Thick Gray Oil in Sump

[blobbt]

hi perkins 4107 has grey thick oil in it, any ideas how to remove it and what has caused it?? its raw water cooled and does not have an oiler cooler fitted,

[slomotion]

This is caused by water in the oil. If it won't drain, you can try an engine oil flush product or a shop vac with appropriately sized tubing taped to its hose. Much more important is fiquring out how the water got there - possible head/gasket issue.

[Charlie]

I just found this one out recently. The thick gray oil is water that has been mixed in with the oil. I would think that what you would want to do is to 1) remove the oil and replace it with new oil. YOu will need to get a reply from someone more knowledgable then me but I don't think that you would want to run the engine. The reason to replace the oil after you get the thick oil out is so that the engine does not rust. Perkins are rebuildable(sp?) engines. If the engine is already rusted then the best thing to do would be to soak it in transmission fluid. Somehow your raw water is getting into the engine oil would be my guess.

[blobbt]

will get the oil changed,but why is it getting in???

[Jetexas]

Most likely cause is a bad head gasket but it could be a cracked head or block.

[sailingaway221]

OK .... I have had the same thing.... changing the oil wont fix the problem...it will get rid of the grey oil but sooner or later it will go grey again. There was a hose running off my exhaust elbow up to a non siphon valve. We changed the angle on this little hose and it pressurized the exhaust enough to get coolant into the oil....We adjusted the angle on the hose, changed the oil and the filter, ran at 1000 rpm for 15 min, drained the oil changed the filter and started again...until the oil stopped going grey. ( about 3 oil changes I think ) I don't know your engine at all but grey is water in the oil from somewhere...did you change anything recently?

[blobbt]

no engine runs great no smoke or anything, but just that there was this grey oil coming out of the rocker cover when the engine was running, i stopped the engine but cant understand whats went wrong

[Astrid]

I would recommend finding out if the water getting into the oil is fresh water coolant or seawater. If the latter, your problem could be with the seawater exchange unit or seawater pump. If the problem is freshwater coolant, then it could be a cracked head or block, pinhole in the water jacket, or blown head gasket.

[Stillraining]

Quit running BP oil ..They have a ton of water in it lately..

Just kidding..

Late to thread, you have gotten good answers...its now a test to find out whats up...a chasing ghost mission now.

[btrayfors]

If you're really lucky -- as I was with my 4-108 -- it may not be so serious, and may not necessarily herald a bad water leak.

My 4-108 a few years back was performing very badly. We found sludge in the oil pan....lots of it. We sucked it out, dug it out, flushed it out and got rid of most of it.

The principal reason for the sludge, IMHO, was incomplete evacuation of old oil during oil changes. For 20 years, this poor 4-108 had been mistreated by changing oil thru the dipstick, using plastic tubes inserted down the dipstick channel. This resulted in incomplete evacuation of the used oil and, over the years, this built up to the sludgy situation we found in the oil pan.

The solution? Install an oil changing system which drew the oil directly from the bottom of the oil pan. I installed an electric one, which allows me to change the oil in just a few minutes, with no fuss no bother.

Result? No more sludge for the past several years. Easy to change the oil, and the heaviest and dirtiest gets drawn out first by the suction on the oil pan fitting.

Bill

[Jesse]

As a rule raw water cooled engines have a shorter life span than their fresh water cooled bretheren, particularly in salt water. A coroded water jacket could cause a leak into the valve galley or crankcase, or a leaking head gasket would contaminate the oil. Without an oil cooler to check for leakage the next logical step for me would be the head gasket, this will also let you check the head for warpage and cracks and the cylinder liners for problems at the same time but get the grey goo out of the engine first. Good luck and keep posting your progress. Jesse

[slowroll]

In my experience water and oil tends to be more carmal in color, gray tends to be more of metallic in origin...ie bearings etc. How does grey muck respond to a magnet?

[shakey doug]

Blobbt.
Salt water direct cooled agricultral converted engines have a limted life span due to the corrosive nature of the coolant use, dare i say the 4107 has not been on salt water all its working life. Possible causes of allowing coolant to dilute lube oil are .#1. cracked head or blown casket. #2. back flow or bad exhaust manifold. #3. corrossion at bottom of liner ring area or liner hole 4107s have wet liners this is common in raw water cooled units. #4. front mounted thermo syphon pump backing plate corroded thru or pump holding stud located at obout 10oclock corroded. #5. block or cyl head water passages breached.Use plenty of diesel to flush system it will break sludge down making it easier to remove. Get diluted oil out ASAP.
Cheers, Shakey.

[blobbt]

hi thanks for the advice, the grey oil is really thick like vasaline, put diesel down and more oil to flush out as much water as i could, where is the drain hole for the sump on this engine?? also the raw water pump is a jabsco unit and it seems very stiff? how could water get from one side of the pump to the other? and where can i get an electric oil change system..thanks

[shakey doug]

Blobt,
If the oil in the sump is as thick as vasoline you will have to remove sump to clean properly or is it just under the tappet cover thats sludged? If your engine started life as a marine unit no drain plug will be fitted, you will have to feed a tube down the dipstick hole or unscrew the dipstick fitting. If the alternator belt travels around 1,alternator 2.grank pully 3.pulley +-12'' obove grank pulley this will be the thermo syphon assist pump. it will take at least 20 litres of diesel to flush engine of light sludge a vacuum type oil changing pump should do the trick most good boat chandlers have them.If the jabsco is close coupled to the timing case leaking seals combined with clogged weep holes can also cause water to enter the sump.

Shakey.