Mercruiser 3.0L - milky oil on lifters, black oil on dip stick

[OttawaAquaBoy]

I opened the oil cap and to my horror I noticed very milky oil. The odd thing about this is that the oil on the dipstick (oil pan oil) is still black. I frequently check my oil level and color with the dipstick so I don't know how long it has been like this, I am running on the same oil the whole season (I have only run about 2 tanks of gas all summer).
The boat sits in the water all summer, water in the bilge has never touched the oilpan. I do NOT have a water/fuel separator.
Any thoughts/advice, this is freaking me out a bit :%

Thanks in advance.....

 

[tommays]

Re: Mercruiser 3.0L - milky oil on lifters, black oil on dip stick

I would not panic it may just be from water vapor that would have burned out of the oil if it was run more at full temp

Now if you pump out the oil and get water from the oil pan then panic


Tommays

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mercruiser 3.0L - milky oil on lifters, black oil on dip stick

(I have only run about 2 tanks of gas all summer).

Ayuh,.........
You're looking at Condensation,.................

You haven't been running it Long enough, or Hard enough to build up some Engine Heat to Burn the Condensation Off..........

Go Boating More Often,+ for Longer,+ Faster rides............d

Btw,......

milky oil on lifters,

Those are the Rocker Arms you're looking at,.......
The Lifters live about 6" Deeper,...... In the engine Block..........d

 

[Chopper Doc]

Re: Mercruiser 3.0L - milky oil on lifters, black oil on dip stick

Had this happen to a car of mine once when I lived Washington state. I thought maybe I had a cracked head or something but the thing never overheated...hell, it wouldn't even warm up enough to defrost the windows in the winter time. So after being pulled over by the State Patrol one morning for running with frost on my rear window I decided to take the thermostat housing off and see what temp range the thermostat was. It was a 195 degree just as it should have been. Only as I removed it I noticed that it was in the open position with crud around the shaft. I went and got a new one and installed it and everything was right as rain. I never saw any more milky oil on the bottom of the oil cap after that and the heater and defroster worked great. If I was you I might let the engine run for a while and make sure it does get up to proper operating temp. If not run it longer or have the thermostat checked.

Wes