creamy froth in valve covers....

[hotmerc]

88' carver santego with twin 4.3 mercruisers vortec repowered in 98'. after fueling with ethanol the other day i notices the starboard engine had a vibraton. at cruising rpm it was fine, but exhaust sounded different and at idle it smelled as if it was runnng rich. this morning i took off the flame arrestor, which was wet, and the carberator had water in it. i also noticed water aroung the top intake manifold. took off the oil filler neck and there it was. vanilla pudding. oil in the pan is clean. i'm guessing intake manifold gasket. but my question is if i caught it in time... i heard if you take the heads and intake manifold off, soak them in diesel fuel, they will clean up. boat is in salt water river, so that raises a concern. i going to start to dissasemble tommorrow, great memorial day project...

 

[Don S]

Re: creamy froth in valve covers....

Sounds like you need to find out what is spraying water all over the place.

 

[Bondo]

Re: creamy froth in valve covers....

I wouldn't start taking Anything Apart, until you Know what's Wrong.......

 

[hotmerc]

Re: creamy froth in valve covers....

regardless of whats wrong, its got to come apart. i believe its the intake manifold or gasket, or both. both risers were clog up too. so new risers and manifolds, i'm going to glass bead the intake and check it for cracks, perhaps just get a new one, new circulator pump (its leaking out the weep hole). i think the heads are okay. i will take them off and clean up the milky stuff, i might send them out just to be on the safe side. put it back together, fill it up with kerosine, run it for a little, drain it, and two oil changes. i will hope for the best.

 

[Bondo]

Re: creamy froth in valve covers....

regardless of whats wrong, its got to come apart.

While that maybe True,.......<br /><br />Diagnoising the Issue Before the Tear-Down,..... You Would have KNOWN the Problem.......<br /><br />Now,...... It's a Crap Shoot...... You're just Shooting in the Dark, with No Known Target........... <br />

fill it up with kerosine, run it for a little, drain it, i will hope for the best.

It appears that Hope is your Only Chance,........<br /><br />You're Avoiding All the Known Mechanical Rules that the Rest of Us Mechanics Live By........<br /><br /><br />Good Luck,....... You're going to Need it,... Along with your Hope.............

 

[hotmerc]

Re: creamy froth in valve covers....

okay, i admit i got a little ahead of myself, but its 1:20 am, my wheels are turning, can't sleep, and i think i know how the water got in there. there's that little elbow on top of the intake manifold that circulates water to the hot waterheater, i noticed it was crack about three weeks ago while running the engine. it was spraying pretty good at idle. don't know how long its been like that, but the top of the manifold around where its at was rusted. and the linkage to my choke on the carnerator was rusted stuck. i would think at 3500 rpm that carburator would suck it right in. i didn't have enough time today to take off the manifold, so i'm not going to, but i did snug up on the bolts, but they seemed to be tight though. i cleaned up the valve cover insides, rockers and guides, but i did not take the heads off. sank umm in nice clean oil. i got manifolds, risers, and a water circulator pump on the way. should i dump the old oil thats in there while i wait for the parts to get here, just to try to get some of the moisture out? i can't run the engine till i get the stuff anyway... thanks guys!

 

[hotmerc]

Re: creamy froth in valve covers....

one more question... i have recieved my new risers and manifolds. the bad ones i took off where mercruisers but the gasket that goes between the riser and the manifold is diffrent from the new GLM's i have. the gasket on the old mercruiser has cut outs all around the gasket, where as the new one only has the cut outs on one half, and just two little holes on the other half of the gasket. motors is 4.3... thanks

 

[KaGee]

Re: creamy froth in valve covers....

The GLM gaskets are mounted with the large cutout towards the front of the engine. This forces most of the water up and over the top of the riser, supposedly cooling them more efficiently.