Introduction..need Help

[Nick duBois]

Hello all,

I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. I have a Catalina 27 and have found a bit of water in the oil. The boat was laid up for two years before I bought it, so i thought it may be condensation, I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia and the winters are cold here. I put MMO in each cylinder today and then put my thumb on each plug hole as I turned the motor with the crank. I found enough compression to push my finger off the hole in cylinders 1 and 4 but nothing in 2 and 3??. Could this combined with the water in the oil indicate a head gasket problem?. I know a bit about motors but not enough to know for sure....can someone out there please help

Nick

[Don Moyer]

Nick,

Your symptoms are very consistent with a blown head gasket between cylinders 2 and 3.

Don

[Nick duBois]

Well,

Turns out there was a blown gasket between cyl 3 and 4 and also the exhaust valves on 2 and 3 were stuck open. There was no thermostat installed in the motor. That can't be a good thing.

Nick