Water in drain plug but oil clean 3.7L Mercruiser 165HP 1987

[Brock.Ward]

crap so when i ran the garden hose in the top hose by the exhaust to flush it out it could have went back down into the cylinders? I ran it and it ran fine now but thats just weird how that works.

 

[Brock.Ward]

guess im really lucky i didnt just blow the head gasket or the engine after putting the hose in there when its not running to flush it out.

 

[stonyloam]

crap so when i ran the garden hose in the top hose by the exhaust to flush it out it could have went back down into the cylinders? I ran it and it ran fine now but thats just weird how that works.

Not likely, nothing to worry about. The outlet for the raw water coming from the exchanger exits behind and below the top of the elbow, so unless the exhaust is completely blocked the water will just run out of the outdrive.

 

[Brock.Ward]

Hey Terry, I got the flapps installed the upper exhaust bellow was ripped. I thought I read that some people use something else to close that part from the manifold to the elbow. Any ideas or should I just go get the replacement top bellows assembly for $60?

 

[stonyloam]

I have not seen or read of anything like that. That is kind of an important part, so IMHO the OEM replacement is best. There is an alternative for the exhaust bellows on the outdrive.

 

[Brock.Ward]

Well replaced the bellow then drained oil, it was pretty dark/thick, not really milky but a little, i am hoping this was from remaining water after the first oil change and me running the hose thru the exhaust manifold without engine running...Seeing as it runs great and had it running for about 10-15 minutes the other day and it didnt go much past 110 and was slowly getting to normal temperature I am hoping the engine doesnt have a bad head gasket. It doesnt smoke or anything it runs almost too good...taking it out tonight hoping everything goes smooth, if its a blown head gasket after all....ughhhhhh

 

[stonyloam]

Now that you have it running, warm it up and do a compression check. Borrow the tools free from Autozone. If your compression is OK, you should be good to go.

 

[Brock.Ward]

took it out for an hour last night no issues ran great, now onto the next project getting the guages to work, any recommendations on where to get new oem gauages to install behind the trim pieces so it looks nice?

 

[Brock.Ward]

Got the boat out again today, did some trolling for salmon, ran great, few things though, I thought I fixed oil sending unit, when I start boat its at 80, was hard to start since it was cold, kept the pressure at 60 then down to 40 after about 10-20 minutes then after I hit throttle and run it on the great lakes for about 20 min it drops to almost zero, there was a light tick tick tick, so I put it in nuteral and trolled, ticking went away. We literally trolled at about 2-3mph for 2 hours, no ticking engine ran great, oil pressure still read pretty much 0 so I am pretty sure the sending unit is just bad or.....any help is appreciated. On our way in I hit it again got on plane got to the channel and trolled thru no wake zone instantly the tick came back after being in high speeds, let it troll on the way in tick tick tick slowly goes away....ideas? anyone? Any help is appreciated, no over heating, engine actually shows about 120 the entire time so the temperature gauge could be broke or thermostat is bad...but ticking is like stuck headers on a car kinda.... engine runs fine but ticking gets louder after warms up under load....

 

[johnzonh]

Lol yer boats a dud. Dead. Finished. Sell me all yer 3.7 parts so I can fix mine lol. Bwahaha!!!!! Jk

 

[Brock.Ward]

Another question in regards to the ticking. I cleaned off the oil pressure sender and got the pressure gauge working well. I have taken it out numerous times and has ran great, I have trolled for about 2 hours for salmon and engine runs great, the pressure dropped low again the other day when I gave it gas to go in. When this happens I hear a tick tick tick tick from the top of the valve cover as it sounds like the oil pump may not be pumping well which is odd since its only when I rev it up not when I idle. When i drop back down to 2-3 mph the ticking slowly goes away and runs fine. Any ideas on this? I have read to drain oil, dump kerosine in engine, run it for 2-3 minutes to clean the engine, drain kerosine then fill her back up with oil and that could loosen any crud that was stuck within the engine etc. Thoughts? This engine runs excellent at a trolling speed, surprisingly runs very cold as well, 120-130 but I havent taken it under load for more than a minute due to ticking....it has the upgraded heat exchanger and alternator option too. Just concerned about this ticking noise....

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

What are you running for oil viscosity?

Personally, I'd add a tee fitting and a pressure gauge right on the engine if there's room before getting it anything. Use it to confirm your dash gauge. They make different diameter gauges.. a 100 PSI should cover you.

 

[stonyloam]

Hmmmm... Ticking. Could it be an exhaust leak. 470's use a ford 460 head, and there is a little hole on either end of the head for a thing called a thermactor. On the 470 the holes are plugged, (with what looks like a small casting (freeze) plug)and sometimes the plugs rust out and you can get a ticking sound from the exhaust escaping from #4. With the engine running, (carefully) hold your hand behind the engine to see if you can feel exhaust gas escaping. I would not mess around with the kerosine. If you are worried about crud, just change the oil.

 

[Idlespeedonly]

With one to two gallons of water in the oil I would be surprised if the crank wasnt trashed, and you dont have a spun bearing or 4.
but hopefully not.