another 4.3 with water in oil

[82racin]

hi guys im working on a friends boat with a mercruiser 4.3lx alpha one.

boat was losing power until is just shut off. it fired back up but was making a squeaking noise. pulled the dipstick and it had chocolate milk the whole way up to the handle. he brought it to my garage and i started it to tear into it.
was about a gallon of water inside. found both exhaust manifolds are cracked. all 6 cylinders have 150 compression
cant seem to find any air leaks when i do a block air pressure test, seems to hold air. im worried about the squeaking noise that the engine was making. any idea? bearings shot?

 

[dingdongs]

Re: another 4.3 with water in oil

change oil for the next time and see if you can flush the milkshake out.new manifolds are a must.can only hope noise is not the end of the crank and camshaft.

 

[82racin]

Re: another 4.3 with water in oil

We have a wrecked 97 blazer with a vortec out back... I think we are just going to swap it in with a new intake and exhaust manifolds

 

[Bondo]

Re: another 4.3 with water in oil

We have a wrecked 97 blazer with a vortec out back... I think we are just going to swap it in with a new intake and exhaust manifolds

Ayuh,... Welcome Aboard,... Good luck with it,...

Donno what "Gotchas" yer gonna find, as ya never said what vintage yer workin' on....

 

[82racin]

Re: another 4.3 with water in oil

Boat is a 1994 with a 4bbl carb. The blazer is a 1997 with 90,000 miles. As far as i know Everything should switch over from the boat with a new intake manifold for the vortec heads. Correct?

We did end up finding what appears to be cracks in the block. It's ashame the boat is in good shape.