Salt Water in Oil

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by gah964

Scout you think water in an engine is not a problem you didn't give this friend of your advice did you?

My friends rebuild was due to a mechanical failure, not water. Seriously, who pulls a motor & rebuilds it before they know if there's a problem & what it is?

[bsurvey]

you can use diesel to thin it out but salt water may have burnished the bearings and you may spin one as a result
this could lead to a catstrophic failure

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by bsurvey

you can use diesel to thin it out but salt water may have burnished the bearings and you may spin one as a result
this could lead to a catstrophic failure

Either way that's a total rebuild which makes no sense for this motor which means it's time for a Beta or a Yanmar. It would still be crazy not to find out first. Flushing it & getting it running is not a hard job.

[Popeye99]

update:so today I put it back together and was able to started for a bit ,unfortunately become a "run away " fueling on the excessive amount of fluids (diesel ,engine degreaser ,original sludge and new oil)anyhow this warmed enough to remove most of it .Tomorrow ,Ill try again and keep changing oil ,unfortunately this engine does not have a drain plug on ,so being removing with tube and vacuum
thanks a lot for all comments and advice has being very useful

[bobofthenorth]

I'm astounded at the level of bad, downright wrong and just plain stupid advice in this thread. Get clean oil in the engine, however you can accomplish that, and then run it. Ideally run it under load and for a couple of hours. This is not the first time a marine engine got salt water in the sump and it won't be the last.

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by bobofthenorth

I'm astounded at the level of bad, downright wrong and just plain stupid advice in this thread. Get clean oil in the engine, however you can accomplish that, and then run it. Ideally run it under load and for a couple of hours. This is not the first time a marine engine got salt water in the sump and it won't be the last.

Absolutely correct. If you don't get clean oil in it & run it you don't know if anything is wrong with it. Just make sure the oil in the motor is clean before you run it.

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by Popeye99

update:so today I put it back together and was able to started for a bit ,unfortunately become a "run away " fueling on the excessive amount of fluids (diesel ,engine degreaser ,original sludge and new oil)anyhow this warmed enough to remove most of it .Tomorrow ,Ill try again and keep changing oil ,unfortunately this engine does not have a drain plug on ,so being removing with tube and vacuum
thanks a lot for all comments and advice has being very useful

Pouring degreaser into your motor sounds like a bad idea. The bearings need to stay well oiled & this could compromise that. We got flooded here along time ago & I had a '66 Buick at the time. The motor was flooded with salt water. A neighbor of mine was an old mechanic & he flushed the motor with kerosene. Once we got clean oil in it we ran it for a little while & then changed the oil again. I drove that car for many years after that with no engine problem. I flooded my diesel with fresh water by over cranking it when it wouldn't start & was high & dry. I did not realize it & the water sat in if for a couple of weeks. My mechanic who figured it out flushed the engine with diesel until it was clean, then clean oil, ran for a couple of minutes, then changed the oil again. That was 15 years ago & the motor still runs.

[a64pilot]

Flush and drain amounts to running it just long enough to warm the oil well and get it stirred up good, then pump it out and do it again, until you run it for a few minutes and the oil still looks clean. Then your ready for taking her out and get a good run on her, put it under a good load and get it up to normal running temps for an hour or two.

To flush with, cheapest oil is fine, your just using it to flush the motor, don't forget the filter, again a cheap filter is fine.


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