OK, here we go. First, I am not a mechanic, not even close.
The beginning of the story goes like this, I bought a boat sight unseen. I took it out on the water and without knowing it, had a FWC coolant loss as a result of a bad front cam seal. This led to an overheated engine, which is where I am today.
The engine is an '87 Merc 170 and I believe I have water in the oil. I say this because I recently put fresh oil in, and when I checked it today, it was much darker then expected. I would assume that this is what they refer to as "chocolate milk".
To add to the story, I tried to pull all the plugs to see if the cylinders are wet and to do a compression check. Well, I could only get 1,2,and 3 removed, and 4 was not even thinking about coming out. (The numbering assumes that #1 is towards the bow and #4 is towards the stern). 1 and 2 splugs looked OK. #3 was wet, so I assume that there is some liquid (most likely water) in the cylinder. I will try to get the number 4 plug out soon and run a compression test. I first need to remove the coolant reservoir so that I can get the necessary leverage.
Here is what I need to know. Am I most likely facing a cracked block situation or a blown head gasket? If you can not tell with the information that I have, is there an easy way to find out. I am assuming that a cracked block is much worse and much more expensive that a head gasket (but you might need to confirm this for me).
How bad is this? Should I plan on scrapping the boat? What are my next steps, besides panic and deep rooted depression?
Thanks in advance, and if you need more details, please ask.
Thanks!
The beginning of the story goes like this, I bought a boat sight unseen. I took it out on the water and without knowing it, had a FWC coolant loss as a result of a bad front cam seal. This led to an overheated engine, which is where I am today.
The engine is an '87 Merc 170 and I believe I have water in the oil. I say this because I recently put fresh oil in, and when I checked it today, it was much darker then expected. I would assume that this is what they refer to as "chocolate milk".
To add to the story, I tried to pull all the plugs to see if the cylinders are wet and to do a compression check. Well, I could only get 1,2,and 3 removed, and 4 was not even thinking about coming out. (The numbering assumes that #1 is towards the bow and #4 is towards the stern). 1 and 2 splugs looked OK. #3 was wet, so I assume that there is some liquid (most likely water) in the cylinder. I will try to get the number 4 plug out soon and run a compression test. I first need to remove the coolant reservoir so that I can get the necessary leverage.
Here is what I need to know. Am I most likely facing a cracked block situation or a blown head gasket? If you can not tell with the information that I have, is there an easy way to find out. I am assuming that a cracked block is much worse and much more expensive that a head gasket (but you might need to confirm this for me).
How bad is this? Should I plan on scrapping the boat? What are my next steps, besides panic and deep rooted depression?
Thanks in advance, and if you need more details, please ask.
Thanks!
. The bad news is none of what you have discovered really means (or points) to anything yet. The brownish color is probably just suspended rust, and black dust (carbon) is what should be in there.