water in cylinders, blown head gasket, what next?

[glastronv178]

Hi, I am new here and really enjoying this board!
I was given a 1981 75HP 3 cylinders, for free...
It starts and idles great, but no water out of the teltale. I thought maybe the water pump needed to be changed...
Well, after a compression test, one good cylinder(115) and two very low (6 and 45)....Looking closer, there was a blown head gasket and water in the 2 cylinders...ouch! The cylinders look fine (I guess....), no rust, everything moving freely, but I have not looked much further into this (I really don't know how to get deeper in the engine). I cleaned the cylinders and removed the white creamy oil/water mix and sprayed oil everywhere to make sure nothing seizes up and ordered a new head gasket....I am just waiting for it to come...
What do you guys think? what are the chances of this motor to be running? What else could be wrong with it?

 

[F_R]

Re: water in cylinders, blown head gasket, what next?

Let's just hope it isn't salt water. As for what else could be wrong with it, the water could (almost certainly) also have gotten into the crankcase and into the highly polished ball and roller bearings. Any water will etch and rust them, but salt water will do its deed overnight. Time is of the essence getting it running. That will blow the water out.

 

[glastronv178]

Re: water in cylinders, blown head gasket, what next?

I ran it only on muffs and barrel so i hope it is freshwater...This motor had not run for 2 years so I doubt it had this problem before or all would be pretty much seized up....I will definitely try to start it as soon as the gasket comes in next week...I will update then....thanks

 

[Solittle]

Re: water in cylinders, blown head gasket, what next?

Make sure that the head is true - - ie. not warped.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: water in cylinders, blown head gasket, what next?

Yes... as they say, put the new gasket on asap and run it... I'm surprised it ran at all with numbers like that!

I'd turn it over manually every day or 2 while it's sitting also so as not to rust too much in one place inside... just 1 or 2 turns will do... and it'll move the oil around in the cylinders (and put a tad more in also)... it wont get to the crank but it's the best you can do...

And you still will probabl'y need an impeller once you get it running again... but wait till you get good compression numbers first... dont waste your $$$ till then...

One other thing you could try and some will disagree with me on this, is assuming you will be replacing the impeller anyway, is to fire it up out of water (yes out of water) and then spray fogging oil in the carb as fast and as much as you can to get it inside and on the crank and bearings and then shut it down before it gets too hot... If you do this though make sure you change the impeller as it will most likely fry it running it dry... But it could save the inside, way more expensive, parts for the lost cost of an impeller which you should change anyway.

p.s. nice to get a free engine! why does everyone else get free engines and not me

 

[2Smokinya]

Re: water in cylinders, blown head gasket, what next?

Yes... as they say, put the new gasket on asap and run it... I'm surprised it ran at all with numbers like that!

I'd turn it over manually every day or 2 while it's sitting also so as not to rust too much in one place inside... just 1 or 2 turns will do... and it'll move the oil around in the cylinders (and put a tad more in also)... it wont get to the crank but it's the best you can do...

And you still will probabl'y need an impeller once you get it running again... but wait till you get good compression numbers first... dont waste your $$$ till then...

One other thing you could try and some will disagree with me on this, is assuming you will be replacing the impeller anyway, is to fire it up out of water (yes out of water) and then spray fogging oil in the carb as fast and as much as you can to get it inside and on the crank and bearings and then shut it down before it gets too hot... If you do this though make sure you change the impeller as it will most likely fry it running it dry... But it could save the inside, way more expensive, parts for the lost cost of an impeller which you should change anyway.

p.s. nice to get a free engine! why does everyone else get free engines and not me

I don't see why he couldn't fog it while running water through it, what makes you think he should run it with no water?

 

[glastronv178]

Re: water in cylinders, blown head gasket, what next?

I will let you guys know if or how it is running ASAP.
As for the motor running...Well I didn't take it on the water and didn't put any load on it, but in a tank, it started great and according to me ran great too.....I don't know much to outboards, but it didn't seem like it was running on 1 cylinder...idled great too....Myabe it would have been very obvious to all the experts on this board, but to my ear, it ran great...The only reason why I checked the gasket is because of compression loss and lask of water out of the tell tale... thanks

 

[iwombat]

Re: water in cylinders, blown head gasket, what next?

Might want to run that first tank at 24:1 or even 40:1 just to put some extra lube in the crankcase.

 

[bfi]

Re: water in cylinders, blown head gasket, what next?

You might look at the paint around the head etc if discolored it might have gottten pretty hot. Personally I've got a1980 60 evinrude that blew a head gasket a couple years back. It started running goofy no over-heat alarm or nothing. I did a compression check and had low comp on one cyl. I'll tell you I almost scrapped the motor thinking it was toast. Anyhow, changed the head gasket , thermostat and water pump and it's been doing fine for a couple of years now. Your situation is about like mine was. You won't really know what you got till you install the new gasket and run it a couple of trips.

 

[glastronv178]

Re: water in cylinders, blown head gasket, what next?

Ok, here is an update.

Head gasket was changed, there was minor corrosion (surface) in the cylinders, removed with light emery cloth. Compression is 100 to 115 on each 3 cylinders.
I took it out on the water yesterday to "burn out" the remaining water...The motor ran great, I had it at WOT (or close to it) for about 30 minutes and it performed as good as I can expect. The max speed was 33 mpH with about 500 pound in the boat (including passengers), boat is about 1200 pounds.
I guess since this boat/motor is new to me, I was wondering if this seems reasonable to you guys? I don't have a tach on it yet so I don't know what the RPM were.
I had a local shop do a link and synch on the remote control and they said it was right where it should be. However it seems to me that when I move the throttle forward, the gear engages right away, but for at least half of the travel of the handle, the throttle doesn't accelerate. The motor finally revs up in the last quarter of the handle travel...Does this sound right to you guys?
Thanks for all the previous answers

 

[Solittle]

Re: water in cylinders, blown head gasket, what next?

Your throttle movement is normal. On mine it is even more pronounced in reverse - but still normal.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: water in cylinders, blown head gasket, what next?

Get/borrow a tach and make sure it's at WOT.