Water in the oil...

[dvan1901]

I searched on this and saw a couply topics, but this may be a bit different. I bought my boat ('91 Larson All American 190; 4.3L V6 205 HP Yamaha Sterndrive) about this time last year, water tested it before I bought it and used it all summer with not a single problem.

This week I took it to a third party mechanic to have the engine checked out and inspected. They found some water in the oil (not sure how much) so they flushed the oil again, tested it again and found water again. This was all done on a flush kit, not in the water. Any thoughts as to the cause? Could it be something simple, or am I looking at a major deal here? Thanks

 

[Don S]

Re: Water in the oil...

Could this be the first cracked block of this season? Did you have the engine winterized? Did it freeze at anytime?

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Water in the oil...

Manifold, riser, gasket, crack....
Did you winterize it?

 

[dvan1901]

Re: Water in the oil...

Winterized and water drained with plugs left out.

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Water in the oil...

What did you drain?

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Water in the oil...

Who drained it?
Did you poke the drain holes with an awl, to make sure it was fully drained?......
Crud can stop the flow & keep it from fully draining.....
:'(

 

[dvan1901]

Re: Water in the oil...

It has drain plugs on the back of the manifolds.

If the engine were cracked, would it make sense that I have good, equal compression on all the cylinders?

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Water in the oil...

Yeah, but did you drain the block?
That has drains as well.....
Yes, it can still have good compression....
To check for a cooling system leak you need to block it off at the risers & put compressed air where the water enters the engine....
If there is a leak, you will hear it.....

 

[dvan1901]

Re: Water in the oil...

So, am I pretty much SOL here? If the block is cracked, that's basically a new engine huh.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Water in the oil...

If the block is cracked, yup.....:'(
At least it is a GM block, it shouldn't be too hard to find a rebuilt, if ya need to....
I would check at Rapido Marine for a rebuilt & ebasicpower for a new one.......
That is, after you verify the block is cracked.....

 

[bjcsc]

Re: Water in the oil...

Sounds like Don S. is right...you could be the first cracked block of the season...

 

[Zim]

Re: Water in the oil...

I dont have much experience with marine motors, but when my car has coolant in the oil, first thing I check out are the head gaskets... Might be worth looking into.

 

[dvan1901]

Re: Water in the oil...

Yeah, the mechanic mentioned that, but said that based on his experience he didn't think it was the had gasket because the compression was consistant across all cylinders. They were pulling the intakes off to see if they could find anything, from there they wanted to pull the heads off, then take the engine out. I told them to pull the intakes, and if they don't find anything then to stop because I need to seriously think about what I will do then.

It makes me sick because I spent a large part of the winter putting in a new floor!

 

[Zim]

Re: Water in the oil...

Pulling the heads shouldn't be much more past the intake... just a few bolts and they'll come right off. You might as well check the gaskets, could be a really small imperfection. I dunno, if it turns out OK, then at least you know it might be something different.

Heads shouldn't be much more work to pull of though.

 

[Don S]

Re: Water in the oil...

IF you blew a head gasket between the cylinder and the water passage, you wouldn't get water into your oil, you would get air into your cooling system. If you were to get any water into the cylinders while sitting you would get a hydrolock and the engine wouldn't turn over. If the head gasket went between the oil and water passages, it would get water into the cylinders and wouldn't affect the compression.
However, not draining the block over winter with water in the engine will crack the block, and NOT the head gasket.

 

[flashback]

Re: Water in the oil...

dvan, we have had a few pretty cold days here in feb.. (ya I know my profile says "watts bar tennessee" thats where I live.. but I work in atlanta unfortunately) anyway, there are a couple of drain plugs on the block in addition to the ones on the manifolds.. if you failed to open the block drains then you could easily have a cracked block..most likely your mechanic will find the cracks in the lifter gallery after they remove the intake manifold..Goodluck

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Water in the oil...

I think the manifold riser check would be an easy starting point unless you can see the block leaking..
Good luck with it..

 

[Don S]

Re: Water in the oil...

He drained the manifolds and risers, he didn't drain the block.
All was dry, he ran the engine on muffs, the oil got milky. If it was the manifolds and risers, the water wouldn't get into the engine while it was running, only when you shut it off and it goes into a cylinder with open valves and eventually leaks past the rings. Which with good rings ain't gonna happen that fast.

Think about it.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Water in the oil...

That makes perfect sense, I never thought about it taking more time leaking in thru the rings.
That shows that the pros (Don) knows his stuff.
I do auto work and backyard boat tinkering,hey i'm learning though...8)

 

[dvan1901]

Re: Water in the oil...

Let's say the block is cracked (I hope to hear something today); am I better off to just replace the engine (assuming I can find one that will go with a Yamaha outdrive [not sure how hard that is...]) or am I better to have the pull the engine, take it apart and try to find/replace the block? Seems like there are less man hours in putting in a new engine than rebuilding one. Thanks, I'm about sick to my stomach.