Rebuild or New?

[Bigbroadjumper]

It looks like I may have blown a head gasket on one of my motors. I am getting some water in my oil and I am not sure if it is a head gasket or something else. The next to the last time I had the boat out I checked the oil before I took it out of the water and everything was fine. After I put it back in I checked it again and the oil showed signs of water???? I idled around and it seemed to steam all the water out because the oil became clear again. After driving around for a couple of hours the water returned.

My question is, should I rebuild? Pull the heads and replace the gasket and have them touched up? Or just throw everything away and by a sailbote?

SBC about 900 hours on since the last rebuild.

What do you guys think?

[MOP]

How much water are you getting? It may be a riser is leaking when were they checked last? Did it overheat recently? First thing pull the plugs see if you can find what cylinders are affected, head gaskets blow most of the time between two cylinders. Another thing you can try is to remove the belts so the circ pump does not turn, remove the thermostat housing and T stat. Once done you can start it and let it run for about a minute at idle, watch for bubbles in the T stat opening, There should be none, if any are present it is usualy the head gasket. No bubbles I would check the risers.

Phil

Best I can do this late :bonk:

[Bigbroadjumper]

The risers have been on since I bought it. I have no idea how old they are. I will do the test that you recomend this weekend and I will let you know the results.

Thanks Bob

[MOP]

Bob usually head gaskets don't let go unless you overheated it, thankfully you are in fresh water so corrosion should not be much of an issue. Would be nice though if you could fog it out that will help to keep the rings from sticking and keep the bores clean while you figure out the problem.

Phil

[Bigbroadjumper]

I ran it hard at the end of last year. The temp got up to about 180 but not much higher. I like your idea about fogging the motor. Thanks for the idea.

[MOP]

Yeah I wish we had our tip section back up, anytime there is any water intrusion the engine should be fogged. There is a caveat a very important one, the engine should be spun over with no spark plugs it is very easy to bend a rod coming up hard on water. When in doubt pull the plugs and squirt oil in the cylinders and tap it over slowly so as not to blow the oil back out but to try to fully coat the cylinders. Any water issue needs attention pretty quick in fresh water and immediate attending in salt water.