i found water in my oil on my second time out this season today. Im wondering if its normal for this to happen if you dont use a water pressure regulator kit on the cooling system? If I get one of these kits to get the pressure down, do you think the water in oil problem will go away? It didnt do this on the garden hose on the test stand.
i found water in my oil on my second time out this season today. Im wondering if its normal for this to happen if you dont use a water pressure regulator kit on the cooling system? If I get one of these kits to get the pressure down, do you think the water in oil problem will go away? It didnt do this on the garden hose on the test stand.
What kind of water temps are you running?
One of the first things I do after building a motor is pressure test the water jackets and exhaust manifolds with 30 psi of air. I have put 50 psi or more without any problems if everything is right. If it drops more than a few pounds in 30 minutes. Then I start looking.
There are more informed people than I out here but one of things that I have seen on a lot of boats is low temps or large swings in temps between idle and wfo. What happens is the cylinders are constantly contracting and expanding. This is hard on pistons and the cylinders do to clearance changes. This is extremely hard for the rings to seal when the cylinders are growing and shrinking. There was some research done on temps that I read years ago. When motor temps start to drop below 180 degrees, motor wear starts to climb do to several factors including oil temps.
Water temps effect the oil temps big time. When the motor is running cool, so is the oil. If there is condinsation in the oil, it won't boil off and just a slight amount of water in the oil increases wear drastically.
Would you get in a car and press the throttle to the floor right after you started it? I know there are exceptions when drag racing and such as some motors run better real cool but for a long lasting motor, you want to get the engine warm and keep the temps constant.
I have read a couple of articles from some jet boat websights about water creeping in the motor do to the high pressures of water coming out of the pump and to buy there regulator. I am sure that you will see some extremes in pump pressure do to high horsepower motor but typical motors don't make that kind of pressure.
What the water regulator does it make it a lot easier to control the temps and is required with a thermostat.
i found water in my oil on my second time out this season today. Im wondering if its normal for this to happen if you dont use a water pressure regulator kit on the cooling system? If I get one of these kits to get the pressure down, do you think the water in oil problem will go away? It didnt do this on the garden hose on the test stand.
You should have a ball valve on the water line that feeds the motor to regulate pressure and water temp. It's a very simple system and works well!
your engine produces more water than CO2. water has to go somewhere so then it becomes a question of quantity. is it just some bubbles at the oil level on the dipstick.. no problem. Is it a foamy froth of water and oil... big problem.
I ran without a pressure regulator and thermostat for a year and no problem. Since the end of the pipe is open (no thermostat) there isn't a pressure problem.
Switched to pressure regulator and thermostat and have consistent engine temp and consistent effort yields consistent results. Made the change for purely thermodynamic reasons.
It wasent alot of water. It was mostly on the top of the stick near the handle. When I drained the oil i didnt see any water at all. The oil was black.
A little bit of condensation is the norm with a motor that runs cold (most jets do), but if you ever can see anything on the dipstick other than oil you could have a problem.
PS, the valve near the pump has to be a gate valve, not a ball valve.....
PS, the valve near the pump has to be a gate valve, not a ball valve.....
Ill second that;)
Condensation will show up in the valve covers, breathers and dipstick, Or anywhere it can find a place to escape. (it condenses on the way out as it comes in contact with the cooler engine parts.) To find water droplets in one of these places is quite normal. In other words, there can be milky droplets in the covers and on the top of the dip stick without a problem. As long as the oil on the bottom of the dipstick where you check the oil is clean, you should be okay. If it looks milky when you drain it, you have a problem. The condensation problem is a lot worse in boats that make a lot of short runs, run in real cold water or don't get their engine temperture up to normal. As a rule of thumb, the oil in your engine normally runs in the area of 100 degrees hotter than the water temperature. So, the oil needs to get to at least 212 degrees F to boil the water off produced by combustion. Water bypass kits are just kind of like buying insurance to keep the water out of the oil system. It's easier to put one on, than it is to clean water out of an engine that has gotten water in it.