Honda BF50 Overheating, Oil from Exhaust

[btompkins]

Overheating alarm sounded and I returned to the dock. Telltale was not peeing. Noticed oil slick on the water and oil on the lower unit, looked to be coming out of the exhaust.

Some of the oil was milky, and was definitely engine oil. No obvious damage when inspecting the engine.

My question is this. The boat is remote, and I need to bring what I may need to fix with me. I have an impeller kit (though the impeller looked OK when I pulled it).

What is the most likely scenario 1) blowby 2) cracked head 3) head gasket.

I'm assuming if it's #1 no repair, #2 junk engine, and #3 big repair. Is this reasonable?

I can bring a head gasket with me and the repair manual, but if it is #2, how big of a job is this? I'm a competent mechanic, just never done this job.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[MattFL]

Was the oil inside the motor milky? Did you figure out why it wasn't peeing? Was it running fine for some time then suddenly overheated, or did it overheat as soon as you left the dock? How long was the drive back to the dock while the overheat alarm was going off? There is not enough info yet to be able to determine what the problem is.

 

[btompkins]

The oil inside wasn't milky. I haven't figured out why it wasn't peeing.

The impeller looked fine. I was hoping a blocked telltale, but now that it overheated I'm not sure what it was?

It alarmed shortly after getting on plane. Maybe 30 seconds after. I can idle without the alarm on. It was running a little rough on the way back to the dock. The drive to the dock was only 100 yards or so.

Does this help? Thanks in advance!

 

[MattFL]

Hopefully you didn't cool anything, but running rough now when it wasn't before isn't a good sign. Start by figuring out why it's not peeing. If it's not pumping water then no sense fixing anything else.

 

[km1125]

When you write "(though the impeller looked OK when I pulled it)", does that mean you pulled it apart and inspected the impeller AFTER you had the overheat? Did you inspect the water intake(s) to make sure something didn't get sucked in there and block the flow?