water in cylinder

[akintosyali]

Update on my project; I received and replaced the exhaust manifold. Utilizing the test of plugging the lower water connection and adding water from the top (and blowing it with shop vac), I can see that the water level stayed the same.
I started the engine, and it started up great, and about 3 mins later, it started sounding like something was up, so I stopped the engine, opened up the spark plugs, and I (STILL) have water in cylinder, but now, it is the #2, (the highest) cylinder.
At this point, my assumptions are; bad headgasket, cracked head, or cracked block. I have confirmed that there is no water from the manifold, so do you see any other ideas other than taking off the head to see how the water is getting into the cylinder?

[rustybucket]

Posting some pics would go a long way toward someone being able to help. Did you take any pics of the R&R of the manifold?

[dsharp]

Is the engine raw water cooled or is there a heat exchanger. Did you replace the elbow or just the manifold? I think the exhaust crossed over the intake manifold on those engines but, I haven’t worked on one for about 40 years.

[rsmith]

Where’s Rusty? Wonder if he got back running again