2001 exhaust sound has changed?

I have a 1988 2001 with a 351 ford with 1500 hrs that I have had since new. The other day we were out doing some slalom skiing when we noticed the exhaust sounding louder, dry sound, also noticed a sound like a stuck lifter coming from under the dog house? All engine vitals look good. Engine runs strong and I have not noticed any performance changes.

Checked compression and all cylinders are within +/- 10% around 130 PSI. I can’t tell if the ticking is a lifter or exhaust related. I do not smell any exhaust in the bilge area?

Like I said before, I have had this boat since new and I know what it should sound like. Something is wrong and I want to correct it, just don’t know the best place to start. If needed I will replace the manifolds and baffles, just don’t want to waste my money. Any help would be appreciated.

Did you check both exhaust outlets for water flow, while under way? Also remove the dog house and rear section of floor to inspect the exhaust hoses for hard spots or holes. Also check to see if your riser gaskets are leaking, there is also a possibility that the riser gasket has fallen apart and pluged the water passage in the riser. Resulting in restricted water flow and a louder exhaust note.

If you are getting good water flow out of both ports and the manifolds and risers are not hot, I would not pull them at this time. Have you physically checked the condition of the exhaust hoses yet.

As for the tick, use a long screwdriver trick to see if you can isolate the general area the tick is coming from.

2_Nautiques wrote: The ticking sound has me worried, kinda sounds like a leak puffing out but I have been all over the engine and cannot touch,feel or hear where it is coming from. Might be internal, I don't know. Maybe the louder sound and the ticking is not related, they just seemed to show up at the same time.

Could be exhaust manifold gasket they can sound like a ticking noise but not as a metallic sound. Have a good look around both sides you may see a bit of carbon deposit or feel the exhaust gases blowing past the failed gasket.

Spent this evening pulling the manifolds and the risers off. Surprisingly the manifold bolts came out easy. In fact some of the starboard side bolts were loose.

I found the starboard side manifold gasket deteriorated around the second port from the front (where the ticking noise was from). The port side riser had some gunk in part of the ports and I cleaned that out.

Cleaned up the manifolds and risers and installed new gaskets. Dropped boat back in the water and the ticking sound is gone !!!!! And the exhaust is somewhat quieter, actually sounds good.

All in all fairly quick and easy fix, even had a chance to get a few slalom rides in before dark. Thanks guys for the suggestions.

Thanks 79, I was amazed how easy the bolts came out. I was expecting to have problems when trying to work with anything that deals with "exhaust". I will make a note to keep an eye one them.