888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

[mlryan]

i have a 888 sterndrive, cant remeber the year off hand. we took it ou fishing and foamy white oil started coming out of the breather (assuming oil waster mix). Could a hole in the exhaust manifold be the problem? Another thing i noticed is that where the thottle rod comes out by the carb there is a switch that touches the throttle rod that seems to be wired to nothing. Can anybody tell me what that is and how it sould be hooked up. Somebody told me that theres supposed to be a wiring harness but i dont see one.<br /><br />praying for an answer

 

[mlryan]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

oh, i forgot to add that when we went to start the boat it would start right up, but when we would go to put it in reverse it would die very quickly. we would start it right back up with no problem and try to put it into gear and the boat would jump and die. In order for us to get the thing to go we had to shift from neutral to forward and go heavy on the throttle. any suggestions as to what the problem might be. Im used to working on cars but boats are a whole different story.

 

[moderator1]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

Moving to Mercruiser, Volvo and OMC I/O......

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

What is probably killing the engine is the lower shift cable is going bad and making the shift interrptor switch stick. Bad manifolds or a cracked block/head.Posting the year could be a good thing.

 

[trog100]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

if foamy white stuff is coming out the breather in any quantities it sounds more like a cracked block or head then a hole in the manifolds..<br /><br />check your oil level.. see if its gone up it should have..<br /><br />trog100

 

[mlryan]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

the foam is just dribbling out and when i replaced the manifolds there was a hole in the manifold. i havent taken it out since. The oil level did rise considerably.

 

[mlryan]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

as for the wiring problem, the shift interrup switch is not wired to anything. its just sitting back there next to the shift cable with 2 wires hanging off of it. What my question was it not having the shift interrupt switch hooked up cause the motor to kick when we shift from neutral to any other gear? and if so does anybody know how to wire one up?

 

[trog100]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

the interupter switch briefly shorts out the ignition as u move from in gear to nuetral.. its job is to let the drive come out of gear easier.. they are designed to kinda lock in..<br /><br />it should run from the CB or negative side of the coil to the switch then to earth..<br /><br />trog100

 

[mlryan]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

what do you mean by coil? and where would i locate the coil? and one more question, how would i know if the shift interrupt switch is bad?<br /><br />its my faterinlaws boat he got about 3 years ago and were are fixin it up slowly starting with the engine. I pray to god that it was the manifolds leakinging into the pan and not a cracked block or head. From the seloc manuel its shows that there "was" a wiring harness on the engine at one tome. Im pretty sure its a chevy 302 but not certain on the year. Its part of a mercruiser mariner 888 sterndrive. anyone know where i can get a wiring schematic for this diamond in the rough? and can anyone tell me where i might be able to find the date? i think providing the date might help alot

 

[trog100]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

i mean the ignition coil.. the big cylindrical thing thats part of the high tension circuit that provides the spark.. <br /><br />there is a wire that runs from the coil negative sometimes labeled CB (contact breakers) to the distributor.. the interuptor switch wire needs to connect into this.. could be either end.. coil or distributor..<br /><br />the switch is simply a push-to-make micro switch that is designed to briefly be closed by the shift linkage just before the drive comes out of gear and goes into nuetral.. it shorts the points/coil and it kills the engine for a very short time and makes gear shifting easier..<br /><br />if it isnt connected up it cant be doing anything.. except making the drive hard to get out of gear..<br /><br />i still think the first thing u need to do with that engine is to make sure it dosnt have a cracked block or head before going much further..<br /><br />oil level rapidly rising and water in the oil points to cracked head or block not manifold problems..<br /><br />trog100

 

[mlryan]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

the thing is that the oil level rose very slowly. it took about 2 hours before we noticed the milkshake oil. would running it with the ears in the driveway produce milkshake oil re****s. we ran it in the driveway alot without the milkshake oil problem.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

You still haven't said what year the boat is.Look on the title, it has to be on there.It is probably a 302 Ford motor. [I have one]. You don't say whether it is raw or fwc cooled. If it's fwc you would have anti-freeze in your oil with a cracked block or head. Providedm the resevoir is filled with anti-freeze.If its fwc and you have straight water in the oil I would suspect a bad elbow or deterioration between elbow & riser.The amount of water doesn't matter, either condition will cause the oil level to rise. If it is fwc I would look there first, because they don't freeze if they have the proper mix of anti-freeze. I'll look at my switch, and see where it's connected. I remember it wasn't easy to see.

 

[mlryan]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

its cooled with fresh water from the impeller. has water jacketed manifolds. replaced both manifolds w/ all new gaskets new risers. all new rubber on the entire thing cause the old stuff was dry rotted i talked to the inlaws he said he thinks its a 76 or a 67 one of the two which probably doesnt help

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

If you have replaced both risers and manifolds on both sides, and you still have water in your oil,i would say you have a cracked block/ head/intake manifold. A blown head-gaket might do it. I would start a new thread, "cracked block/head?", and see if you can get more input.

 

[gmmiller]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

I don't have any advice but I just wanted to give props on the engine. I've got a 1977 Mercruiser 188hp V8..says 888 on the lower unit (boat manufacturer was Ranger, it's a Ford engine though). It's a good engine once you get the kinks worked out. Very powerful, I pull a wakeboarder with 8-9 people on board w/gear and it's still speedy. Best of luck to ya..

 

[trog100]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

water entering the cylinders via a manifold while the engine is running wont cause the engine oil level to rise.. it goee straight out the exhaust.. assuming the bores are basicallly okay and there aint a hole in the piston..<br /><br />water left in the cylinder while the engine is not running might slowly leak down into the sump past the piston/rings over time and cause a slow rise of engine oil level..<br /><br />with a cracked block or head.. there is a direct connection between waterways and the engine oil pan.. depending on the size of the crack the water will pour straight in.. small crack less water and more time.. big crack.. whoosh and very noticable..<br /><br />head gasket.. possible for it to leak between the oil drilling that feeds the head and a water passage.. but not very likley.. rare in fact..<br /><br />pressure test the block and head.. there are posts about how to do this..<br /><br />trog100

 

[mlryan]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

so basically what your saying is that 10 to 1 i have a cracked block or head? I pray to god that this is not the case. Father in law spent about 600 for 2 manifolds and gaskets because i thought it would fix the problem. We will run the thing for about 45 min and fish for a hour, then turn around and about half way back milkshake comes spitting out of the breather. in the what sounds like likely case that the block or head is cracked is it repairable? or is it time to shell out some big bucks and get another engine?

 

[trog100]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

"so basically what your saying is that 10 to 1 i have a cracked block or head?"<br /><br />kinda looks that way.. <br /><br />i would look out for a used similar car/truck engine .. i assume its an old cast iron gm engine in your boat.. again i assume such things are available where u live.. i live in the UK.. old gm engines are hard to find over here.. he he <br /><br />if its just the head (not quite as likely) look out for one of those..<br /><br />its not really practical to try and fix cracks..<br /><br />trog100

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

model 888 is a 302 Ford.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: 888 sterndrive foamy oil and wiring problem

It really isn't practical to fix cracks.They are hard to find and would require total disassembly.I would look for some threads for pressure testing the cooling system, that would tell you whats going on.