2005 AR230 saga continues, now I have water in the oil

[cybuch]

Well, it was a great trip to Powell, until I noticed my oil is the color of chocolate milk, not good! This is on the motor I have never had an issue with. It is definitely water and not fuel, whew (ECU must still be good)!! I am guessing, since it hasn't overheated, it might be the exhaust manifold corrosion issue. I will be pulling the exhaust first, I will keep you all posted.

 

[buckbuck]

Please do. We want to know where the weak spots are in the MR-1 motors. How many hours?

 

[CrankyGypsy]

I had this issue, too. turned out to be the short rubber hoses coming off the manifold. there was a tiny hole spraying a laser fine stream into the intake. wasn't easily noticeable.

 

[cybuch]

I didn't even think of that... That will be the first thing I check first AM! Thank you for that! How does it spray into the intake?

 

[CrankyGypsy]

it just sprays directly up ...mine was a perfect trajectory that the OEM air filter soaked it up like a sponge. just put your hand under the airbox to see if it gets wet.

 

[Gym]

Is that the motor you generally run your flyboard on @cybuch? If I remember you were having some overheat issues with that side. Hope this is no big deal.

 

[cybuch]

No, that motor is doing great! This is the motor I never had an issue with

 

[cybuch]

I had this issue, too. turned out to be the short rubber hoses coming off the manifold. there was a tiny hole spraying a laser fine stream into the intake. wasn't easily noticeable.

Ok, checked that, thats not it. Pulling the motor tomorrow to yank the exhaust.

 

[cybuch]

Ok, pulled the motor and removed the exhaust, that doesnt look like the issue. I am starting to wonder if I have fuel in my oil or water. My other motor had the ECU go bad and was dumping fuel in the oil and it didn't run so good, due to the injector sticking before it actually failed. The fuel never got as light colored as this one, but did smell like raw fuel. This one runs perfect but the oil is the color of weak chocolate milk (about a tan color). I changed the oil and it only took about 2 hours of running (off and on) for it to get to this color. I am second guessing myself here. I also looked at the valve stems from the exhaust ports and I don't see signs of water coming in that way. My guess is it is water in the oil (thinking out loud) and my next step is the head gasket? Or maybe the oil cooler is the issue? Which would you guys start with?

 

[CrankyGypsy]

take some of the contaminated oil and put it in a clear jar so it can separate just to confirm you are dealing with water and not fuel.

 

[itsdgm]

How do the spark plugs look?

If they're:
Wet & black - I'd say fuel. But usually only one injector sticks open, right?
White & chocky - water in cylinder. Possible head gasket.

Other potential causes. There's a water pipe on my 110 hp engine (I think the ho engines have a similar pipe) that comes up through the valve cover. There's an oring on that pipe that could leak onto the valves thus into the oil. It would be a long shot, especially if it hasn't been removed, but another possible source of water in oil.

 

[cybuch]

All plugs look as they should. They all match, nothing black and wet at all. Here is a picture of the oil in a clear container after a week of sitting. I thought about the water pipe in the valve cover. I will pop the cover tomorrow and see what I see.

 

[CrankyGypsy]

is that container sealed? i don't know how long it takes for water to separate. even though the oil will float, i wouldn't allow the water to evaporate and skew the results.

 

[cybuch]

Container is completely sealed and has been for a week.

 

[CrankyGypsy]

from my understanding, since it's emulsified it will need heat to separate it. I haven't run across the details of doing so.
just hate to see you pull the head if it's an injector issue.

 

[cybuch]

Good news and well, good news. I figured out it is water by dripping it on a hot plate. The other good news is I found the issue and @itsdgm was on to it. It was the water pipe coming up fro the valve cover. No only did the o-ring fail but the valve cover gasket did as well. The o-ring was leaking and the rubber stopper around the metal tube held the water in there until it was forced into the valve cover. I will be leaving that rubber stopper off and removing the other one as well (at least I will have a visual of water leaking from the o-ring and save me some time. I didnt need to pull the motor, but glad I did so I can get all the bad oil out of there in one shot. Here are a few pictures:

 

[tdonoughue]

Dennis wins again. Geez. Don't even know why I play against him anymore.

 

[CrankyGypsy]

the stopper in my port engine always blows off. I tried a brand new one and it still did it. the starboard one stays just fine. does anyone know their purpose (aside from keeping water out, of course)? I was thinking of fabrication a little aluminum bracket to keep pressure on it and hold it in place.


NEVERMIND: I looked up the fiche for a 1999 R1. it has a second water pipe going through that hole that they didn't utilize on the MR-1 conversion for some reason.
but if mine is blowing off, it must mean the gasket and/or o-ring is bad. found another project for the list.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

How do the spark plugs look?

If they're:
Wet & black - I'd say fuel. But usually only one injector sticks open, right?
White & chocky - water in cylinder. Possible head gasket.

Other potential causes. There's a water pipe on my 110 hp engine (I think the ho engines have a similar pipe) that comes up through the valve cover. There's an oring on that pipe that could leak onto the valves thus into the oil. It would be a long shot, especially if it hasn't been removed, but another possible source of water in oil.

Wow! Great diagnosis.

 

[cybuch]

I got the motor back together and back in the boat, going to test it next weekend. Interesting information though, while I was taking the valve cover off, I noticed there wasn't any gasket maker on the gasket. That explains how the water leak at the O-Ring got into the valve cover.