What's at the bottom of my old oil jug? Kinda freaking out!

[CarlitosAir]

Just replaced oil for winterizing after 30 hrs since last change, and I noticed what's in the pic. Am I in trouble? Boat ran normal when I got it to operating temp for 10 min, as well as all season

[greggmck]

Sitting on the bottom suggests it is water which is heavier than oil.

[Nautiquehunter]

Water in the oil !!!

[CarlitosAir]

I figured it was water, but I'm having a hard time understanding how it got there. Boat ran like a top all season. Does this imply blown seals, head gasket etc?

[jkallen21]

Head gasket is a possibility for sure. What boat and engine? You're in TX and it's November so I assume no hard freeze happened yet. You will find others on this forum that have solved this on various engines and sometimes it's not catastrophic.

[CarlitosAir]

2006 air nautique with the 5.7 330 Excalibur. Has 160 hrs on it. Didn't notice any water my last oil change 30hrs ago

[jkallen21]

160 hours! Wow, that's really low for a 2006. Have you owned it the whole time? I'm wondering if it sat parked somewhere for an extended period and some gaskets shrunk/cracked.

[jpwhit]

If there was no water 30 hours ago, then you've likely caught it early enough to prevent the engine from being totally ruined. Rust is your main immediate enemy. Do not leave this for the spring to figure out.

First step, do both a compression test and a leak down compression check. If those are both good, then that'll be a good sign. If not, then you definitely have a head, head gasket, or block issue. If both the compression checks are good, then I'd take off the risers and exhaust manifolds. They could be leaking water internally and that would be the easiest issue to fix. If nothing found there, then it's time to pull the cylinder heads.

If the compression checks are bad, then go ahead and pull the heads right from the start. Hope for a blown head gasket in this case.

[bturner]

I had this happen once when I changed the oil while winterizing a boat. In that case I drained the oil through the bottom drain of the boat (stuck the oil drain hose through the drain hole near the motor). While I was draining the oil I was also draining the block. In my case some of the water wicked down the oil drain hose and entered the plastic jug (like yours) we were using to catch the oil. Freaked us all out until we noticed the water traveling down the oil drain line. Don't know if this is a possibility for you or not. If you pulled oil from the dip stick tube or used a suction pump in the oil drain hose you should have seen milkshake oil coming out immediately with that much water in the oil.

Assuming you don't know my next questions would be.....

• Did you check the oil anytime later in the season? With this much water you probably would have noticed the oil level over filled and if you did it after the motor was running you would have seen milkshake oil and foam on the dipstick.
• Did it freeze at all in the post season (last 2 months)?
• Did you overheat at all during the season? If so you may have a head gasket problem.
• Have you done a compression or leak down check? This would help identify a crack or head gasket problem.

I've seen my fair share of cracked blocks living in Michigan and seen a few blown head gaskets. With that much water if the stupid stuff from my first statement doesn't hold a possibility I would personally be leaning towards a block. That said a blown head gasket would be the cheaper and first place to look. At least that's where I would go.

[CarlitosAir]

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DUDEE!! I want to freaking give you a massive kiss right now. I think you nailed it with the bilge water dripping down the drain hose thru the drain plug hole, and into the jug. Yes, I pretty much check my oil a little obsessively pretty much at every outing, at random times while the motor is warm.
haven't had any milkshake, any freezes YET, and no overheating. As I said in my first post, the boat ran immaculately all season, and I was using it up until a 5 weeks ago.

I will still do a compression check just to be sure, but I think its just bilge water running down the drain tube...

[CarlitosAir]

Also, why I am also convinced this is the culprit as bturner stated, is because I ran the boat for a good 10 minutes prior to draining. I would think that the oil would have come up all milkshakey if I had an internal engine issue, which it wasn't. Is that a safe assumption?

[bturner]

That is an absolutely true story so I hope this is what happened to you as well. That's a substantial amount of water in that jug. It doesn't take much to make oil look like milkshake so I'm here hoping this is your situation as well.

[CarlitosAir]

Thank you, and everyone for the replies. What an awesome resource this forum!

[Scooter G]

That is a chunk of water. I feel like I just watched a Sherlock Holmes movie where bturner solves yet another mystery, good job Holmes. Very cool!
You would also see water milky oil residue on the bottom of the valve cover breather cap or oil fil cap, or a visual finger wipe in the top of the valve cover if you had internal water bleeding (that much), you would of also seen it on the dip stick.
We are all cheering for you CarlitosAir, but no kissing on this thread, lol.

[CarlitosAir]

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Virtual air high fives then