Water in the cylinders on my boat (2003 volvo penta v8)?

Question

I recently had trouble turning over the engine in my boat. I pulled the plugs and there was water in the cylinders. It came out of the holes when I turned it over and I sucked alot out when sucking the oil out through the dipstick. I am thinking a head gasket is blown. does anyone have any other thoughts on what it might be. I dont think that the engine got hot enough to crack the engine block. I did a compression check but dont think that I got accurate readings. I sprayed a little wd40 in the plug holes and turned it over a few times to try and displace as much water as I could then put the plugs back in. That is where I stand at this point. Does anyone have any ideas to how I got water in the engine and what a good economical move would be at this point?

Answer 1

First things first.Are you sure that your engine was winterized

properly last fall?If not then you will definitely have a split block

and you will not see it because they split inside the intake cavity.I suggest you change your oil and filter and start it up with rabbit ears.Let it run for 15-20 minutes and then shut it off

and check your oil for water.If yes then you have a problem internally.If there is no water great,what happened is you probably backed up too fast and the water got in through the

exhaust and hydraulically locked up the engine.I hope this helps to answer your question.Good luck.

Answer 2

you pretty well nailed it on this one i think ,either a blown head gasket or a cracked head on it,hopefully not crack in the block though,i been through that before and i freaked when i went to change my plugs for the season and water came out ,i got lucky though just a head gasket,that was probably caused by the water pump not working right on it,some of those would do that,all you can do is pull a head though and find out,that's the only way on those,you might can do a compression check on it and that help you some,good luck with it.

Answer 3

If you have an engine that is "Sea Water" cooled (or lake water) and doesn't have a heat exchanger (with anti freeze in it), then you could have a hole "rusted" in it somewhere in the block.

If you had a blown head gasket, you would have seen white smoke out the exhaust unless it is underwater, but the engine would have been running rough when you were running it.  If it ran smooth, then you may have a replacement block on the horizon.

If you had been running OK, and then when you started to start it later, the water in the pistons can come up an slam into the head and stop the engine which can bend a crank rod or worse.

Also, if you had an overloaded boat, the stern can go down low enough to put the exhaust manifolds below the outside water level and can fill the engine though the exhaust valves, via the risers on the exhaust manifolds where the exhaust and water mix together to leave the boat...

Good luck.

Answer 4

Before you start looking for internal problems, do you park your boat with the bow facing the shore, and the stern exposed to waves?  If so your motor has probably "hydraulicked "  This is when water forces past the water shutter in the exhaust, and enters the engine through the exhaust manifolds.  If your boat sits fairly low in the water, this is common.