Water in oil

Hitnmiss

Cadet
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Oct 16, 2016
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7
I have a older 1974 888 i just bought this boat and im new to the mercruiser line so with that said. I ran the boat when i first bought it and noticed there was water coming from the freeze plugs .well they were stripped out so i pulled the elbow on the left side and re tapped the hole and cleaned out all the rust i could get out of it.which was alot so after all that put everything back together and ran it some more no issues well i went to put it in the water to put a load on the motor well checked all my fluids and belts and everything and i had water in the oil there was about 1 -2 gallons of water in oil pan i pulled the boat out and first thing came to mind was head gasket so i pulled the heads didnt really look like the gaskets where bad but had water in all cylinders before i put everything back together is there anything i may has misssed or need to look for
 

alldodge

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Mar 8, 2009
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but had water in all cylinders

Howdy

With water in all cylinders and also having stripped out plugs in the exhaust elbow, I would say you need new exhaust manifolds and elbows. The exhaust has probably rusted out.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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by freeze plugs, are you referring to core plugs? if any of the core plugs in the motor were out, that is a sign of improper winterization and most likely the block is cracked.
 

Hitnmiss

Cadet
Joined
Oct 16, 2016
Messages
7
No not the core plugs there are i think 5 of theses little plugs in the exhaust and block i know what the freeze plugs that your talking about and they are good . Could it be bad manifold gaskets the boat had been sitting winterized for about 3 years
 

alldodge

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Anything is possible but not to probable at this point IMO. You have water in the cylinders, water in the oil pan and rusted out plugs. My guess is the block or heads are cracked because 3 years ago something was not winterized correctly
 
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