Pic of Milkshake spew all over my engine. Help please

[samsung4]

Thanks that all helps me out very much. Seriously appreciated.
One concern that i have is it will take a few days for me to get to taking the head off.
What about all the water/oil mix still in the engine.
I have drained/suctioned all that i can, filled with oil, ran at idle for 10 seconds for it to hopefully kick up into the cam area but still shows slightly less thick milkshake on the dip stick.
What would be the process to make sure any water still in there does not rust the components.
(Never ran it long so i have been advised the cams and bearings etc are likely still ok and not much damaged from that brief running)

So my 2 questions are
How do i protect it until i can spend some time on it
How do i clean that out of the engine once i get to it assuming i only have an intake manifold crack. (Pull valve covers pour in diesel? take out engine and pull oil pan?...)

Thanks
Mark

 

[jimmbo]

It would be wise to pull the engine, just to make it easier to inspect for Cracks on the Back of the engine, and make it easier to clean up the mess. Since all the Oil Passages were full of the Irish Creme, it will take time to get all the water out. The lifters are likely filled with it too.
Running some fresh Oil trough it wasn't a Bad Idea. It will reduce the amount of water. Did you use a new filter?

 

[samsung4]

No i did not use a new filter. Just wanted to get something in there quick. I had oil onsite but not a filter.

 

[nola mike]

Based on your explanation of the winterizing process I am inclined to agree. Sounds like you got most if the water out if the block/ex manifolds but you make no mention of draining the intake (if this is required for your particular engine). Not all 4.3L intakes have a drain/require draining. Drain plug is located at front of intske and is a square head, 3/8 (?) NP that is painted black so it matches color exactly and often gets overlooked

Pull the intake and inspect the underside, if cracked it will be quite evident

This would be fascinating if this is what happens. @Lou C has been trying to convince me of the necessity of pulling this plug (which Merc doesn't seem to think is important). I don't buy it. I also fail to see how pulling a plug at the front of the intake will prevent water from pooling in the rear.

 

[Lou C]

Well I don’t have a Vortec so for me it does not matter. However both OMC & Volvo had a service bulletin on this. I think what might happen is if someone drains the block BUT doesn’t disconnect the big hose at the circ pump, there could be enough water in there to cause a problem. Also I pointed out that the water passage appears larger on the Vortec if you look at both from underneath. The pre Vortec has a very small water passage & the exhaust crossover to prevent carb icing & heat for the divorced choke. On the Vortec no exhaust crossover. So they may have increased the size of the water passage to provide some heat under the carb. As cheap as GM is, why then did they bother to drill & tap a hole there?

 

[Lou C]

About getting out the water I ran mine 4 times drained all the water & changed the oil each time. That got most of it out. On mine I never had the milkshake like that it was in the cam valley & under the valve covers.

 

[itsathepete]

So my 2 questions are
How do i protect it until i can spend some time on it
How do i clean that out of the engine once i get to it assuming i only have an intake manifold crack. (Pull valve covers pour in diesel? take out engine and pull oil pan?...)

fill the engine with diesel til it overflows and floods the milkshake out the rocker covers. obviously with a big catch basin underneath the bilge drain. might take a couple of times. if it mixes with the milkshake it might thin it enough to drain out the oil pan. you would have to remove the dipstick tube from the pan or you might try and suck it out with a shop vac

 

[Lou C]

if there is really a lot of water in the oil it is hard to suck out the more viscous mix, what I did initially was heat the oil pan a bit with a heat lamp (careful, monitor with an IR tem gun) to about 140* or so, then it pumped out more easily.

 

[Lou C]

Vortec intake:

Pre-Vortec Intake:

 

[Lou C]

see the difference in the size of the water passage....

 

[dubs283]

This would be fascinating if this is what happens. @Lou C has been trying to convince me of the necessity of pulling this plug (which Merc doesn't seem to think is important). I don't buy it. I also fail to see how pulling a plug at the front of the intake will prevent water from pooling in the rear.

FWIW I've never seen a mercruiser 4.3L intake manifold crack from freeze damage. Drain plug overlooked or not. I have seen more than one Volvo suffer from this. I ran an experiment once and long story short is mercs will drain enough water through the block drains without removing the plug and Volvos wont. Can't say all mercruisers are safe though, just been my experience, ymmv

 

[Lou C]

It would be interesting to see what accounts for that difference. The manifolds I think are the same but maybe not?

 

[dubs283]

It would be interesting to see what accounts for that difference. The manifolds I think are the same but maybe not?

Only thing that comes to mind is how the cooling system is plumbed, i.e. different sea water pumps, hose routing, etc...

I will say 4.3L alpha merc gen 2s drain a lot of water out the drive after running. More so than other engines/brands to the point you can hear the gurgling/siphon of cooling water pulled out the drive. Again, ymmv

 

[Lou C]

My OMC Cobra also drains a lot from the lower unit when you pull the muffs off.
I’m wondering if the engine mounted impeller on the Volvo makes a difference vs drive mounted impellers.

 

[Scott06]

This would be fascinating if this is what happens. @Lou C has been trying to convince me of the necessity of pulling this plug (which Merc doesn't seem to think is important). I don't buy it. I also fail to see how pulling a plug at the front of the intake will prevent water from pooling in the rear.

I had heard the same from Michigan Motorz when I did my repower. I saw this plug being discussed on here and asked them if I needed to do the same to the 5.0 I just bought from them, they said no only on the 4.3 didn't give a reason ...

To the OP you can rig up a pressure test for the cooling but I think you already know it is leaking into the oil. At this point since you can run it and repeatedly change the oil to clean it up I would pull the intake off examine it and the lifter valley below the cylinder heads. You may get lucky if it is just the intake but maybe not. No sense jerking around trying to get the milk out if the engine is trash anyways. If it is just the intake you could brim fill it with kerosene or diesel to stave off corrosion until it can be fixed.

 

[samsung4]

Thanks all. I had to leave it at the lake for 3 weeks due to wife, work and kids that i needed to get home.
I hope it will be ok in the condition it is in.
The trailer has not moved for 6 years (other than twice a year launch and retrieve 100' away) and one of the wheel bearings is getting warm on a test drive so could not drive it home.
Going to get bearings repacked and get it home to pull the intake manifold. Fingers crossed for the cracking, and hopefully no significant interior damage due to rust over the next 3 weeks.

I will update you when I get more info.
Thanks again.