Hi Everyone,
This is my first post on the atomic fourum. I’ve been reading a lot over the past couple of weeks. (Two weeks ago I knew nothing about engines. Yesterday I pulled the head on mine. Thank you guys for keeping up such a great forum.)
I bought a sailboat with a non-working A-4. I’m trying to get it going, and I’m trying to figure out whether this will be cost effective compared to simply purchasing a running or rebuilt A-4.
History of my engine:
PO says it was running great until it started producing black smoke (blowby?). He worked on it and got rid of the smoke, but it kept coming back every two months or so. He eventually had it pulled and rebuilt. (I’m not sure of the extent of the job.) And when he reconnected it and started it, water was coming out “from between the manifold and the carb.” He shut it off and left it. He had been working on it for too long and after a $2000 rebuild, did not want to hassle with the engine anymore. It has now sat for 6 months since he shut it off.
It’s raw water cooled, and I assumed that it would need a new manifold (that the current one must have enough internal corrosion that the cooling water was leaking into the other parts of the manifold), assuming the water was not in the engine.
However, as I’ve started troubleshooting, I’ve found the engine to now be seized. I pulled the head last night. The cylinders were full of salt water, and the head gasket was falling apart. I assume now that the source of the water was the only partially gasketted gap between the cooling passages in the head and the block. (PO says the gasket was replaced. I'm not sure.)
I cleared the cylinders and the cooling passages with a wet/dry vacuum and filled the cylinders with marvel mystery oil. I plan to try to turn the engine over once the MMO has sat a few days. In the meantime, I think I will dissemble, inspect, and clean the manifold and the carburetor to the extent possible.
I've attempted to attach a picture of the engine after I got the water out. (Not sure if it is here.)
Questions:
1. In the expert opinion of those here, can this engine be saved after sitting full of salt water for 6 months? (I've consulted a couple of people who say "No way. It's dead.")
2. If everything was working before the engine filled with water, what are the chances that new rings, gaskets, and valves (and possibly new pistons and a cylinder bore job from a machine shop) will be enough to get the engine running? (That is, is it likely that the alternator, coil, carb, flywheel, crankshaft, cooling system, etc are all forked from the salt water, too?)
3. I’ve found one on Craigslist that claims to be rebuilt (rings, bearings, valve grind/job ). The seller is asking $2600. The skeptic in me says that I could replace those parts for $400. The other skeptic in me says that this is hopelessly naïve as my engine is not running, and I don’t know whether new rings and valves plus a bit of elbow grease would be enough to make it work. What do you all think?
4. What further diagnostic steps would you recommend taking to determine the extent of the further damage?
Thank you for any help you guys can offer!
Taylor
This is my first post on the atomic fourum. I’ve been reading a lot over the past couple of weeks. (Two weeks ago I knew nothing about engines. Yesterday I pulled the head on mine. Thank you guys for keeping up such a great forum.)
I bought a sailboat with a non-working A-4. I’m trying to get it going, and I’m trying to figure out whether this will be cost effective compared to simply purchasing a running or rebuilt A-4.
History of my engine:
PO says it was running great until it started producing black smoke (blowby?). He worked on it and got rid of the smoke, but it kept coming back every two months or so. He eventually had it pulled and rebuilt. (I’m not sure of the extent of the job.) And when he reconnected it and started it, water was coming out “from between the manifold and the carb.” He shut it off and left it. He had been working on it for too long and after a $2000 rebuild, did not want to hassle with the engine anymore. It has now sat for 6 months since he shut it off.
It’s raw water cooled, and I assumed that it would need a new manifold (that the current one must have enough internal corrosion that the cooling water was leaking into the other parts of the manifold), assuming the water was not in the engine.
However, as I’ve started troubleshooting, I’ve found the engine to now be seized. I pulled the head last night. The cylinders were full of salt water, and the head gasket was falling apart. I assume now that the source of the water was the only partially gasketted gap between the cooling passages in the head and the block. (PO says the gasket was replaced. I'm not sure.)
I cleared the cylinders and the cooling passages with a wet/dry vacuum and filled the cylinders with marvel mystery oil. I plan to try to turn the engine over once the MMO has sat a few days. In the meantime, I think I will dissemble, inspect, and clean the manifold and the carburetor to the extent possible.
I've attempted to attach a picture of the engine after I got the water out. (Not sure if it is here.)
Questions:
1. In the expert opinion of those here, can this engine be saved after sitting full of salt water for 6 months? (I've consulted a couple of people who say "No way. It's dead.")
2. If everything was working before the engine filled with water, what are the chances that new rings, gaskets, and valves (and possibly new pistons and a cylinder bore job from a machine shop) will be enough to get the engine running? (That is, is it likely that the alternator, coil, carb, flywheel, crankshaft, cooling system, etc are all forked from the salt water, too?)
3. I’ve found one on Craigslist that claims to be rebuilt (rings, bearings, valve grind/job ). The seller is asking $2600. The skeptic in me says that I could replace those parts for $400. The other skeptic in me says that this is hopelessly naïve as my engine is not running, and I don’t know whether new rings and valves plus a bit of elbow grease would be enough to make it work. What do you all think?
4. What further diagnostic steps would you recommend taking to determine the extent of the further damage?
Thank you for any help you guys can offer!
Taylor
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