2005 SX230HO Milky Oil

[kjr6306]

Went to do an oil change and found milky oil in the right engine. Drained all the oil via the rear drain plug and getting ready to add new oil and filter. Been reading through a million threads on this issue and need to start troubleshooting. All the plugs looked good and had uniform coloring so don't suspect water is getting into the combustion chamber. Going to do a compression check shortly but wanted to get this thread started and see the recommended order of items to check obviously from easiest fix to the hardest. After reading the threads I am suspecting the exhaust manifold issue. Is it possible to remove the right engine exhaust manifold with the engine in the boat? Is there a write-up on the procedure posted? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Babin Farms]

After the oil change did it get milky again?

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

usually the mr1 engines develop leaks in the exhaust manifold that allow water to get in the oil https://jetboaters.net/threads/help-before-buying-buying-07-sx210.37005/post-596662 lots more in the search feature

 

[kjr6306]

I'm trying to mentally figure out how a leak in the exhaust manifold can get water into the oil?? If the leak is in the combustion chamber, the water would instantly turn into steam. I guess theoretically there is the possibility that the water could be sucked in on the intake stroke and make its way into the intake manifold and back into the cylinder head. Is this even possible as it's the only way I can think that it could happen?

 

[kjr6306]

After the oil change did it get milky again?

I believe so. I completely drained all the oil from the drain plug at the bottom of the engine with the boat tilted back to get it all out. Then ran the engine for about 10 minutes on the hose and the oil is already milky.

 

[Cambo]

The water can get past the rings and into the oil . This is a picture of a breached water jacket on the exhaust manifold . The other likely culprit could be a cracked head. Have you had any steam coming out of the pisser hole at idle if so that could lead in the direction of the exhaust manifold breach. To pull the manifold on the starboard motor you most likely need to remove it.

 

[kjr6306]

I am going to try and pull the manifold without removing the engine. I will update later today. I am still perplexed how a quart of water can get past the rings. If it's a minor amount of water it would turn to stream and actually increase the CR of the cylinder. If more water gets into the cylinder it would hydrolock the engine and most likely break a connecting rod.

 

[Cambo]

I am still perplexed how a quart of water can get past the rings

How did you determine it was a quart? If you did the oil drain from the back of the motor you get more oil out. If you had an extra court of fluid it that motor it would puke out the breather hose and be all over the air filter, pooled up in the air filter box and spill out into the engine bay. Those motors are very sensitive to oil levels

You may be able to check for a breach without unbolting the exhaust manifold. Try a smoke test pull all the spark plugs create a series of tubes that can fit snugly in all four spark plug holes maybe from a garden hose splitter. Take a length of garden hose get a smoke bomb let the smoke fill the hose have a compressor ready set at 10psi blow the smoke in as you turn the motor over have someone watch the pee hole for smoke . You may want to remove the thermostat to allow max flow to the pee holes. Those manifolds are a real pain to unbolt and almost impossible to realign with the engine in place.

 

[Brad_Ct]

Seal #31 is also a known issue with milky oil.

 

[Cambo]

If somehow you manage to get the exhaust manifold off you will be at that part listed above thats how much needs to be removed to get those pieces off it looks like a few bolts and they pull off not the case . They used loctite on all the bolts as well . Keep us posted a few oil coolers leaked this could be checked with a pressure test.

 

[kjr6306]

Well, I spent the afternoon trying to pull the manifold. That didn't go well....lol. Pulling the engine tomorrow. Like the OP mentioned, it's impossible to get off.
With regards to how much water was in the oil, the oil level on the dipstick with the engine cold was at the top of the stick. Essentially the oil cooler reservoir was full. Normally a cold engine on mine just barely makes a mark of oil on the stick so whatever the reservoir holds is how much water was in the engine. There were some signs of oil in the air filter compartment so it was being blown up and getting into the airbox.

 

[kjr6306]

The engine is out and the manifold is off. Everything looks good, no corrosion on the head or manifolds. No cracks on either side of the head. I wish I would have found something wrong so I can start fixing it instead of still looking for an issue. Posting a few photos. I drained the last of the oil from the drain plug. As you can see, there's definitely water getting in the engine. I just did an oil change after draining from the plug and had only run the engine for 10 minutes on the hose..... I'm going to do some research on pulling the oil cooler and pressure checking it. The only suspect item I did see was the rubber gasket connecting the 2 sections of the exhaust together. The gasket was dry rotted and there was a 1/4 inch tear in it.

 

[Cambo]

Thats a lot of water in the oil sorry to see that it wasn’t the exhaust manifold. From memory the oil cooler was fairly simple to pressure test the 1/4 ” tear sounds like an issue can you send a picture of it or show its location on the microfiche. When you go to reinstall the manifold bolts threaded them in first without the manifold the thread lock bunches up and creates a binding effect.

 

[kjr6306]

Well, a little update this morning. After closer inspection of the exh manifolds, there was a small amount of corrosion. See the attached photos. I still don't think the corrosion was allowing water into the exhaust but do think it was definitely a source of water leaking into the bilge. I think there was another poster on one of the threads that mentioned he originally missed the corrosion on his manifold. The corrosion on mine was not obvious until I started picking at the buildup inside the water passages trying to clean them out.

As mentioned, I don't think the corrosion was a source of the water getting into the oil. I am going to dig deeper today and see what I can come up with. The exhaust pipe rubber gasket had a small tear (see pic) in it but I don't think that could allow that much water in and I may have damaged it when I was removing the exhaust. I am searching now for a how-to on how to pressurize and check the oil cooler...

One other note, I was never able to do a leak-down check or compression check. Both of my kits did not have the smaller adapter that fit the cylinder head.

 

[kjr6306]

Ok....did some quick searching and found no write-up on how to easily test the oil cooler. Common sense tells me that there should be 1 water line in and 1 line out. Hoping I can just find those 2 lines, plug 1 and hook up my mity vac and put a vacuum on it and see if it leaks down.... This has to be a closed-loop and any leak down would indicate the ability for water to transfer into the oil side of the cooler.

 

[kjr6306]

Ok. So I just pressure-checked the oil cooler. Pretty straightforward after watching this video:

While it doesn't tell you exactly how to pressure check it, it does give some insightful info on the entire cooling system (water side) of the engine. The video is not 100% correct but after quickly figuring out the mistake I was able to block off one water hose on the oil cooler and hook up my mighty vac to the other side (see pics). I put about 16 in of vacuum on the hose and it has held for 15 minutes so far. Since there is only one way in and one way out for the water, I would say the cooler is not my issue. There is no way water can be mixing with the oil in the cooler.

 

[kjr6306]

Update. Finally found an adapter for my leak-down checker. All cylinders checked out fine except 1. Air is leaking into the water jacket and coming out the water hole and water line coming from the valve cover. Suspecting either a blown head gasket or cracked head at this point. Head is coming off shortly.

 

[gt5pilot]

Hoping it is a head gasket and the cylinder wall(s) look good mate! Get a straight edge on the head and block after you get the old gasket cleaned off to make sure you don't have a warped head/block.

 

[Cambo]

Great info luckily your mechanically inclined any details of the motor being pulled

 

[Brad_Ct]

The engine is out and the manifold is off. Everything looks good, no corrosion on the head or manifolds. No cracks on either side of the head. I wish I would have found something wrong so I can start fixing it instead of still looking for an issue. Posting a few photos. I drained the last of the oil from the drain plug. As you can see, there's definitely water getting in the engine. I just did an oil change after draining from the plug and had only run the engine for 10 minutes on the hose..... I'm going to do some research on pulling the oil cooler and pressure checking it. The only suspect item I did see was the rubber gasket connecting the 2 sections of the exhaust together. The gasket was dry rotted and there was a 1/4 inch tear in it.

What gasket has the tear in it? [HASH=6654]#31in[/HASH] the parts diagram? If so that was what was causing the milky oil on our boat.