At 1850 hrs. the left hand exhaust manifold failed, causing extensive damage to the no. 7 piston and cylinder. There is only damage to the no. 7, heads are fine. Are these engines resleevable?? Pressure tested both exhaust manifolds, right hand was still dry and good, the left hand had a 1/4" hole in the no. 5 port. A fabricator is looking at the possibility of repair-doesn't look promising. We had another boat approaching 1500 hrs., so we removed the manifolds and pressure tested them. Both had very small leaks, replaced them before any damage was done. Never thought these could fail--always dealt with cast iron exhaust manifolds(over 4500 hrs and no failure). Tough lesson, so every 1500 hrs. we'll replace/test the manifolds. The weak point of a fantastic engine, but easy fix. I expect these engines to last at least 10,000 hrs. We have learned if you do allot of wakeboarding, tubing with allot of weight--failure could happen around 1500hrs., water skiing or faster speeds doesn't seem to effect the manifolds. About 75% of our hours are tubing and boarding with full passenger loads. Hopefully this post will save somebody else's engine. We've purchased a new drive train, but still hoping to fix this engine. Love these boats.
