moisture in crankcase

4.3 with moisture in crankcase, no rise in oil leve, no milky oil, only slight steaming coming out of oil fill cap on valve cover, houseboat that we do not log many hours, mainly short trips. at one time i had bad intake manifold gasket, lots of water in oil then, it cleaned up after 4-5 oil changes, 2 years later still have steaming, could this steaming be left over from the large ammounts of pudding in the crank or do I have another problem. I do have the old one piece mercrusienr exhasut manifold that I have heard is a problem. My question is could I put a T in the plug hole on the intake manifold and then add pvc valves to the valve covers, run that into the T. Would this set up help suck the moisture out of the crankcase. Currently, no pvc, only a line tune from the valve cover back to flame arrester , minimuim suction from the carb.. Help, my next optionis change the exhast manifolds, then head gaskets. Don't want to do this until a last resort. any suggestions?

Re: moisture in crankcase

short trips will cause condensation which will cause moisture. that is why engines are designed to have oil temps between 210 and 230 (to steam off any moisture).

I would go for a good cruise, bring the motor up to temp and enjoy the day.

the downside is that many marine engines have low temp thermostats which doesnt help bring oil temps up.

Re: moisture in crankcase

I have often suspected condensation, my bilge area does have some issues with water leaking in. My issue is after running the boat for a couple of hours, it does not seem to get any better, maybe a little worse. That is why I was questioning a tee into the intake and adding pvc vavles. I was told this would create more suction out of the crank rather than the current set up, that is only pulling ventalation from the carb, with no pvc. very little suction considering we do not run high rpms. What do you think about the tee, and are you suggestion we may need a higher temp thermostat?