My dilemma:
Took a nice pleasant run with the Scarab w/ Merc 502 (8.2L) and did a routine check of the engine bay as usual before getting to far from home. I opened the hatch and saw two things of concern:
1) Salt water deposits and some water at the starboard side exhaust manifold join where it meets the engine (the exhaust pieces are new, and not leaking. There is no water jacket here at this joint, so I assume its coming out a cylinder or two?)
2) Blow by, which was so bad that it sprayed a watery oil out the blow by hose all over my hatch cover and a ominous amount of oil (choco milk brown) seeping out of dipstick tube. Very ugly. Oozed down into bilge.
I don't know how to proceed. Do I have the marina dig in and replace the head gasket and check the head on the starboard side? Was the blow by most likely a result of the water in the compression chamber, which forced up the compression and pushed combustion by-products past the rings and into the crankcase, where it became blow by?
Or... do I have a trashed engine? When a head or head gasket blows, can it result in that much blow-by? I'd actually be happy if I had to deal w/ just a head and gasket... considering the engine could be toast from the water. Now, she idled like a kitten, ran up to 59 MPH and started easily. I could have leaned into her for more, but I was doing a basic shakedown run as I was alone and wanted to check all things out since I got a new prop. It's a 60-63 MPH package. I got 59 w/out much effort and was doing so with salt water intruding into my engine (or at least with a blow head gasket or cracked head that was sending something somewhere it didn't belong internally).
Really need experienced opinions.
Took a nice pleasant run with the Scarab w/ Merc 502 (8.2L) and did a routine check of the engine bay as usual before getting to far from home. I opened the hatch and saw two things of concern:
1) Salt water deposits and some water at the starboard side exhaust manifold join where it meets the engine (the exhaust pieces are new, and not leaking. There is no water jacket here at this joint, so I assume its coming out a cylinder or two?)
2) Blow by, which was so bad that it sprayed a watery oil out the blow by hose all over my hatch cover and a ominous amount of oil (choco milk brown) seeping out of dipstick tube. Very ugly. Oozed down into bilge.
I don't know how to proceed. Do I have the marina dig in and replace the head gasket and check the head on the starboard side? Was the blow by most likely a result of the water in the compression chamber, which forced up the compression and pushed combustion by-products past the rings and into the crankcase, where it became blow by?
Or... do I have a trashed engine? When a head or head gasket blows, can it result in that much blow-by? I'd actually be happy if I had to deal w/ just a head and gasket... considering the engine could be toast from the water. Now, she idled like a kitten, ran up to 59 MPH and started easily. I could have leaned into her for more, but I was doing a basic shakedown run as I was alone and wanted to check all things out since I got a new prop. It's a 60-63 MPH package. I got 59 w/out much effort and was doing so with salt water intruding into my engine (or at least with a blow head gasket or cracked head that was sending something somewhere it didn't belong internally).
Really need experienced opinions.
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