Water in Crankcase oil Mercruiser 1977 188

[Sammy123]

My engine runs fine but I have water in my crankcase. I changed oil then ran engine with flush unit and found no water. The I ran engine in lake and found some small bubbles on dipstick. Ran low rpms trolling for several hours. Then fired up in nuetral and blew out a ton of carbon. Now oil is black that just had been changed. Can anyone help diagnose this problem? head, exhaust shutter<br />I do have some lifter or valve noise from on side of the engine when I initially start the engine, then it goes away, but it is a little loud before it disappears.<br /><br />Thanks

 

[JB]

Re: Water in Crankcase oil Mercruiser 1977 188

Howdy Makosam.<br /><br />Welcome to iboats. <br /><br />Your Mercruiser is not an outboard.<br /><br />I will move this to the mercruiser Forum.

 

[Don S]

Re: Water in Crankcase oil Mercruiser 1977 188

It doesn't sound like you have a problem with water in the oil, that would give you a milky brown color. It does sound like you may be having some lifter noise.....Check the oil level, if it's too high, the oil may be hitting the crankshaft and getting aereated and cauing the lifters to make noise. Get the oil level down to normal and try it.<br />Also, when changing oil, if you are not getting all (or most) of the old oil out you will still have black oil.

 

[Sammy123]

Re: Water in Crankcase oil Mercruiser 1977 188

I ran my boat in June and lost the coupler by hitting a rock. So, before I pulled the engine I drained the oil. First water came out, then oil. After making the coupler repair, I put new filter on, added new oil and then ran the engine with the flush ears. No water then was found on dipstick and engine oil was at correct level and looked real clean. Then I ran the boat on a lake. The engine oil was then elevated on the dipstick and some small bubbles were present. After trolling for 4 hours the clean oil then turned dark black which seemed to be from carbon. However, the engine ran fine. Is water getting in somehow???

 

[deputydawg]

Re: Water in Crankcase oil Mercruiser 1977 188

Pull the drain plug and let a few drops out if your worried about water in oil. <br />How many hours on this engine? It sounds like possibly a week engine if anything. The clattering at startup sounds like a slightly weak oil pump, and normal wear on main and cam bearings lets oil drain and takes longer to pump up. Not a serious problem. The ton of carbom that blew out, how did this carbon blow out? Was it a thick black cloud, blue cloud, white cloud? You could have worn valve guides and maybe worn valve seals. Idle speeds allow oil to pool and seep in basically. When you throttle up you will get a good cloud of smoke that clears up pretty quick.<br />A weak engine will also darken the oil sooner. Probably a combination of oil left in engine after change, a small amount of blow-by blackened the oil. <br />You are probably alright, just watch the oil level and condition.

 

[Sammy123]

Re: Water in Crankcase oil Mercruiser 1977 188

Well, when I orginally drained the oil I had about 1 quart of water. I'll drain it again and see what I get.<br /><br />The carbon that blew out was black and floated on the water. I have some on th eback of th eboat from trolling , but I always get this when I troll alot.<br /><br />Since its a 1977 and I don't want to use it as a hole in the water I didn't want to do a lot of work on it just for a worn engine. However, if I have a head, head gasket, or exhaust manifold problem that will cause future major damage, I will have to fix it.

 

[deputydawg]

Re: Water in Crankcase oil Mercruiser 1977 188

Have you done a complete tuneup? The black stuff floating could be the result of an incomplete fuel burn building up the soot, then blowing it out. Maybe not a very hot spark, or wrong timing causing this. I don't know what else would build up black soot like that. When the gas mixture is burned it should be expelled fairly clean and clear.

 

[Sammy123]

Re: Water in Crankcase oil Mercruiser 1977 188

Thanks,<br />Since I had pulled th eengine to replace the coupler maybe something had got bumped. So my plans are to check the timing, change the oil again, and make sure the carburator is clean. I'll do this this weekend. Thanks for the input

 

[72Stinger]

Re: Water in Crankcase oil Mercruiser 1977 188

I had the problem with oil in engine and I replaced head gasket, all is fine was leaking by water jets.

 

[Sammy123]

Re: Water in Crankcase oil Mercruiser 1977 188

So, I drained the oil last night and this time only a few ounces of unmixed clear water came out. Maybe somehow water hot in one time. I guess I will change the filter, add new oil, then check the timing and clean th ecarbrator and run it. Who knows?