Hi Everyone -
My husband and I recently bought a 2006 Malibu Wakesetter VLX with an Indmar 340 engine with 700 hours. Before buying, we test drove the boat for over an hour, checked engine oil before and after running, inspected the hull, have precious owner’s maintenance records, etc. Based on the following info, would probably hire someone to inspect the next boat we buy....life lessons
After using the boat for a little under 7 hours for wakeboarding and wakesurfing, we noticed the oil was milky. While in the water, we pulled out the oil and literally found 2-3 quarts of water. We then changed the oil and ran the boat again for 10 minutes back to the boat launch. Once we got it out of the water, we drained the oil again and found more milkshake/water. Based on our research we thought it might have been the exhaust manifolds leaking so we removed and found water in all cylinders (some more than others) We did a very basic test to see if the exhaust manifolds were cracked/leaking and the results indicate they were not. The extent of our knowledge about boat engines is limited, so we stopped there.
I should mention - the engine did not overheat but the engine was having trouble turning over once we hit the 7 hour mark (prior to emptying the water out of the engine).
Based on the symptoms I described, does this sound like two blown head gaskets or an internal crack to the block? The boat was winterized by a marina and we have the maintenance records to prove it. The marina who winterized is trying to tell us it’s two blown head gaskets (based on a compression test - where some of the cylinders apparently had ZERO compression) and another marina we went to for a second opinion does not believe that’s true and they are very confident it’s a crack in the block.
With that background info, how likely is it to blow two head gaskets simultaneously without an engine overheating/just generally? What is likely to cause that much water to enter the engine?
Really appreciate any perspective you can provide! Thank you.
My husband and I recently bought a 2006 Malibu Wakesetter VLX with an Indmar 340 engine with 700 hours. Before buying, we test drove the boat for over an hour, checked engine oil before and after running, inspected the hull, have precious owner’s maintenance records, etc. Based on the following info, would probably hire someone to inspect the next boat we buy....life lessons
After using the boat for a little under 7 hours for wakeboarding and wakesurfing, we noticed the oil was milky. While in the water, we pulled out the oil and literally found 2-3 quarts of water. We then changed the oil and ran the boat again for 10 minutes back to the boat launch. Once we got it out of the water, we drained the oil again and found more milkshake/water. Based on our research we thought it might have been the exhaust manifolds leaking so we removed and found water in all cylinders (some more than others) We did a very basic test to see if the exhaust manifolds were cracked/leaking and the results indicate they were not. The extent of our knowledge about boat engines is limited, so we stopped there.
I should mention - the engine did not overheat but the engine was having trouble turning over once we hit the 7 hour mark (prior to emptying the water out of the engine).
Based on the symptoms I described, does this sound like two blown head gaskets or an internal crack to the block? The boat was winterized by a marina and we have the maintenance records to prove it. The marina who winterized is trying to tell us it’s two blown head gaskets (based on a compression test - where some of the cylinders apparently had ZERO compression) and another marina we went to for a second opinion does not believe that’s true and they are very confident it’s a crack in the block.
With that background info, how likely is it to blow two head gaskets simultaneously without an engine overheating/just generally? What is likely to cause that much water to enter the engine?
Really appreciate any perspective you can provide! Thank you.
