Rude ram 225 problems....

Hey guys, new to the forum.

I recently purchased a 2001 225 Rude Ram. no idea of the hours, but the previous owner had not used it much. First up, he has been running it with no tstats and the covers are stuck!
Second, either on the hose, or when i launch the boat, the no. 5 cylinder fills with water and stops the motor....and on my final run in the sea, the motor locked up and somehow broke the CPS...
I had not known of the water in cylinder issue before hand, I just replaced the cps, went to check compression (which is still 123- 130 across cyls.) and drained the water. Motor starts right up, but if left for too long on the hose water gets in.... PLEASE help!

it's a e225fhlsig 2001 Rude Ram

Possible blown head gasket that is the cheapest at around $30.00. Replace that and torque the heads to 18 ft lbs. follow the numbers as you torque them in a clockwise manner starting from the center. If that doesn't get it you have an internal block issue and pretty much screwed. Soak the outside threads on the Tstat housing with PB blaster and use a 1/2 drive socket and an impact wrench to see if you can break it free. That is the bad thing about salt water motors the corrosion. But by no means should that thing be run without thermostats.

i thought it might be as simple as that, but why the good compression if it's a blown head gasket? (128 psi) i started on the tstat covers and i already broke one, so i'm going to have to chisel it out now probably... as for a block issue, hope it's not that...i'll do some more digging up and see what i can find. thanks so far.

Comp test doesn't use water when spinning the pistons, a split in the water jacket side if the gasket would let the water intrude.

Do yourself a favor and put the E-Tec Tstats Part #5005440 in that motor and move up to the optional plugs ( QC10WEP). You will get longer plug life that way. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/USA1.gif

OK! here is the update guys.....

found a crack on the outside of the midsection near the 3 long bolts for the powerhead... I pulled the powerhead, but it does't look like water was leaking into the exhaust from the base gasket. I noticed there is a small protrusion in the exhaust housing which lets water from the water "in" passage in the water plate (below the exhaust adapter) to flow into the exhaust, only on one side though, is this normal?

So anyway, I proceeded to remove the 2 heads, looks like water was in both bottom cylinders....head gaskets look fine, no leakage. The crankshaft seal at the bottom of the powerhead looks oily though...could it be water was leaking in here?


No. 6 injector is leaking fuel into the bottom cylinder.......looks like I got one major project on my hands. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/mad.gif