Water in Cylinders

[sponge]

My starboard motor started blowing white smoke after 2min at 2500 RPM. After realizing the motor had hydro lock, I pulled the plugs to drain the water ( left bank only) turned the motor to expel the water, replaced the plugs and changed the oil and filters. Without opening the seacock I started the motor and ran it for 30 seconds. Started the motor again with seacock open and water filled the left bank cylinders.
I pulled the head on the left bank assuming a head gasket was blown but it is in good condition.

The motor is at least 10 years old and raw water cooled. I suspect a water journal could have corroded through.

Does anyone have a suggestion?

After seeing the grit and build up/blockage in the water journals, I think my best option is to get two long blocks or complete motors. I don't know the benefits of Vortex over Pre-vortex other than horsepower, and what make to buy. Any suggestions? Money is an issue so diesels are not really an option.

Thanks in advance for any input you can offer.

WH

[prowlersfish]

Make sure you check the exust manifolds as they could be the proplem .

[Dan Faith]

It sould like a crack in the exhaust manifold. Letting water in the exhaust valve. Is it going into only one cylinder after the motor sits for a while? Be careful in that you can bend a rod with it being hydro locked.

[David Kane]

If you unbolt the exhaust manifold from the block & see rust in any of the exhaust lines, you probably have a crack or corroded through condition in the exhaust manifold. You may not be able to see exactly where the problem is, so if you are going to replace the manifold, I'd replace the riser also. I'm doing that to my outboard bank exhaust on my starboard engine over the winter.

[LandVF36]

I've set up an account before with:

Marysville Marine
405 South Thompson Road
Sun Prairie, WI 53590
800-992-3878

They are a distributor for BARR, likely the OEM to what you have. The price I got on my last pair of exhaust manifolds was about 1/2 of what the local supplier would offer.

FYI, I had the same problem you are having. I could not see the crack, because it did not open up until it was warm. The port from the first cylinder was black, the middle two washed clean and the farthest one back was rusty. New logs, and tada! No more water in the oil.

Simple repair, one wrench and a screwdriver for the hose clamps....

[sponge]

Water came out of all the spark plug holes on the left side but mostly from the top cylinder. I did not inspect the exhaust manifold because I replaced them this summer. I will have a look and check for signs of rust on the exhaust side of the head

I had just left the marina and been underway for 20min at 1200 RPM, before I gradually brought the motors to 2800 RPM. It was less than a few minutes when it started smoking.
Another reason I think a water journal could be corroded; after I removed the head water was coming from one of the bolt holes on the lower end of the block where the head bolts to the block.

When the motor was blowing white smoke the water temp gauge was normal at 160 but the oil pressure dropped to 30 lbs normally runs at 40-50.

Thanks for your comments. I will be back at this weekend.

[prowlersfish]

Water coming from the bolt holes is normal as they go into the water jackit . still check the manifolds even new ones fail . heads also are common . blocks do fail but not as often

[sponge]

Thanks Prowlerfish.
I will check the manifolds this weekend.

[gjrylands]

I think Paul nailed it. The exaust manifold is a definate sorce for water in a block.
I have a 1979 F36 footer with raw water cooled Chrysler 440's. I had water in the oil in my starboard engine. I tore the top of the engine down and checked the head gasket and had the heads magnifluxed to check for any cracks. Everything checked out fine, but since the heads were off I freshened the heads with a valve job. I replaced the exaust manifold on the port side of the starboard engine and the problem was solved. I only replaced the log of the manifold and reused the riser.
I keep my boat in Lake Michigan, so only fresh water runs through the system. Salt water will eat up the exaust manifolds much faster and it is best if the engines have a closed cooling system.
I hope this helps.

[sponge]

Thanks Gerry. Everyone so far suspects the exhaust manifold.
I will poor some water in the ports to see if any enters the exhaust area . You guys have been helpful.
Thanks,
Dan

[TADTOOMUCH]

You may not get any water in the exhaust ports by just pouring water in the exhaust manifold. They usually don't leak until the water pump has the system under pressure and the engine heats up a bit and the cracks expand. You will be able to know for sure once you pull the manifold and riser and look at the exhaust ports and see if you have rust marks in any of the exhaust ports in the block. Make sure you put a rag in the exhaust ports before cleaning the old gasket material off or any rust out of the area as you don't want a chunk of anything going down into the exhaust and into the cylinders when the exhaust valve is open. Then just remove the rags and put on new gasket and new manifold and riser. I'd do the riser as well at the same time unless it looks really clean.

[sponge]

Thanks for the tip. I will be doing a close inspection for the tell tale signs and start the reassembly this weekend. More to follow Monday.
Thanks
Dan

[JuiceClark]

I had an engine that kept getting water in the oil. We had the heads X-rayed...nothing wrong. Got water in the oil again. The gaskets always looked perfect. My poor mechanic kept checking and rechecking everything (and he's good) but just couldn't figure it out.

Finally, while changing the oil for the 10,000th time because of the problem, I realized the hanger that the exhaust hangs from when it passes through the bulkhead was like 4 inches higher on the watery engine that on the other. I dropped it as low as I could and have never had a problem since.

I guess when I had these rebuilds installed, somebody along the line just hung the exhaust from the pipe-hanger thing way too high. After a few thousand dollars and tons of frustration, the problem is fixed. Crazy man....

[David Kane]

JuiceClark: for my understanding, do you know why hanging the exhaust higher would cause water in your oil? Was it trapping it somehow & not letting it flow out?

Don't think I have that problem, but plan on replacing my starboard engine exhaust manifolds & risers this winter. Saw some rust in the outside cylinder bank manifold when I rebuilt the engine this summer. Ordered new parts; they're here, ready to install, & the boat is inside for the winter where it is easier for me to work on; just need time to do the job. I want to make sure I don't inadvertently cause myself the same problem you found.

When I brought the boat to the storage site & we fogged the engines before pulling her out, we noted that there was a lot of moisture in the flame arrester on the starboard engine. Don't know hat to attribute that to.

[JuiceClark]

JuiceClark: for my understanding, do you know why hanging the exhaust higher would cause water in your oil? Was it trapping it somehow & not letting it flow out?

Well, some of the other guys on here could give you the real technical jargon...but the exhaust is supposed to run down from the manifolds at a certain rate of decline. Sometimes it's just in case your backing up to prevent water being pushed back up the exhaust toward the engine.

In this case, my mechanic said when the engine was running the exhaust blew all the water out. But with the exhaust pipe too high, when I shut the engine off or at low idle a little bit of moisture would drip down onto the heads of that engine. If I had to guess maybe a 1/2 a cup of seawater every 20 hours of use of so. Of course, a 1/2 cup will rust the heads as fast as half the ocean in no time at all.

TC