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Moisture In Oil

Old 05-07-2011, 09:48 PM
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I have an older 30' Scarab that I rebuilt and I built a pair of 468 CI BBC. The engines are making close to 500 HP. They have been run for 3 years on a small MN. lake, and have about 25 hours of running time on them. All of a sudden last Summer I pulled one of the oil fill caps out of the valve cover and I had moisture, (COOl WHIP) on the inside of the valve cover on the stbd. Motor, These motors have run flawlessly and have had no problems. I then pulled the dip stick and it showed nice clean oil at the proper level, not over full. After scratching my head for a rew minutes, I took the oil fill cap off the Port motor and guess what I had moisture in it also, so I pulled the dip stick in this motor and it was just on the full mark with nice clean oil. Now if this had happened to just one of the motors i would really be supisious, of a cracked header or head, but both of them I cant beleave it. I am running CMI Tube Top stainless headers, the old long collector style as I have TRS drives with transmissions, and the motors sit forward farther than the newer engines with out the transmissions. I also have lavorsi mufflers out the transom with closable flaps on them, they were originally operated with air cylinders, but they worked so well that I tore them off and remodeled them to operate with a regular Moorse cable, now they work great. Lavorsi says not to run the engines over about 3200 RPM with these closed, If they got run up to about 4500 RPM with out opening them what is the chances of getting water reversion ?? These motors will run about 5200 RPM with a pair of 25 Pitch mirage props, not to bad for a heavy old Scarab. I have caught myself a time or to forget to open the exhaust at over 3200 RPM. I will pressure check the headers before running it this Spring. Any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks.
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Old 05-07-2011, 09:58 PM
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Might be codensation, do you have t stats on motors, do you know engine temps while running
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Old 05-07-2011, 10:36 PM
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Engines are both running 160 degrees. Keep in mind that I have run these motors for three years and this has never happened before. Thanks for your input.
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Old 05-08-2011, 03:42 PM
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I had the same problem last summer..White stuff under the valve covers and in the breather hoses..Clean oil in the crankcase..I installed pcv valves on both engines and ran my boat all last summer.. All white stuff disappeared BUT
i found out why..Unfortunately, if you have white stuff in the breather tubes and inside the valve covers then you have water coming in somewhere. I looked up my exhaust pipe from outside looking in and found water droplets inside on the stainless elbows... I removed my exhaust elbows , re-routed my water lines and did a pressure test on the water system.. I found that my heads were leaking water from the exhaust ports into the engines but not enough to show any in the oil or to cause poor performance. I did have a problem idling from time to time though. Pcv's will remove all moisture.
I suggest you do a pressure test.
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Old 05-10-2011, 01:15 PM
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When you say you were leaking water from your heads, exhaust ports into the engine, what do you mean ?? were your heads cracked ?? or did you have a gasket leaking, ?? Elbow cracked ?? What exhaust system are you using ?? I can see one leaking but both of them starting at about the same time, ?? Thanks for your input.
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Old 05-10-2011, 01:20 PM
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Hi again: Did you pressure check the exhaust system, or the engine with the exhaust taken off ?? Or was your exhaust elbow leaking and running down into the exhaust ports in the head ?? Thanks again.
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Old 05-10-2011, 02:15 PM
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Originally Posted by vdriven
When you say you were leaking water from your heads, exhaust ports into the engine, what do you mean ?? were your heads cracked ?? or did you have a gasket leaking, ?? Elbow cracked ?? What exhaust system are you using ?? I can see one leaking but both of them starting at about the same time, ?? Thanks for your input.
I had water squirting out of the casting in 2 exhaust ports.. I didn't pinpoint from where. I removed the exhaust, connected the hoses from the exhaust manifolds together and used a manual air pump to pressurize the water system..at 15 psi it started to squirt water out
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Old 05-14-2011, 11:13 PM
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Hey guys I am looking for some more input on this problem, any suggestions appreciated.
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Old 05-15-2011, 08:48 AM
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Condinsation is a big problem this time of the year in cooler weather and it only takes a little to freak you plum out. (Stay calm, take a deep breath) To prevent condinsation on the valve covers first things first, oil temp must get to at least 212* at a good cruise rpm. That temp reading needs to be taken before the oil goes through the cooler. You want the oil temp to reach at least 212* at some point. Best place to take the reading is in the pan.

(212* is the boiling point to evaporate condinsation.) Ideal oil temps from a warm idle to after a WOT run would be from around 180-230* . If you are getting oil temps to 212* + and you still have condinsation I would look for a water leak somewhere but

Note: Since both motors have condinsation I would think your oil temp is not reaching the 212* point.

Best way to check oil temp is to get one of the infared temp readers with a laser pointer and point it at the oil pan.
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...0002_389513_-1

Good luck

Last edited by Velocity Vector; 05-15-2011 at 09:22 AM.
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Old 05-15-2011, 09:46 AM
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I just rebuilt my 454, with 781 heads which were magnafluxed, bob m cam, stainless marine exhaust, a .027 steel head gasket, long story short i got it all tuned up and runs great all around.. took it out for 5 hours then i pulled valve cover to do valve adjustment and i had whip cream, i trained the oil and it looked like green snot, so i took off intake manifold bc my old man forgot to put rtv sealant around water ports, changed oil and filter, so we did that and let it sit overnight to dry, then i ran it yesterday for 6 hours non stop, ran like a bat out of hell, came home now oil on dipstick still is milky. I do not run a thermastat, bc my old edlebroc manifold didnt have one for years, im now running the performer airgap manifold wo one as well, water temp around 110-125 I need to install oil temp gauge.. I wondering if cold water could be issue? or any other ideas? Before i rebuilt motor ran fine..... The oil cooler could have taken a **** as well?? But wtf worked before rebuild...
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