Help I froze my boat

[scooter]

We have had a snap freeze at the beginning of October and it beat me to winterizing. i know for sure that an exhaust manifold has got a crack in as I took it for a quick drive today and after checking the oil I noticed the oil was a creamy texture which I know indicates water. How bad is this situation. I am a new Nautique owner with a good running 78 and would love to keep the old girl in the water but what have I done?!!!!!!!?

[TRDon]

RE: Help I froze my boat

sounds like broke the block. Maybe just the heads, but something broke into the water jacket and released into the oil.

[j2nh]

Re: Help I froze my boat

We have had a snap freeze at the beginning of October and it beat me to winterizing. i know for sure that an exhaust manifold has got a crack in as I took it for a quick drive today and after checking the oil I noticed the oil was a creamy texture which I know indicates water. How bad is this situation. I am a new Nautique owner with a good running 78 and would love to keep the old girl in the water but what have I done?!!!!!!!?

Where are you located? Was the boat in the water, on a trailer or lift?
How cold and for how long? Usually it takes an extended period of time below 32 to crack the exhaust manifold.

[Nautiquehunter]

RE: Re: Help I froze my boat

All indications are the engine is junk . Check with your insurance to see if you have freeze coverage.

[WakeSlayer]

RE: Re: Help I froze my boat

You may as well pull the engine and start looking. Sorry to hear it. You can find a block out there.

When it starts to get cold DRAIN THE BLOCK. Takes 5 minutes. Two plugs on the blocks, one each on the exhaust, and the RWP.

Good luck.

[scooter]

Is it worth the effort for me to replace the head gasket before righting the engine off completely. It was a job that needed to be done as there was a oil leak when I bought it but was never a major problem. How can I tell if it is the block? I would love to see a schematic of the engine because I'm not even sure as to where the water runs through the block. It seems from what I've read (in the past few hours) that a blown gasket can make water mix with the oil it this right. Do I have a hope . Im stressing over this and can't believe that I let it happen. Anyways any advice would be appreciated.

[Hollywood]

It was a job that needed to be done as there was a oil leak when I bought it but was never a major problem.

Was your oil milky before? If not, then the freeze did some damage (to the block most likely).

[WakeSlayer]

Where was your oil leaking before?

[Hollywood]

Is there an echo :?: :grin:

[WakeSlayer]

Nah, I meant was there an external leak, like valve covers, main seals, that made him mistakenly think he needed to replace the head gasket. I took your question to be more the obvious head gasket problem of milky oil. Sorry, I thought it was totally a different question. either way, I would like to hear.

[snowboardcorey]

Do you have any external signs of freeze damage? Look for cracked paint, missing "frost" plugs, cracks in the manifolds, etc. If you don't see any of these signs I'd tackle the head gasket, if you see these signs then I'd be more likely to pull the motor and start looking for a new one.

The majority of internal cracks I've seen have had tell tale signs on the outside too.

[81nautique]

If you want to check for a head gasket do a compression test.

[DanielC]

It is very possible to have cracked water jackets, and still have good compression. you need to figure out a way to seal off the water ports on the engine, and pressurize the block, to check for leaks.
I think you might possibly get a piece of hose long enough to loop from one side of the thermostat housing to the other, where the hoses normally go out the the exhaust manifolds, could plug those openings. Then you just have the hose that comes from the out port of the raw water pump, to seal. If your boat has a heater or a shower, remove those hoses and just get the right sized pipe fitting plugs for those holes.
If you get the cooling water in and out ports plugged, you should be able to pressurize the block to maybe 5 or 10 psi, and be able to search for leaks.
If you remove the oil cap, and you do have a crack some were between the cooling water passages, and the inside of the engine, you probably will hear air leaking at the oil cap.
Due to the amount of labor involved in disassembly, inspection, and reassembly of the engine, it is way more economical just to replace the engine.

Due to the costs involved, if you let your engine freeze, you are basically taking an engine and turning it into a five or six hundred pound pile of oil contaminated scrap metal. Pay close attention to your boat if you do not already have it winterized.

[scooter]

Thanks for all the interest there are not alot of boat people around my area so this advice is invaluable. The oil was leaking before the freeze and was coming out from what I'm pretty sure is the head gasket. (top of the engine, for sure not the rocker cover gaskets, it was coming from the gasket that seems to seperate the engine block from the upper part of the engine. I never had milky oil before and when the freeze happened a crack in the exhaust manifold appeared. After discovering the crack in the manifold i took the boat to the lake and had a spin to try and trouble shoot. It ran well but had water leaking out the exhaust manifold through the crack. It was just a dribble but still a leak. The way the boat ran got my hopes up but as I pulled it out of the water and looked again at the engine I noticed milky oil coming from the stern end of the engine from the above mentioned area right at the gasket. There had always been a bit of oil coming through that spot and was always on my mind. I then checked the dipstick and realized that I had a big problem. The oil was a lovely creamy consistency and I new then that I needed help. One sad Scooter. The drive back was painfull as every scenario went through my head.

[WakeSlayer]

Bummer dude. I hate to say it.......