Cooling Manifold Failure

For almost a year I have been getting increasing amounts of water in the engine bilge when under power.

Today I confirmed that the suspected part, a cooling water/exhaust outlet pipe, had indeed failed.

This is a two part pipe. Exhaust gases exit via the inner pipe while cooling water enters via the outer pipe. I had two problems.

The outer pipe had cracked at the weld allowing cooling water to run down the engine into the bilge.
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The inner pipe was "pepper potted" to such an extent that water leaked into it and potentially back into the engine. Not good!


Exhaust manifold showing heavy corrosion from leaking cooling water.



I took the piece down to the local Yanmar importer Regnicoli. They had none in stock and the part would have to be imported from Yanmar in the USA. For this little piece of pipe the price was an eye watering A$1700 (£320).

Talk about captive customers. Yanmar are not known for cheap spare part prices but this seemed ridiculous and I decided to explore alternatives.