Association Forum - What's that white stuff doing in my oil...

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

What's that white stuff doing in my oil...

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Unsinkable2
Captain

Member Avatar

USA
273 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/30/2008 : 15:09:20

Trying to start the outboard the other day, I could get it to start and idle, but as soon as I put it in gear and under a load, it would stop. And when I reved the motor, it would not go very fast in neutral.

Fuel flow seemed ok, so I checked the oil. The dipstick came out with this thick whitish frothy substance on it. (I seem to have noticed the last two times I started the motor that there was a little oil in the water after starting the outboard, but just assumed it was already there. Now I wonder if it was somehow from my outboard?)

I wondered if it might be frothing in the oil because the motor has been moved a bit recently, although I am careful to lay it on the correct side when it does have to lay down. But when I pulled the spark plugs, I didn't see anything unusual on the plugs (which I think would have been the case if oil had leaked past the pistons). I am certain the oil was not overfilled - it had been run for many hours since the last filling, and none had been added.

I drained the oil (which looked more like a whitish caramel), then flushed the system by running another quart slowly through, pulling slowly on the starter cord to make sure the fresh oil was fully circulated.

Then I refilled the oil (.8 quarts) and ran the motor for about 10 minutes in a tub of water. The motor worked much better, achieved satisfactory RPMs, the oil pressure light glowed green, water ran through the engine just fine, etc.

Then I shut it off and went to drain the oil. It was white again, although less viscous this time (perhaps because it was warm.) Although I suspect there was still some of the old whitish oil left in the motor after my flushing, this seemed to be more than leftovers.

This is my second major let down with the outboard this summer, so after reading everyone's posts on outboards, I ordered the Tohatsu 9.8 from onlineOutBoards.com, should get here this next week. However, I want to get this one fixed as a standby, as long as it is not too serious a problem (serious = too expensive or too time consuming to fix)

Anyone know what is causing this? This a ca 1980's Honda B100 (the early version of the BF100.)

--Skipper of the Unsinkable2
http://blog.unsinkable2.com
1977 Catalina 25 SK/SR #246 "Unsinkable 2"
1964 Lido 14 #1878 "Tomato Sloop"

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 08/30/2008 : 15:19:15

Mike,
You're getting water in your oil somehow. The milky-caramel colored oil is a dead give away. Maybe you've got a blown head gasket, or a leaking seal, something along those lines that's letting water mix with the engine's oil. Unless you're a small engine mechanic, I'd take it to a shop to have them diagnose what's actually causing it, and you definitely don't want to be running it until it's fixed.

We have the Tohatsu 9.8 as well, and love it so far (just got it).

Edited by - on

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

3072 Posts

Response Posted - 08/30/2008 : 20:54:41

" I could get it to start and idle, but as soon as I put it in gear and under a load, it would stop. And when I reved the motor, it would not go very fast in neutral."

Classic behavior of small 2 cylinder outboard running on 1 cylinder... coupled with the water in oil I'd suspect a bad head gasket. BF100 is getting pretty old. May be tough to find parts.

Edited by - on

stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

1608 Posts

Response Posted - 08/30/2008 : 22:06:43

If you are going to fix it or have it fixed, do it quickly OR drain the oil and refill with clean oil and turn your motor upside down to coat the parts with oil before the water begins rust process. Don't restart, but pull the cord a couple times with spark plug removed.

Edited by - on

Unsinkable2
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
273 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 11:32:19

Thanks guys. I have filled with oil and put it in the workshop for now. I won't have a saturday to rebuild it until this winter, so I'll just wait a few days til the new Tohatsu arrives. Incidentally, I spent Monday in the mountains here (Salt Lake City) and we received several inches of snow! I need to get all the sailing in that I can in the next month or two before sailing season ends!

Edited by - on

stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

1608 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 21:55:33

Three days before the end of August, and 20 Kms to the west of us in the Rocky Mountains there was a dump of snow. YIKES.

Most years there is no snow in the mountains until late October or November.

Edited by - on

Unsinkable2
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
273 Posts

Response Posted - 09/03/2008 : 10:34:17

Yeah, the mountains never cease to surprise you. More than once I've been on backpacking trips here in the Rockies (Uintah range) in July and have been surprised by a fast moving storm during the night that will dump 6 inches of snow. No matter how much you tell yourself to expect the unexpected, that surprises you. I took my first sailing courses in a day sailer up there. The water was 45 degrees, so swamping and bailing out the boats was... invigorating.

Edited by - on

Unsinkable2
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
273 Posts

Response Posted - 09/07/2008 : 17:02:31

I got my new Tohatsu 9.8 from OnlineOutboards.com
We're VERY happy. We opted for the electric start. Motor came quickly and was easy to get it ready to run. Currently on hour 6 of the break in period for the new motor. Admiral is very pleased!
I'd strongly recommend OnlineOutboards.com AND the Tohatsu (although I have only used the Tohatsu for 5 hours so far...)
Details here:
http://blog.unsinkable2.com/2008/09/new-outboard.html

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.