WTF...water in the cylinders
 

Took out my new boat yesterday,well new to me anyway and it ran fine for the first couple hours.Then all of a sudden it stopped running.Thought it was the starter,but it's not.Took all the plugs out and cranked it over.Water gushing out all 8 cylinders.How could that happen and is the motor "toast"?
It's a 1999 502mag mpi.What's my next step here guys.

Boy this blows.Brand new boat and roasted motor.

running at speed and it just quit ? Or just comming off plane and it stopped ? need more info ....

What kind of exhaust?

cracked block

We were running at speed and the engine seemed to be choking and the alarm somewhere in the engine compartment when off and the motor stopped running.

Here's some more info if it helps.Did a compression check.Each cylinder is 160psi which is pretty good for our elevation which is 5280 above sea level.Blew out all the water in the cylinders,put new plugs in and it fired right up using the garden hose attached to the lower water pickup.However,the oil looks like a milk shake.I will be changing the oil now....Does all this indicate a cracked block or cracked cylinder head?

I chased water in my oil last season. Finally took the intake off and found cracks in the top of my cylinders in the water jackets... sucked.

Well................. I would say block, exhaust manifolds, or Head gasket.

sounds like a head gasket, or cracked head or hole in head, if it was an exhaust manifold the oil would be fine , now that I am thinking of it since the compression was good in all cylinders I bet the intake gasket is blown that would do both things for sure

Water is in both banks.
Look at the common connection here tying both sides together.

Stainless risers or cast iron? Huge problems with stainless risers,they leak at the gasket surface & into cyls.

Oil would be fine if it was an exhaust manifold? I wish that was the case on the one I fixed

Well guys replaced the plugs,oil and filter.Like i mentioned in an earlier post the oil was milky.The oil sucker that I have doesnt get all the oil out.I think about a quart and a half is left in the pan.Oil still looks milky.Cannot determine if the new oil was contaminated by the old oil.Just pulled all plugs again and cranked the engine after running for about 10 minutes on the garden hose.No water in the cylinders.

They are cast iorn exhaust manifolds btw.If it was a cracked block water would be coming out the sides,right?

Will take it to a professional next week.Hopefully it's nothing major.Thanks for your help.

No, the block can crack internally and just mix with the oil. But seeing its getting into the cyls , and you have good compression to,,,, Im hoping you just have an intake / gasket issue

j-bones sorry you are right the progression of a ehaust man problem is water in cylinders eventually hydrolock motor (bent rods all bad) or drop valve widow block ruin head etc. been there
in prostreet case where he just noticed this no catostrophic damage yet it sounds like a intake gasket and noit may not leak on the hose ( at speed your engine may see higher preasure than on hose) I have seen 60 psi and it blew intakes in a couple of minutes had to run a dump to bleed presure, also heads and or intake can corrode at the water passage enough to cause a leak
once engine gets hot will cook off any moisture
if you can clamp or block off water lines ( inlets and outlets) and rig a schader valve up so you can put air preasure to engine listen for leak with mechanic stethescope

If you still have 1.5 quarts of watery oil in the sump, that is bad. Even though you just changed the oil, I would again suck as much oil out as possible, then open the the drain in the pan and let it drain into the bilge, and catch it with a 5 gallon bucket as it comes out the plug hole at the stern (if you can't manage to snake a small container under the pan to catch the oil). If you don't, the water thats in the last 1.5 quarts may wreak some havoc with the bearings. Perhaps and oil change or 2 more after a couple hours running time would also be good insurance. In the long run, $50 in oil and filter and 2hrs of your time is far cheaper than rebuilding a motor, especially at the beginning of the season.

Thanks for all the replys and helpful information guys.This forum is the best.I read my first post and must make a correction,thanks to my wife keeping a level head about this whole mess.She didn't want the boat in the first place.

I said water came out of all cyinders after plugs were removed.The correction is water came out all starboard cylinders nothing out the port cylinders.First two hours we were cruising the lake at abt 70mph we stopped really fast a couple times and water came up to the swim deck.I hoping for the least amount of agravation (wife) could reversion or water backing up into the thru hall exhaust cause this issue?

When I take the boat to the marina I need to explain to the mechanic exactly what had occured.

Check the exhaust. If the block was cracked you would probably fill the engine up with water. All the cracks I have seen from freezing where huge. It dosent take much water to turn the oil into milkshake. And yes it can be done with an exhaust leak.
Do a search you will find several threads on the topic.

Had a similar issue last year. $3k later the mechanic told me the Corsa exhaust was misaligned causing water to leak down into the cylinders. Tore down the engine and refreshed.

If you have thru hull exhaust look up the tailpipes and see if the flappers are in tact. Hopefully the sb side is missing!

To clean out the crankcase I always do this. Get oil pump priming tool. Remove the distributor. Dump 6 gallons of kero or diesel fuel into crankcase 2 gallons at a time. Run priming tool with first two gallons. Remove oil filter and evacuate kero thru filter mount by running priming tool. Reinstall filter when empty. Repeat 2 more times. Then do the same with some elcheapo motor oil a couple times. Install new oil and try it again. To check for early signs of milkshake, after running the engine crack the oil filter and look at the oil that runs out. Looking at the dipstick won't show it.

I would vote for an exhaust valve (or valve spring) failing because of your description of how it started acting while running. I have milkshaked engines just with reversion.

BT :cool:

Thanks for the replys everyone.Just trying to keep the wife from killing me for buying this boat.Were hoping that we dont have to put too much money into the repair since I paid too much for the boat anyway.But damn I like this boat.

Oh,the thru hull exhaust does not have flappers.It looks like what I would call "baffles" inside the pipes.

I dump all the old oil, and then run half oil, half diesel in the crankcase for a few minutes, then drain it and replace with new oil. The diesel cuts the emulsified oil out of the engine, and has good lubricating qualities. I only run it at idle when doing this. One time through has always worked for me. I have done this more time than I care to remember.:(

Update on water in the oil problem.I think I've read darn near every thread on this subject that others have had the same problem but very few people finish the thread as to what actually happened and how to fix the problem.Hopefully this will help others.

My mechanic found both exhaust riser gaskets and starboard head gasket failed...why this happened...I dont know.Any way I was lucky in that I had no broken or bent parts.Decided to go with the IMCO Powerflow exhaust.$5100.00 dollars later and almost 3 weeks I should be boating this weekend.The guy doing the repairs on the boat is one of the best in town and people from other nearby states come to him for repairs and performance upgrades.He's even been writing up in Hotboat magazine a time or two.Well anyway I'm going to have fun with the boat as is this summer and in the off season will take it back to him for some real sick horsepower mods.

Oh,btw would love to kill the little basterd who sold me this boat!

Keep us updated, Good luck..........
Jr.

I bet your wife really loves you now($5100 on imco!)!

The cost of 5100.00 is to tear the entire top end of motor down,replace head gaskets,4 oil changes,inspect heads,exhaust system,replace impeller,fix tach and replace trim guage.

Not 5100.00 for the exhaust!

Had the same thing happen to me. 502MPI hyerolock solid. Engine file up with water. It was almost new at the time. Flapper in the exhaust broke water was getting in evertime you back off the throtlle. Had to change oil a few times to make sure all the water got out. Ran fine for years after that with no problems. So you might be ok.

ProStreeter,

Make sure you get the exhaust flappers reinstalled or better yet install something like Stainless Marine's internal flapper to help keep the water where it belongs..

Good luck with the new boat!

I replaced my manifolds a few months ago and freshend up the heads while I was at it. Signs of blow out and my boat has 200hrs . Glad I did. Internal flappers were shot. I went to external flappers .. Not as sexy but they always do the job. You will notice on our boat that the exhaust is real short and almost level at half way point. Dont let the water get up to the mid point of the pipe where the internal flap is and you are safer in my book..