Water in oil / newly rebuilt olds 455

[tbhere]

Just had a question to anyone who might know! I recently aquired a 1975 Kona jet boat. It has a newly built 455.The problem is during breakin it seems to be getting water in the oil. Does anyone have any idea what might cause this? I was thinking it might be a head gasket but not sure. HELP :220v:

[Knucklehead]

Dont turn the faucet on all the way or the gatevalves are set wrong allowing to much water into your exhaust causing it to get sucked in the motor

[tbhere]

Sorry, but new to jet boats! Do you mean that the water intake comming from the jet sould have a valve to control water intake to the motor? :rolleyes:

[Knucklehead]

Most definetly If I understand you correctly , there is not at least 1 valve coming from the jet to your motor?

[Knucklehead]

Look on bassett headers website they have pictures to help you understand how to set up your system. That will make it alot easier .

[tbhere]

Thanks i'll check that out. It does have hardin exhaust manafolds. Would this have done any harm to the motor?

[75MillerJet]

intake manifold gasket? had same problem with mine

[tbhere]

Yah i thought about that. it has edelbrock manifold, does this recuire special gasket or will auto gaskets work?

[El Prosecutor]

You can get milky oil from condensation if the oil temp is running too low.

[THE BOSTON SIDEWINDER]

Run marine or hi performance street gaskets. Could the bolts need re-torquing from the re-build?...bill.

[Cas]

I'd start with the intake torque, hopefully whoever put it together didn't put the intake gaskets on upside down.....I've seen it happen twice on the BBO

[malcolm]

If it has the steel "turkey trey" intake gasket they are very prone to leak water. Use a Mr Gasket type instead.

[robk]

If it has the steel "turkey trey" intake gasket they are very prone to leak water. Use a Mr Gasket type instead.
I just replaced my "turkey tray" with the Mr. Gaskets.... Heard nothing but bad things about the "turkey tray" gasket. Sad part is I never even got a chance to run the "turkey tray" in the water and already have water in the oil just from running it on the hose with a little too much pressure one day while in the process of assembling the boat.
Rob

[SmokinLowriderSS]

Yes, there should be a valve to limit the water flow from the pump. At full power, you could have as much as 300 PSI inside that pump bowl, which is where your cooling water is tapped from and no gasket you will find will take that in your cooling system. Limit the flow at the pump to keep from putting that pressure in the engine. The first thing to blow is usually an intake gasket, even if torqued correctly. Put just a bit of RTV arround the water passages on the ends to help make sure they seal. Good quality auto gaskets should be sufficient. I am having zero trouble from Fel-Pros. I rebuilt a chevy spring '05 and ran her hard all summer, Edelbrock manifold too.
With the log exhausts you should have no need for fancy hardware or extra overboard dumps for cooling water. Jacketed headers are the same way, but a reversed flow setup (engine first, then headers instead of manifolds to engine to snails), and INJECTED headers are a different animal alltogether, needing some additional controll parts and overboard dump.

[malcolm]

I have run the steel gasket before on my 403 without troubles, but have had them leak on different Olds engines.
How much water are we taking here? Total milkshake, or just some wetness on the dipstick? If you're running on the hose make sure you don't leave it on with the engine off. Should be pretty hard to over pressure it that way unless you have some blockage in the outlet hoses and a lot of pressure in your garden hose.

[tbhere]

Yes it was enough water to make milkshake. Enough to cause boiling and steam to eqscape from valve cover breathers and ran like crape. was able to idile back to boat ramp. oil pressure never went below 30psi but did not sound right. I think it was the lifters makeing the noise.
I removed valve covers and thermastat houseing. No thermastat, I beleve it should. Yes? Also as smokinLowriderSS said, water inlet should go to motor first then headers then snail. Mine currently runs to headers then to waterpump connection then from thermastat to snail. this dosn't seam right but just a newbie. Does anyone have the right answer! I have not tore into the rest unless I have to. Still fires up fine though. :rolleyes:

[Oldsquirt]

I removed valve covers and thermastat houseing. No thermastat, I beleve it should. Yes?
No, not unless there has been a "thermostat kit" installed. If your water outlet has 2 fittings, then NO t-stat. If it has 4 fittings, stacked in 2 rows, then that setup would have a t-stat and a bypass valve inside. Your is most likely the 2-port setup as that was the standard setup.
Also as smokinLowriderSS said, water inlet should go to motor first then headers then snail. Mine currently runs to headers then to waterpump connection then from thermastat to snail. this dosn't seam right but just a newbie. Does anyone have the right answer! I have not tore into the rest unless I have to. Still fires up fine though. :rolleyes:
Yours IS plumbed properly for what you have, which is "log-style" exhaust.
SLSS, was speaking of a different type of exhaust when he referenced "water-jacketed headers".

[tbhere]

Ok! first off i just want to say thanks for the great imput :rollside: so i'll need to install a control valve at inlet from jet, like a hand operater type gate valve? and replace intake gaskets, at that point sould i tear into heads to replace head gaskets or if compression is good so should head gaskets? :rolleyes:

[CARLSON-JET]

For safety, you want hardline exiting the pump to a valve (your choice gate or ball) that way you can shut the pressure off should any failure occur in the system. (blown hose, popped freeze plug ect.) you honestly would not believe how fast that pump can fill up the boat through a 3/8 npt.
Next I think just checking the torque on the intake is in order. if the bolts are to spec then I would anticipate more of a problem. if they are loose then you may save yourself some time ect.
I honestly doubt you popped a head gasket so I would save that for last. A compression check is not going to determine if a head gasket failure occured on one of the water jacket passages. A cooling system pressure check would be more in order for that situation. Dig in ... R.B.

[travis hathaway]

:) The only suggestion that I haven't seen here is making sure that your intake is fitting the heads properly. When I replaced my stock intake with a Torker; I had to ave .040 milled off the intake due to the heads having been milled a couple of times. I have also experienced having a water jacketed header getting a crack between the exhaust wall and leaking into the exhaust valve. :)