Aargh... Milkshake Engine Oil... WTF? (Port Engine, 2016 AR240, ~300 hrs)

[swatski]

What a (terrible) way to end a season...

I've been missing in action here (on the jetboaters forum) for a few weeks as I'm pursuing a (pretty unbelievable) career opportunity.
(More about this later, but it's been just exhausting, all-consuming pursuit, w/lots of travel etc.)

So, In the meantime... Taking a rare break, went for a nice long river cruise. After about an hour the Connext alarm went off with a "low oil pressure alarm", Port engine.
The oil looks cooked, looks like crap - a milkshake-ish... I've never seen anything like that in person but it seems like water intrusion? Last oil change was normal in August, I've not been been checking it though so I really have no idea what the heck happened... The STRBD engine seems fine, oil looks good. No water in the bilge, the boat lives on a lift.

Cracked head? exhaust manifold? I need to search some more but I don;t recall anything sounding similar with a 1.8 engines.

Thoughts?

I have a call placed with my dealer - waiting for them to call me back. Hope they can help, this is way beyond my level of ability...

But I really wonder, what the heck happened? Did it freeze and crack something? I never winterize and pretty much use the boat year round when there is no ice on the river. I have a bit over 300 hours on the engine.

 

[swatski]

The engine starts normal, after the alarm and oil discovery I limped back tot he dock on one engine, I was pretty close and on my way back. Re-started on the lift with zero trouble, it doesn;t sound rough or anything that I woudl notice.

Obviously don;t want to leave it like that with possible water inside but I'm also not sure how long it's been there...

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Damn so sorry to hear that., first thing that comes to my mind is the oil filter may have failed. I experienced one last year if you recall, the oil was very low but I discovered it before it damaged anything and the engine is still running strong with over 760 hours.
I personally had new ultra 250 Kawasaki with only 10 hours when it had a crack in the head that caused water intrusion from a cracked head and the oil was white but it was overfilled due to the water mixing with it. I would look closely around the filter and check it for cracks or rust at the crimp.

 

[swatski]

Damn so sorry to hear that., first thing that comes to my mind is the oil filter may have failed. I experienced one last year if you recall, the oil was very low but I discovered it before it damaged anything and the engine is still running strong with over 760 hours.
I personally had new ultra 250 Kawasaki with only 10 hours when it had a crack in the head that caused water intrusion from a cracked head and the oil was white but it was overfilled due to the water mixing with it. I would look closely around the filter and check it for cracks or rust at the crimp.

Thank you, Jeff, but it doesn't seem to be the oil filter.
- I checked, I see no oil leaks around the filter (I use those massive Amsoil ones) ad no evidence of oil - inside my (pretty clean) bilge... Unless I'm missing something...
I'm just so flabbergasted right now,I could have missed something obvious.

EDIT: also oil looks really cooked - all frothy an white/chocolaty - high on the oil stick and foamy, there is no way this is some kind of condensation, this is totally off. Also no hard start, WTHECK??

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[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

The only other time I had an issue with oil was when the dip stick tube rusted through and broke off the mount on the engine .

I would pull the plugs look at the ends for evidence of water in the combustion chamber and do a compression check . Probably want to get the water and oil out of the engine, on a lift it may be difficult to tip the boat forward so the front of the engine is lower than the back however if you can I have a easy way to remove the oil more completely that using the dip stick tube.

In front of your engine is a flat plate with 6 bolts holding it on. remove that plate and use a plastic tube over to the port side of the engine there is a space where the tube can go all the way down and it will allow you to draw the oil out way better than the dip stick tube will.
it is a very good idea to remove the oil if you believe it has water in it. view the plate and on my plate I added a fitting to have easy access to the exact location of that area where you can get to the bottom of the engine so if you look at the large bolt that is shown on my plate you will know where to look if you remove the plate.

 

[Cambo]

Sorry to hear start investigating

• Get the oil out
• pull the plugs check to see if any look different, If water is getting in one will look very clean
• compression test see if they are similar in the readings
• 4 ways I think oil and water can mix this is from the mr1 but I think it can be applied to the 1.8 as well , Oil cooler , exhaust manifold ,cylinder head and engine block crack

Pressure test the oil cooler
pull the exhaust manifold and look for holes
The above items are not that bad pulling the head is obviously more involved

 

[zipper]

Well that sucks...good to hear from you anyway. It has been cold in November. Was your engine bay heater plugged in?

 

[Chillypilot]

O

Well that sucks...good to hear from you anyway. It has been cold in November. Was your engine bay heater plugged in?

 

[Scottintexas]

Sorry to hear this
I wouldn't even begin to try to speculate until the entire system was tore down

We did have one instance on a mr1 where a water hose had a leak and sprayed into the air intake area

I would either think about changing oil a few times and running it to see if it reappears

If it does let the mechanic deal with it, either rebuild or drop a ski engine in it

If you need any help i can volunteer @Betik to come help

 

[Liveto99]

We feel for you brother, best of luck!

 

[Cambo]

https://jetboaters.net/threads/water-in-oil.76/

This is the MR1 motor but the exhaust manifold is almost identical there is a lot of speculation on flushing and what could cause the manifold to melt away. My theory is if something gets lodged in the jet nozzle causing minor cavitation and you continue to operate the boat airated water flows through the water jackets not cooling the hottest part of the motor . Pissers are still flowing at full force its enough cooling to not activate a heat sensor but the manifold gasses melt the aluminum. The cavitation is almost unnoticeable but enough to not cool that portion properly. The motor can survive even after ingesting salt water, these motors don't have typical bearings that are subject to bearing spall when water is introduced but its best to get it out ASAP hopefully this link is the same problem you have because its repairable in the drive way just some creative wrenching.

 

[AboveTheBest]

During my engine swap fiasco with my 190 I had milky oil in my “new” engine. I sent it back and had it rebuilt, but it turned out the oil cooler was the culprit and the source of the intrusion.

Mine was making some scary sounds, so if you haven’t gotten that far yet you may still be ok.

 

[Dave burke]

Sorry to hear this @swatski. Don’t really have anything new to add other than reinforce what Jeff and others are saying. Whenever I’ve had problems like this (boats and cars) it was because of water intrusion in the bilge and/or a head gasket issue. If it helps, this happened twice in my 2009 Sea-Doo Speedster and the dealer fixed the problem both times for $300-400. Annoying but not fatal...

 

[swatski]

Thank you so much, everyone! I really appreciate the advice here, in my favorite forum - by far!

I got to talk to my dealer Jerry, the owner of St. Charles Boat and Motor, and he lets me bring the boat there tomorrow morning.
He is an outstanding guy, so I have high hopes he can take it from there. His first thought was to get the oil out ASAP before the next cold snap. He suggested a leak test etc. to start with, so I hope he tears into it right away.

I'll certainly keep you guys posted, this is a bit of an uncharted territory for me, lol.

My "problem" right now is (and it is a good problem to have) that I'm just crazy busy at work - to the point I briefly stopped participating here in the forum! (and yes, I guess it must be karma!!! - I'm being punished now, lol)

This morning was the first time I took the boat out in a while, so no idea when the things got bad... I'm worried there maybe damage - if it's water - the main bearing etc which would suck big time.

But I'm also super curious what the heck happened. Wish I had the time to tear into it myself, and learn a thing or two, but I can not do this now, unfortunately.

Thanks, again.
Oh, the Pali warmer was in and "on" but my marina's electric can be on/off at times so I have no idea - entirely possible the heater was off during some the late cold snaps - and it was pretty brutal. I have had an issue with that last year (hence the warmer) - with water freezing in the cooling lines/hoses, but I have not had any (obvious) issues throughout this season using the boat a lot and with two oil changes since - and no obvious oil issues.

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[swatski]

During my engine swap fiasco with my 190 I had milky oil in my “new” engine. I sent it back and had it rebuilt, but it turned out the oil cooler was the culprit and the source of the intrusion.

Mine was making some scary sounds, so if you haven’t gotten that far yet you may still be ok.

I guess that wouldn’t show in a leak down test, would it? But I don’t know. Will mention to the dealer tomorrow though - thank you.

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[swatski]

https://jetboaters.net/threads/water-in-oil.76/

This is the MR1 motor but the exhaust manifold is almost identical there is a lot of speculation on flushing and what could cause the manifold to melt away. My theory is if something gets lodged in the jet nozzle causing minor cavitation and you continue to operate the boat airated water flows through the water jackets not cooling the hottest part of the motor . Pissers are still flowing at full force its enough cooling to not activate a heat sensor but the manifold gasses melt the aluminum. The cavitation is almost unnoticeable but enough to not cool that portion properly. The motor can survive even after ingesting salt water, these motors don't have typical bearings that are subject to bearing spall when water is introduced but its best to get it out ASAP hopefully this link is the same problem you have because its repairable in the drive way just some creative wrenching.

I like this scenario - a lot. We have been doing a lot of surfing, all right on the port side, so I would be likely to actually have some cavitation there.

EDIT: so - in this scenario there would be a cavitation related undercooling/overheating that gradually warps the exhaust manifold and /or head/gasket etc, that would be a hefty price to pay for all the surfing, I'll be darned!

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[Neutron]

Sorry to hear this man, that really sucks

The causes as to what can cause water intrusion into any oil passage or cavity on these engines are few, Headgasket, oil cooler, sucking water into air box

Was the oil level very high?
A cracked/ frozen oil cooler would be my guess.

If there isnt any damage from water after the oil has been changed a few times and the source of the water is stopped, you should be fine.
Good luck buddy!

 

[Julian]

Did you rev the engine to clear water out of it last time you ran it? I wonder if the oil cooler still had water in it.

 

[swatski]

Did you rev the engine to clear water out of it last time you ran it? I wonder if the oil cooler still had water in it.

Well, I guess the answer is yes, most of the time. I've been paying more attention ever since last winter my cooling lines froze and I had an overheat due to no cooling water getting in - that was resolved by just warming up the compartment. I do make a habit of blowing the motors/pumps once the boat is up on the lift, but could I forget? I guess it's possible.

At any rate - you guys are giving me some great suggestions!

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[swatski]

Sorry to hear this man, that really sucks

The causes as to what can cause water intrusion into any oil passage or cavity on these engines are few, Headgasket, oil cooler, sucking water into air box

Was the oil level very high?
A cracked/ frozen oil cooler would be my guess.

If there isnt any damage from water after the oil has been changed a few times and the source of the water is stopped, you should be fine.
Good luck buddy!

I think I can pretty much rule out sucking water into air box as my bilge has generally been completely dry even with all the surfing, and I did check the air filter, no obvious issues.
Head gasket - it could be from overheating - and leak down/pressure test should show it I guess.
But - the oil cooler scenario I need to mention to Jerry/the dealer tomorrow as this I have not thought of - while it is now been mentioned at least three times, so could be it!

EDIT: I guess the worst case would be a cracked head? That has happened in a 1.8 ski - I found a something on greenhulk, albeit SHO and attributed to excessive boost (?), but who knows.

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