hello i have a 4 winns inboard boat i recently got the starter replaced and somewiring. they said everything was running fine. so i took it into the water then my batttery kept dying i kept bring it out and charging it to my vehicle with cables and it started after several attempts after the third time we stopped. then i took it back out a couple days later after leaving it on charge and battery didnt turn over and went and purchased a new battery. then got it out on the water and after several min of it running the boat started smoking by the battery we shut the boat off immediately noticed some milky stuff everywhere… when we checked the oil it looked milky and overfull… we then took it back home cleaned the motor changed the spark plugs fushed oil through the motor got the engine oil looking clear then hooked it up to a garden hose at home to try see if it started… it turned over several times and the battery started smoking again and now no noise at all like our brand new just bought today battery is dead??? any suggestions???
It sounds like you have blown a headgasket and the motor is drinking the cooling water. The milky stuff is oil and water mixed, which is a no-no. Your starter/battery problem is probably not a starter problem at all, it’s just that the motor won’t spin if a cylinder is full of water. Put the hose in the cooling system, charge the battery and TAKE ALL THE SPARK PLUGS OUT before you spin it again. It will probably spin fine with the plugs out and one or more of the cylinders will spit water. Sorry.
Yes. Water is getting into a cylinder or two. The starter is drawing huge am’t of energy to turn the engine, which must be close to hydrolocking.
When it hydrolocks, your engine is done… finite… dead.
You have a leaking head or head gasket, but the number of reason for water entering an engine is a failed exhaust manifold or exhaust riser. This is the number one reason for marine engine failure.
If this is salt water we are talking about, the engine is already ready for the scrap heap. Every internal part is corroded and due to fail soon, especially the bearings.
With salt, you have a day or two to get all the oil/water mix out (that time seems to have passed). Even if you did that in 24 hrs, the affected cylinder is crap anyway.
You would need to keep doing oil changes to flush the milky oil out AND find and fix the problem to get the engine to a state of salvage. I wouldn’t use that engine again if this is salt water we are talking about.
Exhaust systems on boats can be very, very expensive.
Come on over to iboats.com