Merc. 3.0 Water in oil

[rkvtx1800]

Hi Im Rick I have a 1989 3.0. Bought the boat last summer. Took it in the lake about a mile for some perch fishing. all good. Next week went about 4 miles and motor filled with water . Pulled head and took it to a well known engine builder. it had cracks. Bought one on e-bay that supposedly had a valve job done on it. Installed it and installed the motor. Ran like crap. wouldnt idle and ran real rough. Re adjusted the valves and that didnt help. total run time 1 hour. no water in oil. Pulled engine and head had valves ground at wrong angle. Replaced the valves and ground seats. New springs as they were weak. Had crank ground and polished as to pitting. New pistons, rings and bearings throughout. cylinders checked out and honed. Put back together and ran like a top. after 40 minutes oil was like a milkshake. Tore it apart. Took head to shop for pressure test and it held 60 psi for an hour. Took block in to another shop and held 55# under water. Tested intake exhaust at 45 in a cooler completely submerged with blank gasket between manifold and riser. No bubbles. Reassembled motor with felpro gaskets, thicker head gasket than Victor, Ran for an hout and oil is white again. What can i do now?

 

[Bt Doctur]

If everything is holding pressure then the only thing I can think of is that your not torqueing the head correctly or using the wrong pattern

 

[HT32BSX115]

Ran for an hout and oil is white again. What can ido now?

Howdy,


Welcome aboard!


You need to pressure check the block and head (you did this before you took it apart before?) . You do this by isolating the entire cooling system from the intake/exhaust manifold.

Treat the engine like an air tank with multiple openings. Close off all those openings with normal plumbing hose and fittings obtainable from Home Depot etc...

Connect an air hose, valve and gage (gage closest to the block)

Pressurize to about 15-20 PSI and close the valve. Turn the compressor off and listen for snakes (hissing)!!

If the block and heads are holding, the pressure will not drop. It's very possible that you didn't get the head gasket properly torqued but it should have been torqued properly before.

I am suspicious of the "shop" that pressure checked the block and heads separately. You may STILL have a cracked block. It's very easy to pressure check everything without taking it apart.


Regards,


Rick

 

[rkvtx1800]

Howdy,


Welcome aboard!


You need to pressure check the block and head (you did this before you took it apart before?) . You do this by isolating the entire cooling system from the intake/exhaust manifold.

Treat the engine like an air tank with multiple openings. Close off all those openings with normal plumbing hose and fittings obtainable from Home Depot etc...

Connect an air hose, valve and gage (gage closest to the block)

Pressurize to about 15-20 PSI and close the valve. Turn the compressor off and listen for snakes (hissing)!!

If the block and heads are holding, the pressure will not drop. It's very possible that you didn't get the head gasket properly torqued but it should have been torqued properly before.

I am suspicious of the "shop" that pressure checked the block and heads separately. You may STILL have a cracked block. It's very easy to pressure check everything without taking it apart.


Regards,


Rick

Blocked off the exhaust. Held 40# for 30 minutes. No snakes. The shops are well respected in my area. I checked the head tourque 5 times before putting on the valve cover with 3 different wrenches. Used the fel-pro gasket much thicker than the victor

 

[rkvtx1800]

Before I pulled it apart I Blocked off the exhaust. Held 40# for 30 minutes. No snakes. The shops are well respected in my area. I checked the head tourque 5 times before putting on the valve cover with 3 different wrenches. Used the fel-pro gasket much thicker than the victor. Used perfect seal on head bolts and all gaskets.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Used perfect seal on head bolts and all gaskets.

Hopefully not the head gaskets

 

[rkvtx1800]

Nothing on head gaskets, surfaces were super clean

 

[Bt Doctur]

what torque values are you using and what tightening pattern are you using?

 

[mike feeney]

I am not a marine mechanic but i am an auto mechanic that has built alot of motors. I doubt you have a torque problem unless you used an impact gun or tightened them with your fingers. if the deck of the block is nice and flat which I assume your engine builder checked and your head is nice and flat and everything is clean I doubt you have a torque problem. If its a little to tight or too loose yea maybe you would have a problem down the road but not right away specially being a push rod engine you don't have pressurized oil going through the head gasket to lube the cam like an ohc engine. Some times you can't find a crack in a block unless the block is hot, recently just happen to a friend of mine, I had him just go and get a used motor.

 

[rkvtx1800]

everything is torqued acording to the manual exactly.

 

[HT32BSX115]

everything is torqued acording to the manual exactly.

On a 3.0L engine, there's only a couple of places water can enter the oil unless you have a steady stream of water running on the oil fill or dipstick, loose valve cover etc......

The shops are well respected in my area.

Many respected shops have incompetent working for them..... If you didn't observe them doing those pressure checks, they might not have happened.

If you didn't remove/drain the pan after the last run, there may still be residual water in the pan that didn't drain out. it doesn't take much water to make it visible.

If there's still a little bit of water in the oil, it will evaporate out after hard running at normal temp but it will take some time since the normal temp is 140-160 F

If you did the cooling system pressure check with the engine in the boat and it held pressure, the water is not coming from the cooling system.

 

[rkvtx1800]

Again today i pressure tested the block held 25 # for an hour. Gonna block off the outlet of the riser elbow tomorrow leaving exhaust outlet open to test the elbow. only thing not tested so far and test the manifold again.

 

[rkvtx1800]

Elbow held 15 # of pressure. Heated water to 180 degrees and circulated it thru engine to simulate running temp. Block Still held 25 # of air after bleeding off the water. Tested the exhaust manifold at 160 degrees and it held 45 #. Changed the oil and after an hour oil got milkey. Changed the oil again and ran it for an hour. Drained water and motor held 25 # of air. I'm lost. Do notice quite a bit of air leakage out the breather. How much is normal.

 

[Bondo]

Drained water and motor held 25 # of air. I'm lost. Do notice quite a bit of air leakage out the breather. How much is normal.

Ayuh,..... Welcome Aboard,..... That quote makes no sense,..... If it's holdin' pressure, ya won't hear air from the oil areas,....

The leakage yer hearin' is the Crack,...

 

[rkvtx1800]

Let me rephrase that. The air coming from the breather was while the engine was running, not during the pressure test.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Let me rephrase that. The air coming from the breather was while the engine was running, not during the pressure test.

OK.........So I fully understand how you did the cooling system pressure check......................

1. You pumped the block/head to 25 PSI of air

2. You closed the valve (on the block) and disconnected the air pressure source FROM the block.

3. Then you observed the gage you left connected to the block to measure the pressure and it maintained 25 PSI for an hour or more?

If that's the case, the water in the oil is NOT coming from the cooling system. (It's NOT leaking)

It's possible that the water in the oil was/is in the bottom of the pan and you didn't get it all in the last couple of oil changes. sucking it out through the dipstick tube doesn't always get all of it since the tube doesn't always make it to the bottom of the pan.

If you had all the water out of the engine, there is no way water from the exhaust manifold or riser can put water into the engine while it's running.

It CAN flow into open exhaust valves after shutdown, but only in very small amounts depending on how much is leaking past manifold cracks or riser gasket leaks (if you have them) ........and if that was happening, you would likely experience a hydrolock if you tried to start it immediately on top of after shutdown (because the water would be sitting on top of a piston(s)

If you had a water jacket leak from the exhaust manifold to the intake, there would be a "big-time" hydrolock since the water would get directly into the intake.

There's something obvious here and but it's hard to see through the computer!