any other option besides cracked block?

T

t0mmy91

Member
Sep 11, 2023
67
Boat Info
1999 sea ray 185 bowrider
Engines
4.3l mercruiser with alpha one sterndrive
Hello all, hope all is well. this weekend i just purchased a clean 1999 sea ray 185 bowrider with 4.3l mercruiser and alpha one sterndrive. the previous owner passed away unexpectedly, and his daughter and son in law were selling on behalf of the mother. it ran great on muffs, i checked the oil and it was not milky. it was leaking water out the bottom into the hull, but i saw that 3 of the blue drain plugs were out, so i figured it was just that. i took it home and a few days later , installed the 3 plugs, realizing the remaining 2 were still in the motor, ran it at my house and it ran like crap with a miss, and now i have milky oil. it also still leaked water with the 5 blue plugs in, which i looked and found out was the casting (freeze) plug on both sides were pushed out. the one plug is completely out resting on top of the motor mount, and the other side was pushed out severly, but still in the block. i removed the manifolds, and there is no rust indication that they are bad, plus 2 of the 3 plugs that were out, 2 of them were from the manifolds. when i removed the rubber boots connected to the manifolds, all of the flappers were not doing anything, just pointing down in the tube, not sealing any water out.

my question is, besides a cracked block, is there any possibility that the water got in the motor crankcase any other way? like from the flappers not working, or would the majority opinion be that the block is cracked? thanks in advance for your help :(

the boat only has roughly 100 hours on it.
 
Freeze plugs are there for a reason. I suppose you could have gotten lucky. Reinstall freeze plugs ,change oil and see where you are. Could be a head gasket or cracked block
 
The casting plugs (as you correctly ID'd them) are just that - plugs to seal up holes during the casting process. They are not designed to be "freeze plugs" - that's a misnomer in the industry. SOMETIMES you get lucky and one or two will pop out and save the block. But that's more by chance - not by design.

Your flappers (if they still have the rubber part) are designed to prevent water from backing up and into the engine from the outside. If the engine had ingested water that way, it would not have run back to the dock/ramp.

There are other ways for water to get in - such as through the throttle body.

But, at this point, if you had clean oil to start with (unless there was water in the oil... and after sitting a while, the oil would be on top), and now have milky oil, there is likely a crack.

Do a compression check as a starting point.
 
thanks everyone for your replies. is there a way to narrow it down and figure out if its a cracked block?

some more info, i havent had the boat in water yet, i only ran it for a minute or 2 in a 100 gallon tub as i have seen others use. it ran smooth on muffs the other day at the previous owners house but leaked the water. im pretty mechanically inclined so i feel if i can figure out where the water is coming in from, i can do any repairs, i guess except if the block is cracked.
 
Scott215 said:
Freeze plugs are there for a reason. I suppose you could have gotten lucky. Reinstall freeze plugs ,change oil and see where you are. Could be a head gasket or cracked block
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does anyone know if the block didnt crack, but pushed out the freeze plugs, how the water could be entering the engine? i can understand the external leak, but i dont see how it could enter internally. or are you suggesting perhaps i have a few different scenarios happening at the same time?
 
t0mmy91 said:
does anyone know if the block didnt crack, but pushed out the freeze plugs, how the water could be entering the engine? i can understand the external leak, but i dont see how it could enter internally. or are you suggesting perhaps i have a few different scenarios happening at the same time?
Click to expand...

Yes, another option is a bad head gasket. A 24yr old boat with 100 hrs on it, is not a good thing. Based on those numbers you can't tell how long the boat was used and how long it just sat, but 4.x hours per year doesn't work out. This boat has sat for quite some time during it's life. The gaskets dry out when an engine just sit's.

Also there was an issue with the engine freezing with water (non-antifreeze) in the block. If the water in the block was anti-freeze based and the core plug's (casting, freeze out, welch) popped, then the motor is most likely toast.
 
If it popped the freeze plugs I would just pull the motor and tear it down. It a pretty easy process on that boat. It’s either cracked block, head gasket or intake manifold gasket. Either way it needs to be torn down and inspected.
 
Richard Carlisle said:
If it popped the freeze plugs I would just pull the motor and tear it down. It a pretty easy process on that boat. It’s either cracked block, head gasket or intake manifold gasket. Either way it needs to be torn down and inspected.
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sounds good, thanks everyone for the info. if its cracked block, is it something i can verify visually once i tear it down? how about intake or head gasket, are there any obvious signs i can look for?
 
Take the block to an automotive machine shop. If it’s cracked bad it will be visible.
 
t0mmy91 said:
sounds good, thanks everyone for the info. if its cracked block, is it something i can verify visually once i tear it down? how about intake or head gasket, are there any obvious signs i can look for?
Click to expand...

In most cases to see a cracked block it needs to be magnafluzed in order to find it. As to the head gasket, if you have never seen one that is bad, it's pretty hard to describe what to look for, but there would be sign's of a breach between the water jacket(s) and oil gallery(s). On the intake the water galleries are at both ends of the intake manifold. You would need to look at the gasket surfaces there. Another tell tale is if that gasket area comes off in one piece and not split in half.
 
Hi everyone, thanks for the tips so far. i just checked compression, and i have roughy 175-190 in every cylinder
 
The block is cracked in the valley - just pull the intake and you'll see it....that's where they all crack when frozen - It was clearly not winterized and if it pushed out the core plugs, it clearly froze and cracked....the only solution is a new or reman shortblock.....or grind the crack and JB weld it.....not a lot of pressure there and Ive seen it work - what do you have to lose at this point
 
Ididntdoit said:
The block is cracked in the valley - just pull the intake and you'll see it....that's where they all crack when frozen - It was clearly not winterized and if it pushed out the core plugs, it clearly froze and cracked....the only solution is a new or reman shortblock.....or grind the crack and JB weld it.....not a lot of pressure there and Ive seen it work - what do you have to lose at this point
Click to expand...
ok, will do, i will investigate that tomorrow, thankyou!
 
1694486632508.png

Pic is from another post.
www.clubsearay.com

Sixth drain plug on 4.3

Credit to Thornton69: There was water in the intake manifold even though I had pulled the 5 blue plugs. It was necessary to tilt the bow down by compressing the trailer jack. This black steel plug is on the vertical surface behind the belts. An image of a bulletin is attached. A protruding...
www.clubsearay.com www.clubsearay.com
 
Plug off the water hoses and pressurize with about 15 psi of air and see if it bleeds down. Easier than a tear down to definitively conform there is a water leak.

If it bleeds down, then tear down.
 
Bill Curtis said:
Plug off the water hoses and pressurize with about 15 psi of air and see if it bleeds down. Easier than a tear down to definitively conform there is a water leak.

If it bleeds down, then tear down.
Click to expand...
hi, thanks very much, i have never done that before, but i am surely capable. would you mind giving me a quick version on exactly how to do that? what hoses to plug off, and how to pressurize?

im guessing since my compression is good in all cylinders, can i definitively rule out head gasket or intake gasket? and the pressure test would be to confirm a cracked block?
 
scoflaw said:
Pressure test won't work with the freeze plugs popped out. Pull the intake off and look for a crack in the lifter valley like mentioned.
Click to expand...
ok, will do. thank you
 
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