Mixing Elbow: Hairline Crack - Can It Be Saved? (Doubt it)

[Hermit Scott]

I broke the manifold elbow on my yanmar ysm12. I broke an "ear" off of the flange that holds it to the motor and then I cracked the threads while threading in the threaded piece in between the elbow and the maniflod piece. I welded the threads to the elbow and I ground out a 1/4" V in the ear piece, clamped it to a table and laid a bead in with lots of heat and wire in one pass. I will be keeping an eye on it though.

Hamilton Marine has 45 degree elbows in their catalog, one for $65.99 and one for $82.99. Your elbow is probably a 180 degree like mine. I wonder if these are as effective in keeping the water out of your engine. And I want to know if the 3" that it will be lower is a problem. I prefer to have a 45 degree elbow because the 180 is really close to the seat cushion.

 

[rardiH36]

Update: Obtained an Elbow - Fix Almost Done - Observations

Just an update for you all that assisted with info/advice.

I obtained a replacement elbow and its already in hand. I've removed the old elbow assembly from the boat with no issue and brought it to my home workbench. After judicious use of liquid wrench, and with the assistance of my vice, my largest pipe wrench, and some "precision" tapping with my hand sledge, the male threaded pipe part broke free from the female thread flange part. Now I just need to obtain some high temp anti-freeze compound from the auto store to coat the threads of the new elbow before assembly and I'll be back in business this afternoon... in time for a worry-free sail on Saturday.

Attached are some pic's of the old elbow. Aside from the hairline crack, it otherwise looks to be quite sound. The threads look almost new. Carbon build-up was not excessive. The thing weighs the same as the new one. Shame to see it go.

Now that its off, I can begin to see how a future replacement might be fabricated with off- the-shelf pipe and some welding. Does anyone know if the thread size is standard -- or difficult to obtain metric?

 

[Rob19574]

You should get the old elbow welded anyway and keep it on-board as a spar. Its simple to swap out in a pinch. That was fast.

 

[rardiH36]

Rob:

Good tip about a spot weld repair and keeping it around as a spare. However, I won't rush at it as fast as I did about getting a new one.

I had given fleeting thought about removing the old one for assessment about a possible repair. But with the forum's unanimous viewpoint (which I readily recognized as the most prudent) that a suspect elbow must be replaced, I disgarded this notion. And in the event that I had to wait a while for finding a new replacement, and that maybe the old elbow would be totally destroyed in the dismantling, thereby rendering the engine unusable, I decided keep the old one installed with some JB weld over the crack to be good for a few days of sailing until a new one arrived. Just fortunate that a replacement was available nearby from a source that had it in inventory for a long time and they were pleased to have it moved out ... to my economic good fortune.