Sand in Engine Oil

My wife and I took our boat out this afternoon and once I had the boat back on the trailer and pulled the boat plug, water poured out for a long time. I looked in the transom and my engine was covered in silt. Pulled the dipstick and I can feel grains of sand in the oil.

We hit a sandbar earlier that day but came free without much difficulty. I noticed a quick screech at one point which sounded like a bearing or other metal noise but it stopped. Felt like it wasn't running exactly right but never stalled out or died. Only when I got back to shore did I see what the problem was.

What do I need to do immediately? And what do I need to do about the sand in the oil? How did the water get in my transom (the boat plug wasn't loose, didn't see water coming out from anywhere until I removed the plug)? Thanks in advance for your help.

Re: Sand in Engine Oil

The screech was probably your prop slipping on the hub due to the engine trying to drive it and the sand bar not allowing the prop to turn. This is a safety device built into most older hubs made of rubber (called a slip clutch)...don't know about newer plastic liners.

Would not associate that with the rest of your findings.

You did not identify your type of boat/engine installation. From what you say your rig is an I/O.

Couple of things here. If an I/O, Mercuriser to my reconing/experience and all, if the drive shaft or exhaust boot has failed (usually crack), you will get water into the interior of the boat. BTDT

If you are operating in a sandy environment and you stirred up a lot of it, then if water is entering your boat, it will be silty.

Water into the engine had to come from a flooded engine compartment (apparently from what you said) and if the water was sandy, then the contamination would contain sand. Entry point into the crankcase could have been via a crankcase breather....otherwise I have no idea.

Sand will kill your engine in a heartbeat and a thorough flushing is required if you ask me and you apparently did via the forum.

Not going to nit pick this for you but you need to get professional assistance on this problem, not only on the entry point, but on how to remove the potential damage from your engine.

HTH

Mark

Re: Sand in Engine Oil

Mark,

First of all, thanks. I knew people would need a little more info but I just wanted to get the thread started first. It's a Volvo Penta (I started the thread in this lobby just because it had more people and I felt I'd get a quicker response).

After initially seeing sand on the dipstick, I went back and looked at it again and can't find any visible sand on the dipstick anymore. Tried numerous times. It could be that the first time I pulled it it scraped some sand at the mouth of the hole. Not sure. Regardless, I'm going to drain the oil and remove the oil filter to see for sure if there is any sand in the bottom. Praying there's not. The boat ran for at least 25 to 30 minutes after I hit the sandbar and with the exception of the squealing and a sounding a little different, there was no difference in how it was running (positive sign, hopefully).

That's only one problem though. My other concern is how the water entered the transom? I don't see any visible cracks back there or seals that are broken. It was definitely a lot of water but there isn't any silt line inside the transom showing me how high it got. Hopefully it just filled the bottom (a lot) and the belt threw the silt and water all over the rest of the engine.

Anything else I need to keep in mind? Anything I need to disconnect or worry about corroding? Let me know any other details you might need and again, I appreciate the help. I reference this site often.

Re: Sand in Engine Oil

Welcome to iboats mark.
Exactly which "Volvo" do you have? Full (that means all the numbers and letters) model number or the engines serial number. Kind of hard to say what you need, when we don't know what we're working on.

Being a Volvo, it's obviously not an outboard, not sure why you thought the Mercury outboard forum was the right place for a Volvo question. We try to keep posts in the proper forum.