Milky water and Oil in bilge and in crankcase

Discussion in 'Gas Engines' started by lostinthought, Aug 13, 2018.

  1. lostinthought
    Joined: Aug 2018
    Posts: 3
    Likes: 0, Points: 1
    Location: Kansas

    lostinthought New Member

    I looked at a chris craft 215 scorpion with a 350 merc tonight, great shape, started up and ran. We went to a local lake to test it and when the bilge pump came on we had a large amount of oil slick on the water. So the seller and myself looked under the engine compartment to find that there was milky oil on the dipstick,on the bottom of the oil fill cover on the valve covers and in the bilge . We looked all over and could not see where the oil was making it's way to the bilge. No visible leaks from the engine. Yet the same milky oil in the crankcase was in the bilge. The motor didnt smoke excessively and seemed to be running great. Your help would be very much appreciated. I am still interested in the boat ,but not sure what the issue is and trying to plan ahead on fixing it for next season.
     
  2. Lepke
    Joined: Sep 2015
    Posts: 87
    Likes: 6, Points: 8, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: Oregon to Alaska

    Lepke Junior Member

    Water in the engine oil. When enough gets in the pan, it comes out the dipstick tube or the crankcase breather. Blown head gasket or cracked head or block. Owner probably knows this. At the least the heads have to come off and the bearings are probably shot from running the engine with water in the oil (poor lubrication). At worse the whole engine is shot.
     
  3. JamesG123
    Joined: Mar 2015
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    Location: Columbus, GA

    JamesG123 Senior Member

    ^ This. Walk away. Who knows what else the seller "doesn't know about".
     
  4. Mr Efficiency
    Joined: Oct 2010
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    Location: Australia

    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    Haha, never a strong selling point, that milky oil.
     
  5. lostinthought
    Joined: Aug 2018
    Posts: 3
    Likes: 0, Points: 1
    Location: Kansas

    lostinthought New Member

    What would allow the milky water oil in the bilge? We ran it on the trailer and again with muffs to see where the oil was leaking into the bilge from and there is no oil at all leaking. Pulled all the plugs and 2 on one side had some condensation on them but the plugs looked like they were the right color. The motor starts and idles well. Right before the bilge kicked on we were running full idle and then did an abrupt stop because I wanted to see if the wake would come over the transom. Do you think it is possible that water came in through the exhaust or somewhere else and entered the crankcase ? This still doesnt really explain how oil got into the bilge. Also today I checked the oil and it didnt look to bad , but the oil fill cap on the heads had frothy milky oil residue on them.
     
  6. JamesG123
    Joined: Mar 2015
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    Location: Columbus, GA

    JamesG123 Senior Member

    In order of catastrophe:

    If you've got a blown head or pump seals, there by water leaking into the oil and oil leaking into the cooling passages, AND a water intake or vent line that is broken or otherwise dumping in the bilge, that could explain both. So could a sinking that wasn't cleaned up very well and someone tried to run the motor when it was still full of water. Or could just be someone left the cover off the engine during a rainstorm and spilled a bottle of oil in the bilge a while ago.
     
  7. lostinthought
    Joined: Aug 2018
    Posts: 3
    Likes: 0, Points: 1
    Location: Kansas

    lostinthought New Member

    Thanks for the reply.
     

  8. Mr Efficiency
    Joined: Oct 2010
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    Location: Australia

    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    The water pressure on the muffs might have been insufficient to push the water into the sump, it seems telling that the milky residue is visible at the filler cap, it might have been pushing out there.
     
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