happen again is if somehow you warped the surface on the manifold/block due to bad torque or something

My guess is that it's an isolated case. Your dealer was good for just replacing both of them. Better safe than sorry.

You could let that gasket break in for the spring, then follow up and check torque on the manifolds if you are that worried.

Not a big deal I would think.

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

I agree. I wouldn't expect it to happen again. If it does, especially on the same side, then I'd be concerned about some sort of warp or defect in the mating surfaces.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

I'm not so sure I agree. With the extreme temperatures generated by the exhaust while running followed by cooling to ambient temperature, it may be possible for the bolts to become loose again. I've had it happen to me with a 350cid Chevy small block even after the block and heads were returned from the machine shop. I'm no mechanic, so I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with using Loc-Tite on exhaust bolts. Anyone?

Kevin

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2003 Sundowner S205, 5.0 GL/DP 220hp
Long Island, New York
My Boat: http://www.edcr.us/boat/

I'm not sure it was established that that happened.

Loctite makes many different thread lockers and one of the more obscure ones might hold on exhaust bolts, but I wouldn't expect the usual "red or blue stuff" to hold up to that heat. Personally I haven't heard many cases of manifold bolts loosening on their own; usually the opposite is the problem.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

In that case, I defer to your expertise. As I said, I'm no mechanic.

Thank you for the information.

Kevin

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2003 Sundowner S205, 5.0 GL/DP 220hp
Long Island, New York
My Boat: http://www.edcr.us/boat/

I'll get additional info when I pick it up and ask some of these questions, namely, whether they found any loose bolts. I guess the loose bolts are something to check every 50-75 hours or so, but I've NEVER checked them on any other engine I've owned and this is the first time I've ever had a problem like this.

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I'll provide any more relevant info as I get it.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

As always, I'm just making it up as I go along.

Sorry if I sounded terse.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

I had the same problem on a 2012 Cobalt 210 w/ 350 Mag MPI. The exhaust manifold gasket was incorrectly installed from the factory which caused it to break. It started with a ticking and quickly turned into exhaust noise and smell, as the exhaust fumes were getting into the engine compartment. The mechanic replaced the port side exhaust manifold gasket and installed it correctly. The problem is now gone.

Just a heads up on a common problem for the 350 Mag MPI engines.

To keep them from loosening again couldn't you use those (I can't remember what they are called) locking fasteners that go on the head of the bolt? I know they use them on all kinds of bolts for motors and even wheel lug nuts on trucks. So it seems like a good idea.

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1990 Four Winns Horizon 200
2005 GMC Sierra