Leaking #3 cyl-90hp-1997 Yamaha

[Wes Purcell]

Help- water leak in #3 cyl on a 97 Yamaha 90 hp.
I screwed up several times but want to make sure I am right this time.
The disaster
1 Plug fouling out with water-cleaned several times, still water found. 2 Pulled head and cleaned all surfaces.
3 Installed new gasket and torqued to 800 in. lbs. Looked carefully before starting and found I had turned the gasket the wrong way. Pulled and turned gasket around and retorqued the gasket, did not replace.
4 Started engine, pulled plug after running for ten minutes, still leaking.
5 Pulled head and cleaned up surfaces.
6 Installed new gasket and retorqued to 800 in. lbs
7 Pulled plug after running for 5 minutes, still leaking. Screamed and went inside the house. Went on the Internet to read, found I had wrong torque.
8 Found the proper torque needed to be 11lbs and a final of 22 lbs.
9 Retorqued the head to the new numbers, ran and it leaked. Engine had ran only 5 minutes with 800 lbs torque before I retorqued to 22 lbs. I assume running and leaking ruined the head gasket.
10 Pulled and cleaned up the surfaces. Have new parts. If I install a new gasket, aligned correctly with the correct T. values should this stop the leaking.

wes

[boats.net]

Check for holes in head, corrosion will damage head on water jacket side and corrode a hole into combustion chamber, need to check exhaust plate as well to look for holes.

[Wes Purcell]

Head and area

The head and the surfaces look fine. No cracks wear or tear. Can I be getting water in through the exhaust port in the cylinder?

[boats.net]

Yes remove the exhaust cover and check inner plate closely.