WATER IN mY OIL!!

[lakebound&down]

I live in central Illinois, and came off a very mild winter. I winterized my boat as i have done in years past, other than the fact i did not cover it all winter. I filled the cooling system with RV Anitfreeze until it cam out the exhaust. Yes, not very boat savy on winterization and have learned there are drain cocks to drain the cooling system. I have a 165hp in board mercruiser in line 6 and have found water in my oil. I did have quite a bit of water leaking from behind the manifold where it seats up to the block. I have done a compression test on the cylinders and all cylinders were around 100-110. Is it possible for water to leak through the spark plugs. When removing the plugs to conduct the compression test the #5 and #6 plug holes were rusted to the top of the hex head on the plug itself and rust was evident on the hole threads and threads of the plug itself. I can not say weather there was water in the oil before this spring but the boat did run a little rough last fall before putting it up for the winter. I am going to fill the oil and change the filter tonight and see how it does, but was wondering if anyone had any pointers as to where i can look. Dont want to just say to heck with it, call it a cracked block before doing a little research. thanks for any and all guidance. I will post pictures of the spark plug holes later tonight.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

pull the manifold and see if the block is cracked just under the headgasket area, only other area is a small core plug in the head itself that is visable with the manifold removed.

 

[lakebound&down]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

So what did the compression test tell me, anything?? I am going to refill with oil tonight and see what happens. If it isnt good i am going to pull the manifold and do some further investigating. thanks for the help so far

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

It would be easier to pump the remaining oil out, remove the oil pan drain plug,remove the sparkplugs,plug a hose into the water inlet of the therm housing and turn the water on. You will see it come out the sparkplug holes, or see it come out the bottom of the oil pan, or the blown core plug in the head or the crack behind the exaust manifold.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

Pressure test the cooling passages of your block...with air. That will tell you everything you need to know.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

Hard to do with a complete motor, i think Ill got a bit colder than he thought.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

Hard to do with a complete motor,

Pressure test with air?

 

[lakebound&down]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

Thanks for all the advice, it may have gotten colder but it was winterized the same way it had been in years past so not sure y this past winter was any differnet than the previous ones. I am going to run the hose through the thermostat housing tonight and will let you know what comes of it.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

Thanks for all the advice, it may have gotten colder but it was winterized the same way it had been in years past so not sure y this past winter was any differnet than the previous ones. I am going to run the hose through the thermostat housing tonight and will let you know what comes of it.

"Winterizing" by only pouring any type of antifreeze into an engine cooling system is ALWAYS "dangerous".

Antifreeze doesn't always mix thoroughly with water in ALL the passages of an engine block when you just pour it in unless you drain ALL the water FIRST.

But then, if you drain the water FIRST, you DO NOT need to put anti-freeze in there at all! (Someone said many times, AIR DON'T FREEZE)

Isolate the manifold. Plug cooling hoses to and from the block. Connect a gage, valve and an air compresser. Pump up the block to about 15-20 PSI and close the valve and see if the gage drops.

If you hear "hissing", you have a leak someplace.

If it's on the outside of the block you can use soapy water and look for bubbles.

If it's on the inside you'll hear it clearly through the oil fill tube.

The engine should easily hold 15 PSI or so.


Next time drain all the water from the manifold and block.

Good luck.

Rick

 

[bruceb58]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

I am with Rick. Don't bother with the water test through the thermostat housing. The only sure test is air pressure in the block.

 

[lakebound&down]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

Just ran water through, have no way and dont quite understand how to do air pressure test. Explain further what i need to do to run air pressure, please. Lowered front end ran water through had water coming from right behind the manifold. It looks as If its coming from the gasket. Ran for 10min. Occasional drip from oil pan but nothing constant, could have been from residual from just draining it.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

There is no water connection betweeen the block and manifold, pull the manifold to see better.

 

[lakebound&down]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

I have a compressor air hose and will purchase whatever I need to do air test. Just need guidance! I know I need to pull the manifold no matter what but would like to run air test first, or does it matter?

 

[Failproof]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

If water was leaking out, note where from. Air is nice because it makes more noise to find the smaller leaks. To pressure test with air, find your water inlet to the motor. Find a way to pump air into the motor where it connects. Find any and all hoses delivering water out of motor. Pinch or plug those. Pump air (15psi max) into motor. Listen for leaks. This will not test anything past the pinched/plugged hoses.

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

I have a compressor air hose and will purchase whatever I need to do air test. Just need guidance! I know I need to pull the manifold no matter what but would like to run air test first, or does it matter?

Drain all the water/coolant out of the block. Securely block off the hose(s) to the exhaust manifold in such a way that you can pressurize the system with 15 lbs of air. You will also need to rig up a way to pressurize the system. You will need a pressure regulator, half decent gauge, a way to connect the regulator and gauge together (like a manifold). One side of this manifold will have a fitting for your air hose, and the other side you will need to adapt to your engine somehow (a barbed fitting to adapt it to one of the hoses would work).

 

[lakebound&down]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!



These are pictures of my spark plug holes #5 and #6 atleast from front to back they are not sure about firing order. I have welded the crack, replaced the manifold and riser gasket and run it now for the last two weekends. No evidence of water in my oil at all. Has anyone ever seen rust going into the spark plug holes like that.?? I will attach pictures of the crack as well. It was small but when we grinded it down the stress carried quite a long way. Thinking it had been there for awhile. It also seemed as if the freeze plug behind the maninfold was pushed out flush with the manifold so i replaced it as well.

 

[lakebound&down]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

I have no water in my oil, nor is the crack leaking in to the bilge area, what i do have is a ticking noise when the engine is under a load and warm. I only notice it once the engine is warm and i am pulling a tube. I drove it for 30 minutes straight last week with one other friend in the boat at full throttle and no ticking noise showed up. Any suggestions. It is a very steady ticking that seems to go up and down with the throttle. I have never changed the plugs, wires, distributer, points, rotor or nothing. I am trying to get it into tip top shape but takes time and $$$$. I did change the fuel filter and cleaned the in line filter inside the carb itself. I had water in my gas as well and used gasoline treatment to remove any excess water then filled tank up with clean gas. About 13 gallons of fresh in a 25 gallon tank!! Need help still and thanks for all your suggestions with the water in oil onto the next thing!!

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

View attachment 156010

Welding engine blocks (and anything else cast iron) usually doesn't turn out well unless you do it right...... Just striking an arc usually causes it to crack someplace else soon.

Just saying......

Good luck!

 

[lakebound&down]

Re: WATER IN mY OIL!!

I would just like to thank you all for your help and directions. Boat has been running great lately. I understand the fact about the cast iron but was just trying to salvage the old girl. I think the leak had been there for awhile considering before repairing it i used to have to empty my bilge a couple times a day while running the boat and i have yet to turn on the bilge pump this year after welding the crack. Again thaks to everyone who put their two cents in, it all added up nicely!!