Water in Westerbeke Gen Oil

@scooper321 great job in testing and to your conclusion, I would now get a compression test. It does look like is may be a head gasket. As @PlayDate mentioned, the antifreeze would settle to the bottom of the pan, when the oil gets hot any water would start to "boil" off and that would create the milkey foam on the top of the oil. As the dip stick is removed some of the foam will attach itself to the stick. The green residue of the antifreeze would stay at the bottom and get mixed in with the oil.
 
ttmott said:
Have you received the oil analysis?
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Not yet. Sent it out last week. Should arrive at Blackstone tomorrow. I called them last week to give them the heads up and ask to prioritize the one gen sample. So they are on alert. They said they usually turn in 2-4 days anyway so I should have that before the boat goes to the yard.
 
Skybolt said:
@scooper321 great job in testing and to your conclusion, I would now get a compression test. It does look like is may be a head gasket. As @PlayDate mentioned, the antifreeze would settle to the bottom of the pan, when the oil gets hot any water would start to "boil" off and that would create the milkey foam on the top of the oil. As the dip stick is removed some of the foam will attach itself to the stick. The green residue of the antifreeze would stay at the bottom and get mixed in with the oil.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was wondering. But I didn't want to pull out old chemistry text books (like I saved any of those ... lol) to look up specific gravity and molecular density to see what's heavier than what. CSR is so much easier!

And I'm ok with a head gasket. I'm actually hoping for that. Not a cheap fix but a lot less expensive than a gen replacement!
 
scooper321 said:
Exactly what I was wondering. But I didn't want to pull out old chemistry text books (like I saved any of those ... lol) to look up specific gravity and molecular density to see what's heavier than what. CSR is so much easier!

And I'm ok with a head gasket. I'm actually hoping for that. Not a cheap fix but a lot less expensive than a gen replacement!
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Can't beat collective knowledge. But yeah, fairly common with an older engine over heat.
 
Nothing like having your own science kit on board. Water bottle + antifreeze + oil. You can see the layer where they mix.

1700410748711.png
 
That is confusing:

The pressure test shows a slow leak.
The coolant reservoir is empty.
Oil test shows raw water.

It could be multiple problems but raw water only finds it way in through the exhaust manifold.

Setting that aside for a moment.....have them repeat the pressure test followed by a compression test. That will at least narrow it down hopefully to a cylinder. If both those tests are okay......then we can go back to looking at a raw water event.
 
PlayDate said:
That is confusing:

The pressure test shows a slow leak.
The coolant reservoir is empty.
Oil test shows raw water.

It could be multiple problems but raw water only finds it way in through the exhaust manifold.

Setting that aside for a moment.....have them repeat the pressure test followed by a compression test. That will at least narrow it down hopefully to a cylinder. If both those tests are okay......then we can go back to looking at a raw water event.
Click to expand...
What about failed seal(s) on the seawater pump? I think it would take both seals to fail for water to get forced into the oil side, but it has happened.
 
Steve, I had a similar problem right at the end of the season. I didn’t over heat but had water in the oil. System pressure tested ok. Since I was pulling the boat in a week. They pulled it out. The consensus is the water pump (gear driven?) has an SB out for replacement because it would leak water into the block. They are rebuilding it now. About 4 boat bucks plus the boat buck to another service place that couldn’t figure it out except throw parts at it.
 
PlayDate said:
That is confusing:

The pressure test shows a slow leak.
The coolant reservoir is empty.
Oil test shows raw water.

It could be multiple problems but raw water only finds it way in through the exhaust manifold.

Setting that aside for a moment.....have them repeat the pressure test followed by a compression test. That will at least narrow it down hopefully to a cylinder. If both those tests are okay......then we can go back to looking at a raw water event.
Click to expand...

The result do not make any sense, unless there is an oil cooler on the engine. I have not seen this on generators of this age. But that doesn't explain the coolant pressure test failing. Something is a miss here, it still sounds like a head gasket to me if the pressure test was valid.

I had a similar failure this summer and the raw water pump seal let go. But that didn't involve any anti-freeze.

As John has mentioned, have both tests done. I would have the raw water pump rebuilt no matter what as it's not a wasted maintenance cost and does take some experience to install the seal correctly.
 
PlayDate said:
That is confusing:

The pressure test shows a slow leak.
The coolant reservoir is empty.
Oil test shows raw water.

It could be multiple problems but raw water only finds it way in through the exhaust manifold.

Setting that aside for a moment.....have them repeat the pressure test followed by a compression test. That will at least narrow it down hopefully to a cylinder. If both those tests are okay......then we
Click to expand...

Skybolt said:
The result do not make any sense, unless there is an oil cooler on the engine. I have not seen this on generators of this age. But that doesn't explain the coolant pressure test failing. Something is a miss here, it still sounds like a head gasket to me if the pressure test was valid.

I had a similar failure this summer and the raw water pump seal let go. But that didn't involve any anti-freeze.

As John has mentioned, have both tests done. I would have the raw water pump rebuilt no matter what as it's not a wasted maintenance cost and does take some experience to install the seal correctly.
Click to expand...

Well, we can't rule out user error on my part, either. Getting the pressure tester seated and sealed on the gen wasn't easy. So it's possible the leak was with the testing, not the system. I couldn't get the tester back on after I removed it, to re-test. It just wouldn't go on and allow me to pump. So that test needs to be redone. Perhaps there isn't antifreeze in there after all? We will see.

And yes, I actually have a new raw water pump to install. The old one was leaking badly where it met the gen body. They changed the model from when it was originally built, so it's the new design. That will go on as part of the repair. Too bad they don't use the same impellers. I have plenty.
 
The fact that the analysis has confirmed seawater obviates the need to continue effort on the engine coolant side of things. Most likely the recovery bottle was simply not filled.

You are down to three or four possibilities -
There is an issue with the mixer elbow / exhaust restricted
The syphon breaker isn't working.
Over-cranking the generator
or as a remote possibility - the raw water pump is leaking so badly that it's allowing water into the crankcase.

I still say that if you don't get the top end cleaned up bigger issues will happen.
 
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