plug out- water in

I left the bung/plug out of my Regal 18ft bowrider and a fair bit of water got into the boat, so much that it entered the engine and mixed with the engine oil turning it milky. My question is "what type of damage would I do if I leave the water mixed with oil in the engine.What symptoms might occur?

 

Oh nothing much just a tincy bit of catastrophic engine wear.

Get it out replace the oil and filter run it for 1/2hour then change again> you dont need expensive oil,-- your just flushing it. Do that 3 times then drain and fill with your usual choice of oil. You should be good to go but you may get starter prob and alternator problems and other electrical probs later down the road.

Wash the engine with deisel and let it go into the starter and alt.

 

That is an interesting question. My 1th response would be that you'll ruin the engine, but the milk itself probably does little harm to the engine and if the mixture separates over time, the water is under the oil.
Running the engine with this mixture I do not recommend.

If water got in, the starter, alternator etc. are also at risk.

 

The water will not emusify in a synthetic (Royal Purple, etc.). It will be much easier to get out if it is not frothy.

 

If it's a small amount of water, the oil filter will pick it up, if it's more then a couple of pints, then it'll be circulated with the engine oil.

Don't even think about leaving it in there.

Frosty's method is the one I use, but I only change the oil and filter twice, unless I notice water or the filter swells, then I'll do it a third time. For these fill and flush oil changes, I use old oil, that's been recovered from previous oil changes. It's fillered before put into the engine. Make sure you get the engine good and hot, before changing the oil.

 

The reason that I asked the question is because thats what I did.

About a month or so a go I left the plug out (I didnt know at the time)and drove up the river, the boat started off pretty well then started having troubles trying to get speed, I put it down that the engine was still cold so I kept driving and it got worse, so I took the boat to the bank, stopped the boat and was thinking what could be wrong and then I looked down and noticed water was at my feet and thats when I realised that I left the plug out, so I got my son to put the plug in and the bilge pump pumped out the water.Once the water was alll pumped out, we went on with our day and the boat went well.

A month later (christmas) I was getting ready to go out on the water again and so I checked the oil and it was milky as, and it also was way overfull and then I remembered that I had left the plug out of the boat last time I was out on the water, So I emptied the oil and put in new oil to a correct level, but it was stilll very milky because I just did one oil change and the water by now would have gone all through the engine, Anyway I took the boat out with still milky oil but at correct level, and I went skiing for a week. On the third day, I noticed problems, boat wouldnt get up to speed quickly and then started to make a clicking noise when it was under load so I put her on the trailer and now she is in the mechanics.

I have put an insurance claim in and I am waiting a response. The mechanic said that he is going to drain the oil, fill it with diesel run it for a bit and then empty that and then refill with clean oil, run it for a while and he said if that goes milky, then its a cracked head, and wouldnt be insurance, my thoughts are because the boat ran for so long with the milky oil, it wont matter how many times he changes the oil there will be will traces of milky oil unless he pullls the motor down.

Note: If I stick my finger into the tappet cover, I get a thick milky sludge, even though I have (myself) change the oil three times, mixing it with diesel several times to get the milky substance out, but still milky but does not get overfilled it stays at the correct level, whcih says to me that there is still water in the motor ,but no more water getting in

What are your thoughts, sorry for the long story

 

Could be all of the above or non . Let the mechanic come up with a diagnosis.

One oil change should clean out the milky oil 2 is better 3 is perfect for the reasons you stated , theres is lots of holes N stuff to clean out.

If it still goes milky then the oil is emulsifying into a milky substance because of water ingress.

Coincidences can happen but are suspicious in so much as it all started on the 'bung out' day.

You might want to leave the bilge pump on Auto, even better with an alarm.

 

Drains in the back of a boat , do we realy need them ??

Drain plugs are a pain in the butt and over the years have caused so much problems . Who ever the hell invented them i hope he's dead .
Recently i rebuilt the whole back of my boat so one thing was to have no where that the water could get in and it doesent . I use my boat regularly and it never gets a drop to have to drain out .
I have a drain from the floor into the bilge and a pump 3 times bigger than is needed for the job it could do if it had to . Even my motor well has no drains either and it gets may be a cup full of water after a whole days fishing . If i ever do another boat i will fill and glass over the drain inside and out and seal the transom and stop the water from getting into it as well .

 

Well the mechanic has finally had a chance to look at it and is now waiting for the Insurance assessor to come and see the boat on Tuesday.

This is what he said "we dont know how the water go in!'(I TOLD HIMI LEFT THE PLUG OUT, THIS IS HOW IT ALL HAPPENED)and he said "the boat starts well and sounds well". I said "its not until you put her under load that she makes a tapping noise and it boggs down!" The mechanic says, Yea I will just tell the accessor that I heard a tapping noise and the bearing has gone because of water getting into the engine"

And people wonder why we dont trust anyone, what the hell? he dosent even know whats wrong with it!!!!! he didnt even take her for a run!! what if its not a bearing???

Im so frustrated right now