help me !!! water in the oil

[bluerunner1]

i just found water or antifreez in the oil plan of my 1980 merccruise engin its the merc 470 with 170hp 4 cyl with a closed cooling system i just removed the head to change the gasket"first thing that came into my mind" but the gasket is in good shape. i dont know alot about stern drives but is it possible to have the leak from stern drive or any other part that im not aware of. i will get the head cheked but im really not sure ....please help me and tell me what to do i missed on the long weekend dont want to miss the summer...... thank you

 

[KaGee]

Re: help me !!! water in the oil

Welcome to Iboats!<br /><br />The sterndrive pumps freshwater only. Antifreeze in the oil indicates you have an internal system leak... somewhere else. Do you have an external oil cooler? If you do, they sometimes go bad. <br /><br />Does your system cooler have hoses going to the manifold? If so, that is a possible source.<br /><br />I'm sure one of the Merc guys will pop in with more questions.

 

[bluerunner1]

Re: help me !!! water in the oil

i have no idea about the oil cooler but i have hoses going in and out of the manifold they have anti freez and they are apart now and i am in the prosses of getting new gasskets " it was a bad idea opening the head hopfully the head will show me some kind of an internal leak i can change or fix "<br />thanks for you help ...........blue runner

 

[Northern Eclipse]

Re: help me !!! water in the oil

There is a good chance its a camshaft seal behind the water pump impeller. The water pumps on these motors are driven by the cam and there are seals that keep antifreeze in and oil out of the cooling system, if they fail then coolant could get into the oil, these 470 and later 3.7l are known to have these seal failures.

 

[bluerunner1]

Re: help me !!! water in the oil

can any one tell me how to check the oil in my stern drive <br /><br />the level of the oil is it al the way up to the oil vent screw or more

 

[jeff13601]

Re: help me !!! water in the oil

Take out the top vent screw and then the bottom fill screw. Squeeze your fluid in from the bottom until it comes out the screw at the top

 

[bluerunner1]

Re: help me !!! water in the oil

i will put the the new head gaskets and i had the head checked for leaks every thing is ok with it hopfuly the mixing of antifreez with engin oil will stop ....if any one has any advice on any thing i should do please tell me

 

[bluerunner1]

Re: help me !!! water in the oil

one more question about the stern drive oil can i change it when the stern is cold or do i have to run the boat for a wile please advise

 

[jeff13601]

Re: help me !!! water in the oil

Cold is fine

 

[KaGee]

Re: help me !!! water in the oil

Hi Blue,<br /><br />At best everything will be ok. At worst, you just eliminated a source. Good luck!

 

[bluerunner1]

Re: help me !!! water in the oil

thanks alot guys your the best.....

 

[8AteEight]

Re: help me !!! water in the oil

So just how much leakage will occour with that seal?? My 170 put over a liter of "water" in the oil after 20 minutes of running.