Home › Forum › Ask A Member › 57 Johnson RDE 19 running on 1 cyl › Re: 57 Johnson RDE 19 running on 1 cyl
Well, a leaky exhaust cover could surely squirt water in a cylinder and make it miss, but this surely would not be my first guess. Do you see any water droplets on the plugs? Pulling that exhaust cover is a messy job, not to mention you might have trouble getting the rusted bolts out, so I wouldn’t dive into the cover on a "guess". I would hate to see you go through all that work only to have the same problem. I’m assuming the engine misbehaves at low speeds, does the bad cylinder kick in and out, or is the engine just running on one cylinder all the time? I’m assuming you have tried another set of plugs. If you really suspect a water leak, I would suggest an easier test, assuming the engine misbehaves at idle. You could always remove the gearcase (to protect the impeller from melting) and run the engine with no water for a couple of minutes to see if it idles better.
In any event, your compression is good, so I sure don’t think your head gasket is blown. I realize you have done some sort of spark check, you might try those inline neon testers as well, to see if one cylinder is losing spark/weak while running.
I just don’t want you to get weighed down in complex issues, try all the basics first.