'96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

[Maxum21]

hi guys, i have a 1996 Sea Ray 175 with a 4.3 merc..bought the boat 2 weeks ago, had the bellows replaced last week, took for an hour test ride and ran fine. today, took boat out. half hour in at 3600rpm's, motor started sputtering and finally stalled. lifted the engine hatch and found milky oil splattered everywhere..mostly around the carb and intake manifold and ultimately down to the bilge. pulled the dipstick to find milky-watery oil on it as well. oil prssure and engine temp were both in normal operating range..engine eventually finally did fire up but i quickly shut it down..any suggestions? i guessin i'm pretty much screwed. very dissapointing. appreciate any info..

 

[achris]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

Cracked head/block, leaking exhaust manifolds or elbows.

Find where the water is getting into the oil...

 

[joewithaboat]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Bullet/01/01_13.pdf

good luck!

 

[Maxum21]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

thankyou! the link was very informative... but now before i have a stroke, can someone please tell me where the heck the oil drain plug is???? ive been looking for 3 hours now yet to find anything! no plugs, no hoses, nothing except the tube/nut for the dip stick tube to enter the oil plan. i'm beyond frustrated.. i'd appreciate help!

 

[Maxum21]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

well finally just pulled the dip stick tube..that wasnt much fun but had to do it. could NOT find a drain plug anywhere. have the oil draining and so far its brown and a very thick consistancy.. i did notice this brown mixture did shoot out both breather tubes on the valve covers when it was running and stalled out. i'm going let the oil finish draining/refill, run it and see what happens... expecting the worse and hoping for the best

 

[achris]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

Before you run it again I would suggest you pull the water hoses off the manifolds and plug them, pull the water inlet hose and start pressurising the block (and heads) to check for cracks. It's an easy test an will confirm whether you have a cracked block or head. If that passes test, pull the exhaust elbows and pressure test the manifolds. If they pass also, check the elbows. I use a large screwdriver and hit into the top of the exhaust cavity, if it punches through, they need replacing....

Water in the oil will not just fix itself... Find the source....

There is no sump plug because the oil is meant to be pulled out through the dipstick tube....

Chris.........

 

[joewithaboat]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

maxum21 you are lucky to have the attention of achris to your thread, he gives the best advice ive seen on here. You would do good to follow it.

 

[Maxum21]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

thank you Chris and Joe..appreciate the tips and advice! i'll let you know what i find and i'm sure ill have a new batch of questions tomorrow..

 

[Maxum21]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

btw joe, i read your link about water intrusion. one way it said was "Rapid boat de-acceleration and then shutting the engine off on boats with either of these can cause water to be forced back up the exhaust system".... yesterday on the lake i did deaccelerate quickly and shut the boat off after...about 30 sec after i restarted it, it started running poorly and thats when i noticed the watery oil blowing out the breather tubes...but i could only be so lucky..

 

[joewithaboat]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

That sounds promissing and would be your best case senario, keep your fingers crossed!

 

[joewithaboat]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

You might also give a quick look at the sides of the block for freeze cracks just because it easy to do, requires no work. Use a good bright light, the ones i have seen are usually thin rusty lines running from front to back, they don't always leak noticably. I have also seen big blown out chunks but you would already know if you had that.
If you do see those thin rusty lines it would be likely that you have them under the manifold as well.

 

[achris]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

... keep your fingers crossed!

I'll keep mine crossed for you too....

 

[achris]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

maxum21 you are lucky to have the attention of achris to your thread, he gives the best advice ive seen on here. You would do good to follow it.

Thank you sir. I am honoured and humbled by your comment....

Chris........

 

[joewithaboat]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

Thank you sir. I am honoured and humbled by your comment....

Chris........

your welcome
Joe

 

[Maxum21]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

well, ive been flushing/changing oil and making progress..no visible block, exhaust cracks or signs of water intrusion..oil level while still milky, is holding consistant level. all together i've had the motor running for about 1 hour total on muffs. ran very smooth however now i've noticed a knock..it seems to come and go depending on rpms, but once i rev up to a certain rpm, it does get louder. doesnt sound good..seems to be running very smooth though and idles great. but a knock is not what i wanted to hear. having trouble locating the noise.. my optimism is slowly dissapearing.ughhh

 

[joewithaboat]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

I would cut open the oil filter that was on the boat when you were operating on the water with all of the water in it. You will be looking for tinfoil looking bearing material. For now you dont want to keep running it on oil with water in it. Does the oil look like coffe with creamer in it or just a little white foam on the dipstick? I would change the oil one more time and keep running to make sure you dont have water problems.
You may have wipped out a rod bearing. They will be the first to go with lack of lubrication.

 

[Maxum21]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

Joe, my oil currently looks like coffee with creamer..i've done about 2-3 oil changes so far and its progressing each time. i'm going to do another couple of oil changes and see what happens..does a knock automatically mean the motor is junk and need to be pulled? thanks again...
btw is there a way to post videos on here?

 

[joewithaboat]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

One mans knock is another mans tick... hard to say, but if it is a knock from a bearing.. no it will only get worse. It could be a tick from the bad oil, i would never run oil that looked like coffee for anything above idle like you are doing to clean it out. Is it getting cleaner each time you change it? I have seen video on here but dont know how to post it.
Good luck!

 

[Maxum21]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

yes Joe, it is getting starting to get cleaner after each oil change. BUT it started draining very very thick and i feel like there is alot of gunk build up in there. i pulled a valve cover off and it had a quite a build-up of thick watery-oil..almost looks like grease..is there anything i can pour down there to help getting things loosened up and flow out during my oil changes?

 

[Maxum21]

Re: '96 4.3 quit running, splattered oil..help

also, i think the knock/clunking noise im hearing may be coming near the valve cover..but not completely sure yet. engine runs VERY smooth so i'm hoping its nothing major like a worn bearing or piston