I just purchased a 1989 Maxum with a Mercruiser 3.0 135hp Alpha One.<br />There was about 4 quarts of water in the oil pan at the time of purchase. The owner didn't know what had happened other than a mechanic at the marina said it was a blown seal.<br />I talked with the mechanic at the Marina and he stated than when he was getting it ready for winterizing, he saw water leaking down the block while running it...he said it looked like it was coming from the head gasket.<br />I pulled a compression test on it and compression was as follows:<br />Cylinder Results<br /> 1 140<br /> 2 140<br /> 3 135<br /> 4 135 <br />I pulled the Manifold and the gasket looked in good shape...moved on to the head. Around the base of the head i saw what looked like melted black plastic running down the side of the block at varius places around the head. Pulling the push rods, I found the same plastic like stuff stuck to most of the rods...it is hard like burnt plastic and very hard to remove. I finally got the head of and discovered that the black stuff appears to be the head gasket...all that was left was the inner metal core of the gasket and the black melted stuff and run out and down most of the passages in the block. Is this common or anything to worry about? Would over heating cause this?<br />Back to the water in the oil. Pistons all had a good amount of carbon on as well as the valves, which leads me to beleive that the water came in some place other than the cylinders. I did find a little pitting in cylinder one. It is visible and can be felt with a finger nail...looks like water had sat on the ring and caused some corrosion in the wall but I can't tell if it is cracked or not. <br />Could the water have come in at the head gasket<br />or is it more likely that I have a cracked cylinder wall? Also, how can I tell if the cylinder wall is indeed cracked ?<br /><br />Thanks
