submerged diesel

The maritime museum I am a volunteer with has been donated an important vessel, unfortunately it has been on the bottom of the ocean for about 2 weeks, the engine is a Fordson Diesel, does any one know how long an engine can be submerged for before any major damage is done

Agree. But if all the seals were good when it went down, you may luck out. Disassembly is the only way to know for sure.

It's not so much the amount of time submerged as it is the time since it resurfaced. It's the oxygen in the atmosphere that causes rust and other types of corrosion. I worked on a salvage ship and we recovered a Bering Sea crab boat that was submerged for a year. As soon as it was refloated, the engineers drained the main engine (a Cat D398 as I recall) crankcase, filled it with water-soluable oil, drained the cylinders and rolled it over. They changed the oil, with more of the same and did it again. Within a few hours from resurfacing the engine was running again, but just for a while - until we could tow the boat back to port for engine teardown.

thank you all for your input. we have raised the boat, drained the water from the engine and gearbox, removed the head ,and filled them up to overflowing with diesel until we get her home where we will strip the engine down.