Oil cooler failure, will it ruin engine?

[04cobra23]

Had my boat sold and the surveyor found water in the starboard oil. Had the mechanic go by and it was determined the oil cooler went bad. The surveyor told the buyer that this would remove life on the engine. I've spoken to 5 different merc mechanics and they all told me that's BS. Any take on this?

 

[Ididntdoit]

Which would you rather have - a motor that took a saltwater douche or one that didn't.......if I were negotiating for a boat and found that, I would use it as leverage too.....but I wouldn't run away. Seriously, you know it wasn't "good" for it.....I guess its like saying smoking or drinking, etc will shorten your life......who knows by how much?

 

[04cobra23]

The guy is passing on that boat. The surveyor told him that the salt water causes rapid wear and will shorten the engine dependability and life. Said its like sand in the oil. The water evaporates leaving crystals which wear bearings and bushings.

 

[04cobra23]

That's the fun part. When buying a boat there is absolutely no way of knowing this. At least in this case the problem wasn't huge and it was repaired immediately. Someone can have a serious problem and cover it up.

 

[northern]

We had an oil cooler fail. Salt water got into the engine when I shut it off. The engine oil pressure kept the oil flowing out but when the engine shut down it sucked water into the engine. I changed the oil 4 times in a couple of hours. Ran the boat for 8 hours after that then changed the oil again. At the time the engine had 1000 hours on it, it now has 2700 hours. I checked compression after and all were close.
If I was a buyer and did not know how the problem was corrected I would walk also.
Document what you did and get a compression test on both engines now and in 100 hours out. If the same it will probably help sell the boat.
If the water was in the engine for days I would be concerned. If for a few hours I would be less concerned.

 

[04cobra23]

Took the boat out on Saturday to test everything. She ran perfect, Oil and Water temp was normal and ran smooth as can be. I will send an oil analysis myself to see what it comes back as. I am assuming if the oil is good than there is no damage done to the motor.

 

[dpmulvey]

The guy is passing on that boat. The surveyor told him that the salt water causes rapid wear and will shorten the engine dependability and life. Said its like sand in the oil. The water evaporates leaving crystals which wear bearings and bushings.

And they let this person vote?

 

[04cobra23]

And they let this person vote?

Seriously....

 

[JVM225]

No hard answer:
Water intrusion in to the oil is never a good thing. If caught in time before any immediately fatal damage, the motor can definitely be salvageable and can probably run normally for a long time under ideal conditions, but probably not as long as it would have run if water had never gotten in to it. How much premature wear the water causes is anyone's guess.