How to prevent water from spilling into crankcase (jug removal)...?

[travial]

Hey guys,

Quick question, when you're removing the cylinders from the engine, is there anything special to do to prevent water from spilling into the crankcase when you remove them? I'm working on a 787 and this just happened. Thankfully the bottom end is rubbish already, but in the future how do y'all deal with this? Blow out the jackets with compressed air before hand? I just hadn't seen anybody address this on the forums so I thought I would ask.

 

[mikidymac]

Just use a wet/dry shopvac.

 

[travial]

Just to be clear, is that: 1. use the shop vac to suck the water out of the cylinders, or 2. use the shop vac to suck the water from the crankcase after you spill it in there? Or both, lol.

 

[nibroc]

evidently no one worries about that

 

[mikidymac]

Seadoo is one of the few brands that the cylinder casting goes all the way through. Because of this any sand and water can be left in the bottom of the cylinders and spill into the crankcase when the cylinders are removed. If your drain lines are clear there shouldn't be much if any at all. The sand falling into the bearings is more of an issue that the water.

I would suggest vacuuming this junk out before removing the cylinders. A few drops of water isn't going to hurt anything.

 

[travial]

Thanks, that makes sense. Yeah there was just a smidge of sand in the bottom there. Turns out the drain line coming from the cylinders is completely clogged at the elbow where it dumps into the exhaust. Would that clogged drain line produce that kind of damage to the piston? Seems weird the drain elbows are so small, considering what could potentially get blown through there.

 

[mikidymac]

That drain wouldn’t cause your piston damage.

Really the two things that almost always cause the pistons damage is running lean from fuel system and or carb issues or just a mechanical failure.