Help needed - oil became grey tacky, water mixed?

Another point, if coolant would have moved to oil sump I would think that the coolant circuit would have lost any pressure. When in spring I removed the old water heater I was forced to cut the connected hose as I was not able to remove it. I must confess hoses were pressurised as as soon as I did a small cut in the hose I received a good spray of coolant in the face

L

I don't think water heater work could do it, provided engine did not overheat afterward.

Gaskets and seals can weep when very cold and seal ok once warm. And engine got very cold last winter.

Found identical problem on our sailboat with an 80 hp Lehman. I removed the oil cooler, sealed one of the water fittings and one of the oil fittings. Blew through the unsealed water fitting and could feel air coming out the unsealed oil fitting. Clearly had a breakthrough in the oil cooler. I had a spare on board. Change the oil twice and all was well. When I ordered a new oil cooler to replace my spare I was told that it is actually a little unusual for water to get in the oil since the oil pressure is generally higher than the water pressure. Obviously that wasn't the case with my engine...

MOJO said:

Found identical problem on our sailboat with an 80 hp Lehman. I removed the oil cooler, sealed one of the water fittings and one of the oil fittings. Blew through the unsealed water fitting and could feel air coming out the unsealed oil fitting. Clearly had a breakthrough in the oil cooler. I had a spare on board. Change the oil twice and all was well. When I ordered a new oil cooler to replace my spare I was told that it is actually a little unusual for water to get in the oil since the oil pressure is generally higher than the water pressure. Obviously that wasn't the case with my engine...

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Thank you for your input. Hopefully it will be the same for me and it will make me a very happy man just to fit a new oil cooler.

L

I still think an oil assay is needed.
Oil in water is mustard color.

bayview said:

I still think an oil assay is needed.
Oil in water is mustard color.

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Don't worry it is my intend to get an oil analysis of the emulsified grey mud and the next oil change I will do next weekend so I get a clear picture of what is in.

L

bayview said:

I still think an oil assay is needed.
Oil in water is mustard color.

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You keep saying that. I agree with the oil sampling just to get an idea of overall engine health. I have never seen freshwater oil mix turn any form of yellow though. Out of 25 years working on engines of all kinds, it's always looked like milk or a light grayish color. If I'm not mistaken, Lou_tribal has said that his engine uses coolant, not raw water, and his coolers are raw water cooled. I may be understanding that wrong. I have never seen brackish or salt water in oil, it may be yellow. I don't think that is the case here. I am in agreement with everyone else, it's probably an internal oil cooler leak somewhere. With Lou stating that there's not been an overheat situation, and the engine is running a touch cold, I doubt it to be an engine issue. I feel that he has a good handle on things and we should wait to hear back from him before making more suggestions.

ben2go said:

You keep saying that. I agree with the oil sampling just to get an idea of overall engine health. I have never seen freshwater oil mix turn any form of yellow though. Out of 25 years working on engines of all kinds, it's always looked like milk or a light grayish color. If I'm not mistaken, Lou_tribal has said that his engine uses coolant, not raw water, and his coolers are raw water cooled. I may be understanding that wrong. I have never seen brackish or salt water in oil, it may be yellow. I don't think that is the case here. I am in agreement with everyone else, it's probably an internal oil cooler leak somewhere. With Lou stating that there's not been an overheat situation, and the engine is running a touch cold, I doubt it to be an engine issue. I feel that he has a good handle on things and we should wait to hear back from him before making more suggestions.

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First thing first, I will live my world cup final tomorrow . Then for sure I will keep you updated next weekend when I will be back to the boat do pursue with this mess cleanup.

L

Lou_tribal said:

First thing first, I will live my world cup final tomorrow . Then for sure I will keep you updated next weekend when I will be back to the boat do pursue with this mess cleanup.

L

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Ahhh life. It gets in all of my ways. Honey made sure the honey dos were honey dids this weekend.

ben2go said:

You keep saying that. I agree with the oil sampling just to get an idea of overall engine health. I have never seen freshwater oil mix turn any form of yellow though. Out of 25 years working on engines of all kinds, it's always looked like milk or a light grayish color. If I'm not mistaken, Lou_tribal has said that his engine uses coolant, not raw water, and his coolers are raw water cooled. I may be understanding that wrong. I have never seen brackish or salt water in oil, it may be yellow. I don't think that is the case here. I am in agreement with everyone else, it's probably an internal oil cooler leak somewhere. With Lou stating that there's not been an overheat situation, and the engine is running a touch cold, I doubt it to be an engine issue. I feel that he has a good handle on things and we should wait to hear back from him before making more suggestions.

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I too have seem a lot of water in oil and it has always been milky or mustard. Web searches tend to report the same. YMMV
https://www.powertraindirect.com/how-to-identify-coolant-contaminating-engine-oil/

Some update. Did another oil change as after 10 min run oil was still showing some emulsion in it. After this oil change oil looks good. Test run postponed to tomorrow morning because of some unwanted winds today.

L

Good luck tomorrow. Hope it runs clean.

Comodave said:

Good luck tomorrow. Hope it runs clean.

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Thank you!
Unfortunately test run is again delayed. Weather was horrible today, rain and strong winds so not very tempted to go out and mess around.
Will not be able to get back to the boat before August 4th weekend. Hopefully I will resolve this at that time as I start to be fed up with this.

L

Ok, you are doing this just to keep everyone in suspense...

Comodave said:

Ok, you are doing this just to keep everyone in suspense...

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Lol I wish it was just for this!

L

Better hurry. After the 27'th it may not matter.?

what_barnacles said:

Better hurry. After the 27'th it may not matter.[emoji16]

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Funny that you say so as on 28th we are leaving for a trip to France so when we will be back we have at most 3 weekends left for boating. Is it not depressing? This season has not be an ideal boating season for me

L

I could not own a boat in an area with a short season.

ben2go said:

I could not own a boat in an area with a short season.

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Well you know 6 months is not so short and not really something I could change
But I feel lucky enough to be able to have a boat, even if I can only be aboard half year!

L

Greetings,
The areas Mr. L_t boats in are twice as nice as anywhere else so he only needs half the time...Not hard to do the math.

Lou_tribal said:

Well you know 6 months is not so short and not really something I could change
But I feel lucky enough to be able to have a boat, even if I can only be aboard half year!

L

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Oh ok. I thought you lived further north.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
The areas Mr. L_t boats in are twice as nice as anywhere else so he only needs half the time...Not hard to do the math.

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Lol as usually very well said my friend!

L

Lou_tribal said:

Lol as usually very well said my friend!

L

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Do the boats there freeze into the ice?

"Some update. Did another oil change as after 10 min run oil was still showing some emulsion in it. After this oil change oil looks good."

What ever the outcome this near clean out is normal,

the main reason anyone going cruising should carry at least 3 full oil changes aboard.

Greetings,
Mr. 717. "Do the boats there freeze into the ice?" Only if kept parked too close to the igloos...

Update - Finally I got to the boat. We just did a 1h cruise without the oil cooler and we are currently anchoring in a bay. During the cruise I checked often temp with heat gun, at cruise speed oil temp reached 85C, coolant max 64C. At a point I noticed some vapour coming our the oil stick tube. When At anchor I check oil and still have some trace of water (not grey as before but a bit milky, while improving).
I will do an oil change in few minute and we will be back to the dock, again a 1 to 1.5h trip. I will then recheck oil state.
Note: Coolant level did not change, was on the cold line when we departed and a inch higher while hot.

What do you you think of 85C for oil temp? Low normal or high?

L

85C equates to 185F. Absolutely right on in my opinion.

I concur with Chrisjs. Right on.

Thank you for your input guys!
This makes me comfort my thinking that and oil cooler is not really required for my usage!

We are just back at the dock after 1.5h cruise on our way back. Will shortly check oil again, just want to wait it cools down a bit.

Stay tuned.

L