Water in oil
 

I just bought this boat about 1 month ago, i noticed that the dipstick looked a little milky so i thouht maybe condensation, well i just came from the lake and there is alot of this crap now, i opened where i put oil in the valve covers and its this muddy color, why is this? what causes this to happened, this is a crate 502 still under warranty of course in another state, maybe there is something simple that is happening, i would appreciate yourhelp on this.

What kind of exhaust and what brand/make of motor?

stainless marine, 502 chevy

Possibilities:

Exhaust reversion: caused by long duration cam allowing manifold vacuum to pull water into combustion chambers and past piston rings.

Leaking or damaged exhaust manifolds: casting flaw of damaged gasket allowing similar situation as above.

Headgasket: leaking or broken.

Cylinder liner: crack

Intake manifold: corroded or leaking at gasket.

Oil cooler: damaged or broken from improper winterization.

Engine block: damaged from improper winterization (most likely around lifter gallery)

Excessive water pressure at speed: can occur on motors running a crossover instead of a circulating pump.

good luck.

thanks for the help, is there a posibility that this is happening when i put a hose to it, i ususally turn the engine off before i take the ears of the drive.

Not likely.

Your motor should have no trouble flowing the 5 gpm that comes out of your garden hose, whether it is running or not. If the thermostat is closed, it still diverts water out to the exhaust manifolds. And if you are using a standard set of muffs, it is difficult to force water in at more than a few psi cause the muffs spew.

what is the water temp supposed to be at? i know its kinda winter but i live in florida and today it hit 80 degrees and my water temp was 120 at the most, is this right?

do you know if the factory head gaskets were replace with felpro or better gaskets before being used in the boat? the cheap factory gaskets will not hold up under marine use.

i found this out the hard way with the first boat i bought :(

i really dont know, im waiting a call from the guy a bought the boat from but if i can recall its a marine engine, brand new 502 about 40 hours now.

oh btw did i mention i have the biggest migraine do to this, i had to jet boats before and everytime i wanted more speed i ended up blowing something up, now i bought a boat with a brand new engine and i wanted to keep it stock for that reason and now this,man this sucks

If it's a GM "crate motor" then it's not the kind of "stock" you were looking for.

There are some differences you will need to address, especially if you have any intention of using it in salt.

i use the boat in fresh water only, it was used in the salt water, just been in fresh water 3 times since i bought it

120 degrees sounds a liitle cool for stock 502's.

But that is not your problem.

A 10w-40 Milk shake.... not a good thing. I woudn't run that thing until it's checked out by a Pro. sure sounds like a head gasket...

its supposed to be 435 hp, dunno if that matters or not, i also have a oil temp but its not connected and i dont know where to hook it up. I will take it to the shop monday and i hope is something minor or my wife will kill me.lol

If you wanna take a quick look at the exhaust..... Run the motor for a couple of minutes. Then separate the exhaust pipe from the manifold. Look down into the chamber and see if you see water in the ports. if you see water, most likely you have a cracked manifold or cracked exhaust pipe. A lot of times you can see exactly where the water is comming from inside the manifold. If you have water in there but you can't find any cracks, then you have bigger problems. It is pretty simple to check this out before you go and pay someone a lot of money to check it out.

also, if the oil cooler is cracked you will most likely be pushing oil out the exhaust and that is easy to spot.

once you get it fixed (hopefully it's nothing big) do a couple of oil changes while you run the boat on land, getting the temp up. then take her out for a nice long run (this will burn a lot of the water out of the oil and the sludge that is probably built up under the valve covers.) then do another oil change and go out for another "long" run. hopefully this will take care of the rest of the water in there and you won't need to do any expensive repairs.

you gotta take care of this quickly before the springs etc. start to rust inside. If they springs start to rust they are usually junk.

thanks for the info, there is something i just thought while banging my head about this, i park the boat on a incline surface, my house is a little steep so the tongue of the boat is down, is there a posibility that when i run it in the house with a hose the water stays in the headers? since its not level or leaning the other way?

Yes, this could be your problem. Never run the engine on muffs with the trailer tongue low.

BT :cool:

you have to take care of this quickly, all the moisture
in the block is not a good thing

Change your oil soon! One thing I missed was what is your oil temperature. Not enough heat will cause condensation. Also do you run a PCV valve. Hard to tell how much water you have but trust me cold oil and cold water temps will make your oil milky. I had same the trouble with a cold running blower motor and I had a real hard time believing it was just condensation. Well it was after a lot of time spent looking else where. Just something to keep in mind. You have a lot of good suggestions already and maybe you get lucky and it is something minor. Good luck. :)

migara422, I run a ZZ502/502 crate in my boat. Water temp is 170* to 175* regardless of how hard/fast I run it. The cam in mine is 110 LSA. No known reversion caused by the cam so far.

You mentioned that your crate motor is a 502 and 435 hp. Your engine might be the 502 HO given the hp you mentioned along with the fact that it is a crate motor. If that is the case, the LSA of your cam is 112* which should be safe as far sucking water into the engine at idle.

I'm no mechanic, but with your low operating temp, the oil is probably not warming up as it should. And like paradigm says cold engine and cold oil will cause milky oil. Check with these other guys, but I think your oil temp should somewhere between 225* and 250*. The temp has to exceed 212* to burn off the condensation. Important that you connect the oil temp gauge asap.

Like they said, change the oil immediately, and filter too. Use a good synthetic...don't cheap out on oil cost. Ask these guys what the best filter is. They'll give you good advice. Good luck :)

thanks to all of you guys for your answers, i will do all the changes tomorrow , im gonna check and see if maybe the thermostat is running properly, maybe its clogged, thanks alot guys.

Good advice above!! Make sure that you get that oil out of there now!!!! You need an oil temp gauge. My 502's with crossovers run with a water temp in the 130-135 degree range and my oil temp is around 215-220 unless I'm really running hard :) then they are 230-235. I'm running Kieth Eickert thermostatically controlled oil systems that open at 195 degrees.

If you are just taking the boat out for short runs, maybe your oil isn't getting hot enough (over 212) to burn off the condensation. That's the best case scenario!! Regardless of what the cause is, you have to get that oil out of there before major damage occurs.

Good Luck!!

Craig

It may take more than one oil change to get all the moisture out so don't panic if you still see moisture after the first change. Buy some cheap oil just to flush out the moisture completely. Also, no one mentioned but it is possible that it is gas in your oil, you can tell by smell.

well, i just changed the oil and i dont see any water in the oil, black yes but milky no, the milk was in the valve covers and apparently not in the pan, one goon thing, i just opened the thermostat housing and there is no thermostat there, uh, well i jus went and bought a 160 degrees thermostat and put it on. before when i put the muffs alot of water coming out of the headers, now there is nothing, i watched as the needle went up to almost 200 and barely any water from headers still, i freaked and chut it down, maybe the thermostat was just opening but didnt want to take the chance, is this normal?

I always "prime" the block with water, take off the thermostat housing and fill the intake manifold so the thermostat can open right away.

Ok, I need to jump in on this one. I too have a built genVI 502 block, merlin heads, lightining magnum water jacketed headers with a cross over cooling system. I bought this boat early last year and had to redue the cylinder heads to marine quality, ie Manley intake valves, Inconel exhaust valves, and a good valve job.
It has a mild cam, maybe around 425-450 horse so I dought reversion is a problem, I have no real cam spec though.

I also get a decent amount of condensation, sometimes brown-milky color, but nornmally just water at the breathers. I can take the breather out and shake it, ill get a dribble of water to come out, not too excessive though. I have never had any problems with oil in the pan, I have never seen milky color on dip stick or anywhere other than breather valve covers.

NOTE: I had this same amount of condensation before and after the cylinder head job, there was no sign of rust on the valve train by any means.

So anyway, how much condensation is normal? If I remember correctly my oil gauge will reach around 210-225 degrees and water temp is around 165. Should I be worried, anything to look into, check pressure on the cooling system, or is this somewhat normal? You guys seem to know your stuff on this board, Always have been helpful. Thanks

I would say that if there was no real amount of water in the pan, your problem is probably just the motor running to cold with no themostat installed. This allows the water to go thru the motor so fast that the block never realy warms up, except for the oil. This helps water condense in the breaher system and inside the valve covers, where it mixes with the oil when you run the motor and makes the milky residue you are seeing. Like the guys here are saying, get the oil and filters changed a few times and clean under the valve covers and remove the sludge where ever you can reach it. As for a thermostat your motor sounds like its cold blooded, see if you can find a 140 degree marine thermostat and try that, but make sure you monitor your oil temp and don't let it get much over 220. Hope their is no major motor damage, waters is hardest on the bearings, but you will know that if your oil pressure starts running lower. Good Luck,
Raylar

You didn't tell if you have crossover or circ pump.
If you have crossover you need to use the type with a bypass hose
between crossover and thermostat housing to allow water flow to the exhaust when the thermostat is closed.

I will get a oil temp sender this week, i do have a croosover and i will put the bypass to the thermostat housing, why a marine thermostat? what is the difference, and people say to put holes in it, what size and how many?
Thanks

I vote intake gasket.On my engine I would tighten the intake manifold every time before I went out and allways seemed to get a little something on the bolts.That went on for maybe seven trips out and then after that they allways came up tight.I allso said the heck with the touque specs and would pull them down tight.Hope you get it figured out.

Most put 2 or 3 holes 3/16 dia. Kind of a trial and error depending on how much water temp you get at idle and water temp you boat in. Allows some water to go through the engine all the time. Bypass will dump in to the exhaust. CP Performace or some other sites show plumbing. You have to have water out the exhaust at all times. Some crossovers are not set up for bypass. Also make sure you at least check water pressure during set up if you do not have a water pressure gauge on the dash.

With the amount of condenation you are describing I can not understate the use of a PCV valve. It will get rid of condensation in valve covers you are describing in my opinion if you do nothing else. Just my .02

my crossover does have a bypass which i just installed, i put a 160 thermostat with 3 1/8 holes, and temp got to like 180, did that before i saw the thread, i see alot of people go with a 142 t-stat with hole, seems that it would stay too cold, maybe not? Do i still need to worry about water pressure even though i put the bypass to the t-stat so it can go to the headers? before there was not thermostat with no bypass, my pressure should still be the same. shouldnt it?

most likely lack of engine temp to burn off the condensation.
if your exhause has a gasket between the riser and the tail-pipe, check that gasket, as they can leak down through your exhaust valve, but then you'd see water in the pan, not just on the top end.
good luck