FlyFast

There are some bad riser gaskets out there. My boat has been running good. I was concerned about excessive raw water pressure and corrision so I went to closed cooling. The gaskets that came with my kit were gray with a tab on one side and pretty thin. The tab had a part number stamped on them. They looked like normal gasket material. I thought about them before I installed them but the company that sent them to me must know what they are doing. I really wanted a gasket that would last for years.

Well how my luck was going the heat exchanger would not clear my water pump pulley. I had to call the company and get a custom mount made for the heat exchanger. the company sent me a new bracket and some upgraded riser blocking gaskets with metal in them. I didn't ask about the new gaskets, they just appeared. I tried to pull my risers but they were on pretty tight. I used george's ultra black to seal the blocking gaskets in the risers. As luck would have it my temp sender units would not fit into the closed cooling system. My senders were 3/8 and the kit allows for 1/2 " pipe thread.

I called the company back that made the closed cooling system to talk about my temp senders and told them that my risers were on for good. The gentleman that I talked to said you really should change those riser gaskets bcause they have been having problems with the gaskets failing and the engine coolant runing out the risers. I changed my riser gaskets to the ones with the metal in them.

I am lucky that I found out about the cheap riser gaskets before I had a problem with them. With all the heat in an exhaust system this is not a place where you want a cheap gasket. If you are running the cheap gaskets you might think about changing them.

I wonder how many engines have been ruined by these gaskets.
I have seen the same material used in the flow thru riser gaskets as well.

bimini run

Soooooooo, what company are we talking about???

FloridianSon

I am going to set up a closed system this time, who's system are you running and are you happy with it? can't afford mercury's at 3000.00.James

FlyFast

I need to run the boat before I will know how the system works. All the parts looked first class except for the riser gaskets.

The bad gaskets I have used before. They are the noname gray riser gaskets made of one ply. I never had a failure. I bet they are in alot of boats. Until I talked to the experts I never realized how important that gasket is and thought about the temp it is exposed to.

My new gaskets have a layer of metal in the gasket. They look like a definate upgrade. I have used the factory gaskets before and I would use those again.

I was lucky that I got a free upgrade to some better riser gaskets that may save me big bucks in the long run.