4.3GL blowing milky oil out the breather

[bnicov]

I guess I screwed the pooch when I winterized in the fall. After putting her back in this spring, I took her for a run and she was running terrible. I stopped, opened up the hatch and low and behold, there was milky oil all over the port side of the engine, exhaust and intake manifold. I pulled the dipstick and it was full of water. Looks like new engine time.

 

[tpenfield]

Yes, it does look that way.

 

[jimmbo]

Here's one I saw at the dealership on the Weekend

 

[Lou C]

Just say no to suck the AF up the drive winterizing kits...

 

[Scott Danforth]

For inquiring minds..... How did you winterize?

 

[tpenfield]

A wise man has repeatedly said "air don't freeze" . . .

 

[Lou C]

And one can simply follow the manufacturer's manual. None of them recommend those suck the AF up the drive kits. Just drain and probe all drain points. You can back full with AF if you want for corrosion protection, Merc even has that in their manuals. So did OMC.

 

[GeorgeDes]

I have the winterizing kit that attaches to the raw water pump intake. There is a large reservoir filled with AF and a valve that allows you to run clear water through until the thermostat opens at which point you switch over to the AF. Even after this for extra piece of mind I drain the manifolds, risers and oil cooler to clear the AF out. The run through of AF hopefully drives out any remaining water while providing some corrosion protection. Maybe overkill but it has worked for me!

 

[Lou C]

For more than 15 years...I've just been doing what the manual said..drain...probe holes...then back fill with either -100 AF or I mix up a 50/50 mix of Sierra no-tox PG antifreeze...never had a problem once....
the most important thing is to follow each step, because some engines have fuel coolers, P/S coolers etc...then...probe every hole you remove a drain plug from....water must drain...when replacing plugs...I put OMC gasket sealer or Permatex Aviation on them...and they always come out despite raw water use in salt water....I leave the AF in, because otherwise using it is pointless....

 

[bnicov]

I was rushed when winterizing and I did not poke a wire up the port side drain plug. I totally screwed the pooch here and I'm man enough to admit it. It's going in tomorrow morning for a fresh engine. There is no oil left in the crankcase, only about 5 gallons of emulsified water/oil that was in the bilge. Big mess in the engine bay. Expensive lesson.

 

[Bt Doctur]

From your experience in winterizing, :
flush and fog the motor until it stalls
Remove ALL the drain plugs and probe the holes to insure draining
Remove the large hose from the circ pump to the therm mousing ,and pour AF in until it comes out the therm housing , install hose
Remove hoses for the manifold from the therm housing and pour in AF until it comes out the exaust
reinstall hoses
cover boat and go grab a cold one

 

[Scott Danforth]

I have the winterizing kit that attaches to the raw water pump intake. There is a large reservoir filled with AF and a valve that allows you to run clear water through until the thermostat opens at which point you switch over to the AF. Even after this for extra piece of mind I drain the manifolds, risers and oil cooler to clear the AF out. The run through of AF hopefully drives out any remaining water while providing some corrosion protection. Maybe overkill but it has worked for me!

Unless the AF is heated to over the thermostat set point, it slams shut as soon as cold AF hits it. These "kits" should be called "block buster".

Follow the manual

 

[Lou C]

If you are getting a brand new engine....why not add closed cooling...even a half system...to not have to deal with the engine drain plugs again, only if you need to change the antifreeze. I for one would never install a new inboard and leave it raw water cooled.

 

[Lou C]

From your experience in winterizing, :
flush and fog the motor until it stalls
Remove ALL the drain plugs and probe the holes to insure draining
Remove the large hose from the circ pump to the therm mousing ,and pour AF in until it comes out the therm housing , install hose
Remove hoses for the manifold from the therm housing and pour in AF until it comes out the exaust
reinstall hoses
cover boat and go grab a cold one

exactly how I've always done it. I used to use -100 marine AF but its gotten pretty expensive, I now mix up a batch of Sierra PG antifreeze and test it with a PG antifreeze tester. The -50 and -60 get hard at too high a temp for my comfort level.

 

[bnicov]

Update, the intake was cracked and let water into the block. Huge mess. It is going to take me forever to clean out the bilge properly. Next issue though, since there was soooo much oily crud in the bilge, I left the drain plug in so the oily goo would not spill onto the driveway. It rained heavily a couple of times and some water got into the fuel tank. I took off the fuel filter and emptied out the water several times after filling with high octane fuel and a bottle of seafoam. Now it is not pumping any fuel. There is voltage going to the fuel pump when the key is turned but no noise from the pump which does not surprise me, I have never heard it in 10 years. Any ideas??

 

[Lou C]

Did the relays for the pump get wet? I would get a really big drain pan and get all that crap out of the bilge you will probably have to de-grease it a few times..
On the intake issue, many are not aware that the later model 4.3s have a drain plug on the front end of the intake that has to be removed for winterization. On the older pre-vortec models the intake will drain when you pull the big hose off the bottom end of the front circulation pump and drain the block...not sure what they changed but I recall reading an OMC service bulletin about this. Now if that's all that cracked....you are getting away easy....might get lucky this time....When you replace the intake...use good gaskets (Fel/Pro marine) and follow the torque specs closely, the newer Vortecs take much less torque than the older pre-Vortec.

Does your intake have 8 bolts (Vortec) or 12 bolts (Pre-Vortec)?

 

[jimmbo]

Failing to drain the intake on a 4.3 is the biggest cause of what your engine suffered

 

[bnicov]

The relay never got wet. The pump was working but it stopped pumping fuel after about 6-7 fuel filter full of first water then water/gas and then gas.