Help needed - oil became grey tacky, water mixed?

Hello,
We just got to the boat for a day trip and before departure when I checked oil level I got what is n the pctures below:



Sorry for the picture quality, but the oil became stickier, grey. I did my oil change last fall before hauling out for winter. 10h put since back in water.
Is this the result of water mixed in oil? Or something else?
If yes what can be the origin? I think of the oil cooler any other thing that can cause this?
I am in fresh water, no salt water.
Is it possible that water condensate in the oil pan during winter and that this was the result of mixing all this?

If you have any info to help me I would really appreciate.

L

I'd guess water or coolant. That would be a tremendous amount of condensate. In a normal cooling system, it's harder to get raw water into the engine making coolant the most likely. You could pressure test the cooling system, that would uncover the majority of coolant related failures. Main suspects would be head gasket, or oil cooler.

This is obviously not something you can afford to ignore, even short term.

Lou, I agree with DDW that this is something to take care of and not run the engine. If it was me, I'd be calling a mechanic since engines and I are not on speaking terms.



Curious as to what the level was on the dip stick?

Level on the dipstick was on the normal full marking. For sure the boat will not move before this is fixed.
I guess that if it was coolant the coolant level would have dramatically dropped?
Would there be any fume in the exhaust if it was head gasket issue?
I hope it is not the head gasket as my engine is pretty old and uncommon and I am not sure where I could find a gasket replacement

L

Yep it’s water or coolant. Seawater or glycol. Question is which one. Probably from your last run because it is already mixed. An oil sample should tell which so you can get an idea where to look. My guess is oil cooler.

Let suppose it is the oil cooler (I wish it was), how to clean this mess after changing it? I guess I will need to do 3 or 4 consecutive oil change to clean the oil circuit?

L

Another question, if this is coolant leaking in oil, so an head gasket leak, do you think it is worth to try a sealer like blue devil? Tried that on a car long time ago and gave good results, would that fit a diesel boat engine.

L

Lou_tribal said:

Another question, if this is coolant leaking in oil, so an head gasket leak, do you think it is worth to try a sealer like blue devil? Tried that on a car long time ago and gave good results, would that fit a diesel boat engine.

L

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Unless you overheated the boat recently, my money is its a oil cooler. Quick check is to bypass the cooler, change the oil, run it in the slip for a bit, change the oil again, run it and if its clear you found the leak. Have the oil cooler replaced or repaired. Either way the engine has fresh oil in it which will need to happen asap anyway. If it's still milky you have bigger issues.
HOLLYWOOD

hollywood8118 said:

Unless you overheated the boat recently, my money is its a oil cooler. Quick check is to bypass the cooler, change the oil, run it in the slip for a bit, change the oil again, run it and if its clear you found the leak. Have the oil cooler replaced or repaired. Either way the engine has fresh oil in it which will need to happen asap anyway. If it's still milky you have bigger issues.
HOLLYWOOD

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Good idea for the bypass, thank you so much.

L

What kind of oil cooler does this engine have? Some are remote mounted cooled by sea water, some are integral to the block using coolant.

And have you lost any coolant?

Do an oil change straight away, then may need to do more later to flush the sump.

Lucky to be in fresh water.

Let me know if I can help.

Indeed remote mounted cooled by raw water (fresh from the river). Two hoses driving oil in with what looks like JIC hydraulic fittings, first thing connected after the raw water pump.



The oil cooler is the red one, blue one is tranny cooler.

Coolant level does not look to have changed much. Maybe a bit but this may have caused by my water heater change that needed to have the coolant topped.
No overheating of the engine for sure, running constantly at around 68C which may even be a bit cold for a diesel. If it is a head gasket cannot understand why.

L

What is the engine

No one has asked what engine this issue is with.??

All good advice so far. As I recall this is an obscure normally aspirated diesel that may or may not have an oil cooler. The good news is that it is in fresh water so two oil changes will get 95% of the water out and the rest can bake out. No sodium chloride to worry about. If you do an oil analysis, make sure that the analytical company measures glycol directly. Blackstone infers it from sodium levels which won't work here.

As others have said look at the coolant level. If it is down then that is probably the source and the cause is probably the head gasket or if you have a coolant cooled oil cooler then that may be the problem.


Now you have to ask why is the head gasket leaking. 95% of the time it is due to an overheating event and maybe you were not even aware of it. So you can replace the head gasket but also look at causes of overheating and whether your temp gauge is accurate.

If the coolant level isn't down then it is probably the oil cooler if it is r/w cooled. These are more or less generic and one from Sendure or similar should work.

David

Acadia AD30, won’t help you much since I am pretty sure I have the last one on earth

L

Will do an oil change first thing tomorrow morning, I will check if I can find the right fitting to bypass the oil cooler.

L

djmarchand said:

All good advice so far. As I recall this is an obscure normally aspirated diesel that may or may not have an oil cooler. The good news is that it is in fresh water so two oil changes will get 95% of the water out and the rest can bake out. No sodium chloride to worry about. If you do an oil analysis, make sure that the analytical company measures glycol directly. Blackstone infers it from sodium levels which won't work here.

As others have said look at the coolant level. If it is down then that is probably the source and the cause is probably the head gasket or if you have a coolant cooled oil cooler then that may be the problem.


Now you have to ask why is the head gasket leaking. 95% of the time it is due to an overheating event and maybe you were not even aware of it. So you can replace the head gasket but also look at causes of overheating and whether your temp gauge is accurate.

If the coolant level isn't down then it is probably the oil cooler if it is r/w cooled. These are more or less generic and one from Sendure or similar should work.

David

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Lol David, an obscure one? My engine? Hey oh wow

One question, how much water or coolant is needed to leak in oil to get this sludge? I mean I have around 8L of oil so I guess quite a quantity of water should be needed. I guess that if the leak is tiny the water should cook and be released as vapor ?
Should exhaust show white smoke in that case? Asking as not any noticeable smoke from my last run.

L

Greetings,
Mr. L_t. Start with the cheaper, more common thing (oil cooler) first. I would NOT do ANYTHING with the head gasket unless you are 100% sure it is indeed the problem. That would be the last resort. I think there are companies that custom make head gaskets so there IS some hope. Here is one of several I found with a quick search...
http://www.gasketstogo.com/index.htm

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. L_t. Start with the cheaper, more common thing (oil cooler) first. I would NOT do ANYTHING with the head gasket unless you are 100% sure it is indeed the problem. That would be the last resort. I think there are companies that custom make head gaskets so there IS some hope. Here is one of several I found with a quick search...
http://www.gasketstogo.com/index.htm

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Thank you my friend.
Like you wrote I will start from the simple start and check for the oil cooler.

L

RT nailed it, easiest and cheapest thing first.

Lou, "usually" a head gasket failure, with the high compression etc. of a diesel, manifests itself with overheating; the combustion gasses blow out the coolant. I think you are OK, your failure is likely just a cooler. However, water sucks as a lubricant so don't run it, change the oil to a lighter oil than "normal" and spin it over with the starter and the fuel solenoid disconnected (cooling water off so you don't fill a cylinder) then change it again before you run it. You really want to make sure water doesn't get into the bearings. It looks to me like you are due to pull out that cooler mess, lose the perforated hose clamps and replace it all with a nice new pair of coolers. You should do that regularly anyway as a cooler is much cheaper than bearings or a transmission. Give some thought to plumbing them in series, not parallel, transmission second in line, to simplify the plumbing?

Lou, if you are always in fresh water, take a look at these oil coolers, they are cheaper than marine and without any salt, no corrosion issues. I bought similar to cool my hydraulics, water in one pair, oil in the other, you will need fittings for the hoses you choose. https://www.alfalaval.ca/products/h...-exchangers/brazed-plate-heat-exchangers/doc/

It is important to get the contaminated oil out of there completely.

Remove the oil cooler, replace with temporary hose/pipe. Drain oil, fill with oil, run for 10 minutes. Do this until the oil is clear without any contamination. Then get the engine fully up to cruise temperatures for an hour and change the oil again.

My gear oil looked like this. It was the cooler and it took 3 flushes with oil to get it clean. There was no long-term damage to the gear.

I had a raw water pump failure do this to me, another place to look.

I would take that oil cooler to a radiator shop for pressure testing. If they're not busy, they can do it quickly while you wait. Good luck. Hope it's oil cooler.

Don't run the engine until you have flushed it first, all that pressure on bearings that might contain water...

Maybe a winterization issue.

sunchaser said:

Maybe a winterization issue.

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That is what I thought but for what I saw it was well done. And I checked coolant and it was fine for -43C.

L

The Acadian engine is a Hercules engine so even if it is a head gasket, should be parts available.

Ski in NC said:

The Acadian engine is a Hercules engine so even if it is a head gasket, should be parts available.

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This is what I hope indeed

L

Lou_tribal said:

That is what I thought but for what I saw it was well done. And I checked coolant and it was fine for -43C.

L

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It's not the coolant that's the concern here it's the raw water loop. Can't tell from your photo but it's possible that this wasn't drained fully and/or didn't have sufficient antifreeze concentration. And your winters are not mild

Lou
Sorry to hear of your trouble.
I had similar looking oil.
First thing I did was to call my mechanic. His first words were: don't run it. next: bring it in.
I did. Of course it is more difficult for you with a single.
First suspect was the water injection elbow, second was the water pump. Oil cooler wasn't even on the radar. In mine it was the water pump, pushing raw water past the bearing and seal, right into the sump.
A new water pump and 8 oil changes later, I was on my way.
Unfortunately it was already too late, I only got 3 or 4 hrs use before a noisy, catastrophic failure, so I had to go back for a full rebuild. I hope you are lucky and avoid that.

Another was to flush the motor is to dump the bad oil, flush the motor with diesel first before adding new oil ( long story .. but we sunk a truck 4 wheeling years ago and my bud sold the truck 5 years later and never had any issues internally with the engine )
Another thought regarding the cooler, if you bypass the oil cooler ( the oil not the water side) you should get water leaking out of the oil side of the cooler with the engine running.

Not to be critical but those coolers do look rather suspect...

oh the joys of boat ownership!

Hollywood