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Water in oil? NOT sure.


singingskier

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I started winterizing today by draining oil. I noticed when I took out the bilge drain plug that there was a slight dry film with a little bit of water under it on the floor of the bilge. I dropped the oil drain line through the bilge drain hole and went underneath. There was a little bit of water dripping from the hole onto the garage floor, but wasn't much. Put the drain pan under the boat, loosened and removed the drain cap on the drain line and it appeared (in the dim light) that water was flowing from the drain tube-quite a bit, but probably less than a cup, then oil came out. I went topside and checked the dip stick and it had nothing but dark oil on it. I have not noticed any water in the oil in the past.

My plan is to fill with oil, and run the engine later today to circulate the Stabil in the injection system. Will check to see if there is water in the oil at that point.

Usually when I take the cap off the oil drain line, it takes a few seconds for oil to start flowing from the line, but this was almost instantaneous when the water started flowing out. I had taken the cap off and then pulled the line straight down which makes me wonder if it was water from the bilge. Being that there was no water on the dip stick makes me think there was no water in the pan. However; if water was in the pan, the water would have been on the bottom and would have come out first before the oil-and thus the flow of water from the line. In this case, if there had been water on the dipstick, it would have slid down and off and the oil would have replaced it-I think.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Singingskier

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Last time I ran it was in late September, no heating issues.

I think I have found that I do have a problem. I pulled the filter. At first, the dark oil came out, but at the end, discoloration and a little milky. I noticed the last part of the oil drain had some lighter brown streaks in it as well, but not milky--as the water and oil have sat long enough to separate. I'll be looking into the head gaskets first. That's fairly easy to do.

Any other thoughts?

Singingskier

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Hum, I took out the spark plugs and had a lot of water drain out of #6 plug hole.. Of course, I have to take off the intake manifold first, so that might be all it is. I noticed the exhaust manifolds didn't have any gaskets, just some sealant. Is that normal? What causes the intake manifold gaskets to leak?

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@singingskier: Have you done a leak down test? Before you tear everything apart I would do that diagnostic test. It sounds like you removed the intake manifold prior to pulling the plugs, am I reading that correctly on your last post? The intake gaskets are pretty thin between the cylinders and there are gaps between the 4 pieces so a few opportunities for leaks. I run aluminum heads & intake so I dimpled the mating surfaces to improve the holding power of the gaskets. I run exhaust manifold gaskets but again, I also run aluminum exhaust manifolds but my cast iron parts also used gaskets.

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Yeper.. A leak down would have had a lot to say. If you only have the intake and exhaust off it still could give some good info. If you can run A leak down test now and you don't see an issue it would point to the exhaust manifold. Good luck.

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Hum, I took out the spark plugs and had a lot of water drain out of #6 plug hole.. Of course, I have to take off the intake manifold first, so that might be all it is. I noticed the exhaust manifolds didn't have any gaskets, just some sealant. Is that normal? What causes the intake manifold gaskets to leak?

#6 is not adjacent to the water passages, only the corners are (1,2,7,8), so it's probably not the intake gasket. A leak down test or even an old fashioned compression test might tell a lot.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Okay, its been a while since I wrote on this subject. Here is where I am on this date. starboard head off..took to machine shop, found a small crack on the bolt hole going to the water jacket. He told me that I had probably been producing steam for quite a while. I have water sitting in the block, with my oil drain in a bucket. So far, all I have in the bucket is oil, no water at all. Am going to pull out the boat from the garage and try to get an angle on the trailer so that the engine is level, and continue the experiment with water in the block.

At this point, I am looking at a new head on the starboard side. The frugal side of says to just replace this one side and leave the other alone. The lazy, but cautious side of me goes along with the machine shop guy who says these 906 castings have a propensity to crack across from that bold hole across the head. Somewhere on this forum I thought I read that you get what you pay for at machine shops-so I wonder if I should go with a local machine shop or the internet heads. The machine shop can get a bare head, and use my springs, rocker arms, valves, etc. for around $600 per head. On the internet, I can buy rebuilt heads for a lot less, with so called "Beefed up castings in all the right places". Even new after-market heads are cheaper than what the machine shop can do. I can buy two heads for less than the price of the machine shop doing one.

Questions:

1. Replace one head or both?

2. Go with the machine shop?

3. If not with the machine shopr, go with a more expensive OEM head, marine head, or just get an inexpensive replacement?

Anyone out there have experience with this, or have a suggestion?

Thanks,

Singing Skier

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