Hi All,
I apologize for the long post but I feel I should share all of the events that have led up to me thinking that I now have a blown head gasket. I have a new to me 1977 Pearson 323 with a recently Moyer Marine overhauled fresh water cooled A4 with roughly 200 hrs on it.
On the maiden voyage from Little River SC south to Florida when motoring from the marina where I purchased the boat in on the ICW towards the Little River inlet I noticed the water temp gauge creeping up past 180 degrees and finally stabilized around 195 to 200. This seemed to be way too high to me. This is the first fresh water cooled A4 I have had, my two previous A4’s were raw water cooled and always ran around 150 to 160 never skipping a beat. I was running around 1800 to 1900 rpm’s which gets 5.5 to 6 knots and I was getting close to the inlet so I just slowed down backed it down to 1400 rpm’s and that drop the temp back down to 180 until I got out the inlet raised the sails shut the engine down and headed south to my first stop in Charleston. In route I checked the raw water and coolant pump impellers as well as the raw water inlet strainer, everything was all good. Once I reached the Charleston inlet the A4 fired right up like it has every time for me since I bought it. Once it was warmed up I ran it up to 1800 rpm’s and not long after that the temp was back up to 195 to 200. Backed it down to 1600 rpm’s and the temp stayed closer to 190. Still I’m thinking this is too hot, so I was thinking possibly a sticking thermostat. The Moyer thermostat bypass valve is installed on this A4 so once I was tied up in the marina I removed the thermostat to see if that would help. It did! The temp stayed at 140 just running it in the slip and the next day running down the ICW it stayed just below 180 at 1900 rpm’s. I had the bypass valve completely shut and was thinking that may still be a bit warm but way better than 200 degrees and motored the next few days all the way down through Georgia and into Fernandina Beach FL like that no problem it ran great. Dropped the hook there in Fernandina Beach shut the perfectly running A4 down and settled in for the night.
Now the galley sink is located above and a little bit to port of the engine in the Pearson 323’s and while doing the dishes after dinner the fitting under the sink burst spraying fresh water all over the engine compartment and all over the A4. Now I didn’t think to much of it other than a few choice words in the heat of the moment towards the broken fitting. Now also the 323 A4’s were installed with v-drives so aft of the engine is forward locating the ignition coil directly under the burst fitting. Once again I didn’t think anything of it until the next morning ready to pull the hook and leave. There was no signs of life the A4 just cranked and cranked and cranked not even a slight sputter. My thinking went first to the the night before soaked coil, pulled out an old coil from the spares installed it but still no signs of life. I am solo on the boat, I don’t have a remote starter and couldn’t check spark so next I checked fuel maybe the electric fuel pump shorted out from the fresh water bath, so I pulled the carb bowl plug and plenty of fuel came pouring out. I then replaced the fuel water separator and filter but that didn’t work. I decided to pull all of the spark plugs and they all were wet and kinda smelled like gas that made me think it was flooded. Tried cranking it wide open throttle and no choke but still no go so It’s got to be the coil and the old spare the previous owner kept could possibly be bad as well. Pulled the distributor cap and no points it’s electronic ignition and no signs of water intrusion. So After a few more failed attempts to start I gave up called TowBoat US to get towed to a marina to order and receive parts. Few days later I received a new coil from Moyer installed and still nothing. Finally I came up with a plan to tape my phone to the bulkhead with the camera pointed at the #4 spark plug pulled and grounded to the head, hit the video record button and went up top to crank it over. Started to crank and after couple revolutions it started! But obviously roughly with the #4 spark plug pulled so I shut it down quickly. After reviewing the video, seeing a healthy spark and then promptly scratching my head I reinstalled the spark plug went back up top to try and start and sure enough it started right up but still very rough unable to idle and rev above 1500 rpm’s. So I pulled the other plugs one by one and all had a healthy spark but I noticed the all showed a lean mixture. Started it back up and let it run for a little bit hoping it would work itself out but no luck it just got worse so I shut it down and pulled the carb bowl plug again and plenty of fuel came out. Then I decided it’s time to pull the carb apart and see what’s going on. And I found the culprit, it was all gunked up. A carb rebuild kit and a large can of carb cleaner later it was back together and back on the engine. It started right up and ran perfectly above 1200 rpm’s and higher but would not idle and instantly died when pulled back to idle. So I pulled apart the carb again and found I missed the idle passage way up from the main jet to the idle jet was still plugged, cleared it with a length of safety wire reinstalled it and it now runs flawlessly. The temp even stayed quite a bit cooler than it has since I pulled the thermostat. Ok good to go might as well change the oil and start heading south again... Nope the oil looks like a vanilla milkshake! Not foamy with air bubbles just creamy in color. I check the oil every time before I try and start and never noticed anything other than slowly getting dirty over time as normal and I did change the oil about 16 engine hours prior to the night of the water burst with no signs of water just dirty oil. I am religious about closing the seacock before starting because I’ve heard all the horror stories but could I have possibly left it open sometime during all the cranking attempts? It’s possible, but I never noticed the starter struggle in all the cranking attempts like I think it would with raw seawater in the cylinders. So after 4 oil changes and running the engine in between each it’s still milkshake creamy in color when I pump it out but it’s showing clean on the dipstick. I pulled the plugs again and 4,3,2 were perfect but #1 was very wet and didn’t smell like gas. Also the coolant and oil levels have stayed on the full mark and haven’t changed. And that’s where I am at now. It’s running perfectly but the water in the oil.
Do I have a blown head gasket on #1? And if I do, was it because it must have been running lean this whole trip and that being the reason it was running hot in the beginning? The head gasket just finally gave up and coincidentally at the same time the fresh water fitting burst? Or am I overthinking this and need to keep changing the oil until all the milky oil is gone because when I first pulled the plugs and noticed them wet thinking it was gas flooded in fact was raw sea water from the exhaust?
I am going to try and get my hands on a gauge to check the compression on #1 before I pull the head. But would there be much of a psi loss if it’s just a small burned out part of the gasket between the cylinder wall and a water jacket that’s causing this water in the oil?
Please any input on this helps even if it is to point out something that I may have done wrong.
Thanks everyone
Mike
Below are a picture of the gunked up carb bowl and the milky oil
I apologize for the long post but I feel I should share all of the events that have led up to me thinking that I now have a blown head gasket. I have a new to me 1977 Pearson 323 with a recently Moyer Marine overhauled fresh water cooled A4 with roughly 200 hrs on it.
On the maiden voyage from Little River SC south to Florida when motoring from the marina where I purchased the boat in on the ICW towards the Little River inlet I noticed the water temp gauge creeping up past 180 degrees and finally stabilized around 195 to 200. This seemed to be way too high to me. This is the first fresh water cooled A4 I have had, my two previous A4’s were raw water cooled and always ran around 150 to 160 never skipping a beat. I was running around 1800 to 1900 rpm’s which gets 5.5 to 6 knots and I was getting close to the inlet so I just slowed down backed it down to 1400 rpm’s and that drop the temp back down to 180 until I got out the inlet raised the sails shut the engine down and headed south to my first stop in Charleston. In route I checked the raw water and coolant pump impellers as well as the raw water inlet strainer, everything was all good. Once I reached the Charleston inlet the A4 fired right up like it has every time for me since I bought it. Once it was warmed up I ran it up to 1800 rpm’s and not long after that the temp was back up to 195 to 200. Backed it down to 1600 rpm’s and the temp stayed closer to 190. Still I’m thinking this is too hot, so I was thinking possibly a sticking thermostat. The Moyer thermostat bypass valve is installed on this A4 so once I was tied up in the marina I removed the thermostat to see if that would help. It did! The temp stayed at 140 just running it in the slip and the next day running down the ICW it stayed just below 180 at 1900 rpm’s. I had the bypass valve completely shut and was thinking that may still be a bit warm but way better than 200 degrees and motored the next few days all the way down through Georgia and into Fernandina Beach FL like that no problem it ran great. Dropped the hook there in Fernandina Beach shut the perfectly running A4 down and settled in for the night.
Now the galley sink is located above and a little bit to port of the engine in the Pearson 323’s and while doing the dishes after dinner the fitting under the sink burst spraying fresh water all over the engine compartment and all over the A4. Now I didn’t think to much of it other than a few choice words in the heat of the moment towards the broken fitting. Now also the 323 A4’s were installed with v-drives so aft of the engine is forward locating the ignition coil directly under the burst fitting. Once again I didn’t think anything of it until the next morning ready to pull the hook and leave. There was no signs of life the A4 just cranked and cranked and cranked not even a slight sputter. My thinking went first to the the night before soaked coil, pulled out an old coil from the spares installed it but still no signs of life. I am solo on the boat, I don’t have a remote starter and couldn’t check spark so next I checked fuel maybe the electric fuel pump shorted out from the fresh water bath, so I pulled the carb bowl plug and plenty of fuel came pouring out. I then replaced the fuel water separator and filter but that didn’t work. I decided to pull all of the spark plugs and they all were wet and kinda smelled like gas that made me think it was flooded. Tried cranking it wide open throttle and no choke but still no go so It’s got to be the coil and the old spare the previous owner kept could possibly be bad as well. Pulled the distributor cap and no points it’s electronic ignition and no signs of water intrusion. So After a few more failed attempts to start I gave up called TowBoat US to get towed to a marina to order and receive parts. Few days later I received a new coil from Moyer installed and still nothing. Finally I came up with a plan to tape my phone to the bulkhead with the camera pointed at the #4 spark plug pulled and grounded to the head, hit the video record button and went up top to crank it over. Started to crank and after couple revolutions it started! But obviously roughly with the #4 spark plug pulled so I shut it down quickly. After reviewing the video, seeing a healthy spark and then promptly scratching my head I reinstalled the spark plug went back up top to try and start and sure enough it started right up but still very rough unable to idle and rev above 1500 rpm’s. So I pulled the other plugs one by one and all had a healthy spark but I noticed the all showed a lean mixture. Started it back up and let it run for a little bit hoping it would work itself out but no luck it just got worse so I shut it down and pulled the carb bowl plug again and plenty of fuel came out. Then I decided it’s time to pull the carb apart and see what’s going on. And I found the culprit, it was all gunked up. A carb rebuild kit and a large can of carb cleaner later it was back together and back on the engine. It started right up and ran perfectly above 1200 rpm’s and higher but would not idle and instantly died when pulled back to idle. So I pulled apart the carb again and found I missed the idle passage way up from the main jet to the idle jet was still plugged, cleared it with a length of safety wire reinstalled it and it now runs flawlessly. The temp even stayed quite a bit cooler than it has since I pulled the thermostat. Ok good to go might as well change the oil and start heading south again... Nope the oil looks like a vanilla milkshake! Not foamy with air bubbles just creamy in color. I check the oil every time before I try and start and never noticed anything other than slowly getting dirty over time as normal and I did change the oil about 16 engine hours prior to the night of the water burst with no signs of water just dirty oil. I am religious about closing the seacock before starting because I’ve heard all the horror stories but could I have possibly left it open sometime during all the cranking attempts? It’s possible, but I never noticed the starter struggle in all the cranking attempts like I think it would with raw seawater in the cylinders. So after 4 oil changes and running the engine in between each it’s still milkshake creamy in color when I pump it out but it’s showing clean on the dipstick. I pulled the plugs again and 4,3,2 were perfect but #1 was very wet and didn’t smell like gas. Also the coolant and oil levels have stayed on the full mark and haven’t changed. And that’s where I am at now. It’s running perfectly but the water in the oil.
Do I have a blown head gasket on #1? And if I do, was it because it must have been running lean this whole trip and that being the reason it was running hot in the beginning? The head gasket just finally gave up and coincidentally at the same time the fresh water fitting burst? Or am I overthinking this and need to keep changing the oil until all the milky oil is gone because when I first pulled the plugs and noticed them wet thinking it was gas flooded in fact was raw sea water from the exhaust?
I am going to try and get my hands on a gauge to check the compression on #1 before I pull the head. But would there be much of a psi loss if it’s just a small burned out part of the gasket between the cylinder wall and a water jacket that’s causing this water in the oil?
Please any input on this helps even if it is to point out something that I may have done wrong.
Thanks everyone
Mike
Below are a picture of the gunked up carb bowl and the milky oil
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