help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

[cforcht]

first time boat owner here. 1978 merc 228 (305) project boat. Ok I have the stern drive and gimbal off waiting for bellows, bearing, gaskets etc. mean while I hooked garden hose to water inlet on gimbal housing so I could give the engine a go. I know the engine ran. the previous owner fired it up for a couple seconds before I bought it. of course with no water. I turned the water on slowly to find where all the pipe plugs are supposed to go. he gave me a handful of them and said they needed to be put back in from him winterizing it. found them all and got them installed. tried to turn over the engine and it wouldn't turn over. I tried it with a socket and ratchet and still no go. took the plugs out and turned it over by hand and water came out of the spark plug holes. checked the oil and its not milky but its considerably higher than its supposed to be. so it hasn't run with water in it. so my question is how does the cooling system work and why do I have water in the cylinders. I know its a lengthy post but wanted to give you the background to reduce questions. any help greatly appreciated.

 

[Bondo]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,.... My 1st guess is,...

Rainwater has been pourin' down the throat of the carb....

Lookin' down through the throat of the carb, do ya see Rust on the floor of the intake manifold,..??

Or,... The block, 'n heads are Full of freeze cracks...

 

[maproy99]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

It happens that I have a very similar engine to what you have. Not exact, but I fell I can help. Follow Bond-o's advise first. If it is a no on the rust, crank over the engine with spark plugs out. Do this until all the water is out. Now hook up the water and continue cranking. If water continues coming out, you got a PROBLEM. BTW, the clear stuff shooting out of the cylinders is NOT GAS (in most cases)
Do that and report back the results. I'll be back shortly with a link to a diagram.

 

[maproy99]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine


Your engine is the one below, mine is the one above. Thanks to my neighbor who found a pfd version of his service manual. (To help me fix my cooling issue)

 

[cforcht]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

Pretty sure its not rain water. I didnt have water in the engine until I started filling the system to find where all the drain plugs went. I have already pulled the exhaust manifolds off. the way I see it. its either the heads or the manifolds. so my plan is to take the rear manifold hoses and loop them back to where the front manifold hose goes. this bypasses the manifold but retains the proper flow direction. then I will put some put some longer hoses where the hoses go to the exhaust elbows. so I can direct it out of the boat. then turn the water back on. if I get water in the engine. its an engine problem. either heads, block or both. if not, its the manifolds. who knows maybe its all of the above. the only saving grace here is I can work on GM V8 engines with my eyes closed. also found the heat exchanger for the power steering fluid had burst an end cap. appears it had been siliconed in the past. I took it off and repaired it the right way. it no longer leaks.

maproy thanks for the diagram. turned out I didnt really need it though. once I got the manifolds off it became much clearer as to how the system works. but thanks just the same. it confirmed I did have a grasp on it. dont suppose I could get a copy of that pdf file? please?

 

[cforcht]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

One thing I do have to say after all this learning on boats. I surely know more of what to look for in a used boat. definitely not everything of course. but much more than I did when I bought this wreck. think I may name it the SS Minnow. what really galls me is the intentional or seemingly so disregard of the previous owner in disclosing some of this stuff. for his sake I hope I never see him again.

 

[achris]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

.... what really galls me is the intentional or seemingly so disregard of the previous owner in disclosing some of this stuff. ....

What's the difference between a used car salesman and a used boat salesman? A used car salesman only lies most of the time....

Chris.......

 

[cforcht]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

What's the difference between a used car salesman and a used boat salesman? A used car salesman only lies most of the time..

I hear that loud and clear. just didnt want to lump everyone selling a boat into the same category but I sure want to.

well guys the verdict is in. did my little water test and the problem is in the engine. at this point I am trying to decide if its worth fixing or just sell off the parts that are good and scrap the rest of the boat. thanks to all who offered advice.

 

[cforcht]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

ok another question. if I were to replace the engine. will a standard automotive gm V8 bolt up the the out drive?

 

[Bondo]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

ok another question. if I were to replace the engine. will a standard automotive gm V8 bolt up the the out drive?

Ayuh,.... But there's Gotchas at every point,... Vintage is the 1st 1...

'n by standard automotive motor, I'm implyin' from a pickup truck,.... not some kid's Hot Rod motor....

It's a SBC,... They're adaptable, from 1954 to current production,... with all the Gotchas of course...

 

[maproy99]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

It is a decent sized file. Cannot up load it here, but I am putting it on my google docs account and will pm you a link. Don't want to get someone mad by posting it here.....

 

[maproy99]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

I was gonna say before you did that, go get a compression check on the cylinders. It will help you to know if you have scrap metal or something that can be fixed for sure.

 

[cforcht]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

OK whats the gotchas? Im very familiar with GM V8 engines. done many a swap in the past. including stuffing a 502 in a pro street 89 S-10. a 427 in a 37 chevy coupe, and even a 392 hemi in a 36 plymouth. just to name a few. but when it comes to boats I dont know if and what they changed. I have located a 305 out of a blazer from a local guy I "KNOW". at this point I have the engine about half way out of the boat. pretty much down to the engine itself. most everything has been removed from the engine with the exception of whats bolted to the rear. as for adaptable..... I make a living out of machining things so theres not much I cannot make or overcome in most cases. I even made myself a gimbal alignment tool this afternoon. cuz I think Im gonna need it really soon.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

You need the Mercruiser manuals. #3 for the motor and #6 for the drive. I'll try to find you links.
http://www.filestube.com/6EaXDXLhkb...R-MR-Alpha-I-Outdrives-1983-to-1990.htmlhttp:
and
//www.filestube.com/sponsored_go.html?id=14&q=mercruiser%20service%20manual%20#3

Hope these load for you. They are invaluable.

 

[cforcht]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

Thanks NHguy. I managed to find manuals 1-41 and have downloaded them. and I agree they are invaluable.

 

[cforcht]

Re: help me understand the cooling system. have water in engine

well the verdict is in. Bond-o gets the prize. I do believe rain water had gotten into the engine. intake was quite rusty once the carb was off. and #6 cylinder has 2 sizable cracks in the cylinder wall. all the others look fine. in fact this was a good running engine before this happened. very clean inside with no carbon build up on the valves or combustion chambers. what a shame to ruin a good engine by letting water get in. the heads appear to be salvageable. but I think magnaflux would be in order before I would use them again. now I have to get the other engine changed over for the boat. I do need to get a coupler and flywheel since the replacement engine is an 87 vintage. any other "gotchas" I need to know about? thanks for any insight.