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Hello I’m a newbie to the Atomic 4 world and was hoping to get some advice/input from the experts out there. I should first thank this forum for all the information i have gathered up to this point. The moyer manual has been a great help also.
Without going into all the gory details, a friends Pearson 28-1 had flooded with 10 inches of seawater, and unfortunately the other friend who had discovered it bail it out and unsuccessfully tried to start the engine.
I climbed on board the next day, fixed the leak in the boat and took a look at the engine. I took off the drain plug and water came gushing out of the block. Oh boy. I siphoned the rest of the oil out and replaced with 4 fresh quarts and a can of seafoam (I have since replaced with 50/50 sae30/ATF).
I took out the spark plugs and gave the engine a bump, and yep, water fountains. Mostly out of 3 and 4. I pour some mystery oil in the chambers and gave another bump, a little more mystery oil and lightly replaced the spark plugs (it was getting dark).
Eventually i did a compression test. Dry 115,115,85,0. Eeek. Did a wet test with cylinder 4 and it came up to 85. So I concluded most likely a cylinder problem and hopefully a ring.
Next day i proceed to work on getting the head off, the cylinder 4 end came loose rather easy with a few taps. The thermostat corner on the other end, however, was not as compliant. I did a little work on it and went home to let PB Blaster continue the work.
I was still a little wary about the diagnosis. I had read about blowing compressed air in the cylinder to listen where it came out. So the next day I torque the head back down to specs and blew air into the cylinder. I had my ear near the oil fill expecting to hear the air, however, i felt the air coming out of the thermostat housing????, hmmmm… i’m thinking a blown gasket maybe? I was actually somewhat relieved (let’s call it wishful thinking, though). Days later, plenty of pb blaster and tapping on the studs and i get the head off. See the pic below. Explained the air out the thermostat.
Thought i found the problem, however, it started bugging me that the wet test was 85. Would mystery oil really be able to clog even a tiny sliver of a crevice at the top of the cylinder head to bring compression to 85? I looked back at the pics of the block that i had taken when i first removed the head and sure enough there was a gunky area right where the hole was. Perhaps when i loosened the head that piece stuck to the gasket was pulled off the head, but was intact before I loosened the head. And maybe I still have a bad piston ring.
So I decided to pour mystery oil in the cylinders to see if the volumes held. See before pic, and then 2 days later of cylinder 4. Maybe ⅛ inch.
Is MMO too viscous to leak very much? Is there another fluid to better test this cylinder? May 0w30? Any other way of ensuring the ring is good?
Any advice on how to continue would be greatly appreciated. The engine seems in obvious need of an overhaul, but was otherwise running well. We would just like to get the boat running for now and overhaul at the end of the season. The boat is on a mooring and if I have too, I can pull the engine onto a cradle and work on it in the cabin, but of course, would just like to replace the head and gasket, put her back together, flush etc. get her running and finish the season.
Sorry for the lengthy tale, but this is the abridged version.
Without going into all the gory details, a friends Pearson 28-1 had flooded with 10 inches of seawater, and unfortunately the other friend who had discovered it bail it out and unsuccessfully tried to start the engine.
I climbed on board the next day, fixed the leak in the boat and took a look at the engine. I took off the drain plug and water came gushing out of the block. Oh boy. I siphoned the rest of the oil out and replaced with 4 fresh quarts and a can of seafoam (I have since replaced with 50/50 sae30/ATF).
I took out the spark plugs and gave the engine a bump, and yep, water fountains. Mostly out of 3 and 4. I pour some mystery oil in the chambers and gave another bump, a little more mystery oil and lightly replaced the spark plugs (it was getting dark).
Eventually i did a compression test. Dry 115,115,85,0. Eeek. Did a wet test with cylinder 4 and it came up to 85. So I concluded most likely a cylinder problem and hopefully a ring.
Next day i proceed to work on getting the head off, the cylinder 4 end came loose rather easy with a few taps. The thermostat corner on the other end, however, was not as compliant. I did a little work on it and went home to let PB Blaster continue the work.
I was still a little wary about the diagnosis. I had read about blowing compressed air in the cylinder to listen where it came out. So the next day I torque the head back down to specs and blew air into the cylinder. I had my ear near the oil fill expecting to hear the air, however, i felt the air coming out of the thermostat housing????, hmmmm… i’m thinking a blown gasket maybe? I was actually somewhat relieved (let’s call it wishful thinking, though). Days later, plenty of pb blaster and tapping on the studs and i get the head off. See the pic below. Explained the air out the thermostat.
Thought i found the problem, however, it started bugging me that the wet test was 85. Would mystery oil really be able to clog even a tiny sliver of a crevice at the top of the cylinder head to bring compression to 85? I looked back at the pics of the block that i had taken when i first removed the head and sure enough there was a gunky area right where the hole was. Perhaps when i loosened the head that piece stuck to the gasket was pulled off the head, but was intact before I loosened the head. And maybe I still have a bad piston ring.
So I decided to pour mystery oil in the cylinders to see if the volumes held. See before pic, and then 2 days later of cylinder 4. Maybe ⅛ inch.
Is MMO too viscous to leak very much? Is there another fluid to better test this cylinder? May 0w30? Any other way of ensuring the ring is good?
Any advice on how to continue would be greatly appreciated. The engine seems in obvious need of an overhaul, but was otherwise running well. We would just like to get the boat running for now and overhaul at the end of the season. The boat is on a mooring and if I have too, I can pull the engine onto a cradle and work on it in the cabin, but of course, would just like to replace the head and gasket, put her back together, flush etc. get her running and finish the season.
Sorry for the lengthy tale, but this is the abridged version.
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