Water in Oil Pan

[Thomv]

I went to change my oil and noticed water in the oil pan. Is this an indication IO have a blown head gasket. My son recently took the boat out and had clogged the Alpha water passages with seaweed. He did not realize this until he was idling and saw steam coming from the exhaust. He stopped the bot and cleared the seaweed and then continued on his way. I also noticed while back flushing the motor, a V6, 4.3 liter, that there was an oily sheen on the ground mixed with the exhaust water discharge.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... How much water,..??

 

[tpenfield]

May not be a head gasket, could be other things, but needs a bit of diagnosis to narrow things down

I would check the spark plugs for signs of water. Is the oil milky or just has water in it?

 

[Scott Danforth]

time to pressure test the water jacket

 

[HT32BSX115]

If it's only a small amount of water, it's possible that you have leaking riser gaskets and/or a cracked exhaust manifold that allows a small amount of water to run back into open exhaust valves immediately after shutdown. It would be fairly obvious if the engine seemed hydrolocked and wouldn't immediately crank/start within a few min of shutdown......but would eventually start after you let it sit for 30-60 min....(after that small amount of water leaked past the rings)

 

[Thomv]

May not be a head gasket, could be other things, but needs a bit of diagnosis to narrow things down

I would check the spark plugs for signs of water. Is the oil milky or just has water in it?

Just a very light tan color.

 

[Thomv]

If it's only a small amount of water, it's possible that you have leaking riser gaskets and/or a cracked exhaust manifold that allows a small amount of water to run back into open exhaust valves immediately after shutdown. It would be fairly obvious if the engine seemed hydrolocked and wouldn't immediately crank/start within a few min of shutdown......but would eventually start after you let it sit for 30-60 min....(after that small amount of water leaked past the rings)

I did replace both risers and exhaust manifolds because one was leaking externally this past summer.That is when I noticed the tan colored oil. What is crazy is that when I checked the oil with the dip stick it was a normal oil color. It was when I dumped my oil into an oil pan is when I noticed the light tan color.

 

[bruceb58]

I did replace both risers and exhaust manifolds because one was leaking externally this past summer.

My bet is that it was also leaking internally. That was likley your issue then.

 

[HT32BSX115]

My bet is that it was also leaking internally. That was likley your issue then.

Yeah. Sounds like a cooling system pressure check is definitely in order.........

 

[s.hadley81]

I did replace both risers and exhaust manifolds because one was leaking externally this past summer.That is when I noticed the tan colored oil. What is crazy is that when I checked the oil with the dip stick it was a normal oil color. It was when I dumped my oil into an oil pan is when I noticed the light tan color.

Your oil will look fine because the water will separate and sit at the bottom of the pan. Your level will slowly climb on your dipstick as more water is ingested so keep look at how high it is on the dipstick also check your oil after running it, I'll bet your oil will be milky after getting mixed with the water.

 

[Thomv]

Turned out to be a leaking bellow which was replaced. The bellow also took out the starter.

 

[achris]

Even if the bellows was completely missing, it would not cause water in the oil pan. You may still have that problem.

 

[Thomv]

Even if the bellows was completely missing, it would not cause water in the oil pan. You may still have that problem.

So far no more oil in the pan.

 

[achris]

So far no more oil in the pan.

Well, that definitely not good. You need to make sure you DO have oil in the pan. ;-)

As for the water, it will have come from somewhere else. And if you're no longer getting any in the pan, great. Just be aware that the dipstick tube goes all the way to the bottom of the pan and the small quantity of clean oil in the tube from fill up, is largely isolated from any contamination experienced by the main oil supply. Make sure you push that clean oil into the main part of the pan and allow oil from the pan into the tube. I usually just blew a bit of compressed air down the tube.

Chris......