Jacques wrote:
Daniel wrote in message

Ralph

Not so uncommon and may be due to a malfunctioning of the exhaust/raw
water discharge circuit.
Sometimes it is just a vent that is plugged and permits a backflow of
water into the cylinders after shutting off the engine. The water, then,
seeps between the pistons and the cylinder walls into the sump.
Sometimes this problem, if not understood early, may cause the blow up
of the engine head at the next attempt to start the engine.


I second that. Also look in an exhaust system design flaw. Could the
seawater siphon back?

Jacques
http://bateau.com

Ralph,
this is exactely what I was trying to say but I missed the proper word
"siphon". In my engine there is a vent (actually a small copper tube
that goes overboard) in the highest point of the sal****er circuit
discharge, before the latter joins the water-cooled/wet part of the
exhaust. This vent avoids sal****er siphoning into an engine installed
below the waterline. And mind it: the siphoning is not through the
exhaust outlet that, usually, is out of the water, but the other way
round, through the sal****er pump and its inlet seacock.

Regarding moisture condensation in cold engines, this is mainly a
problem of muffler rusting in cars. What the starter of the thread had
in mind (and me too) was more than a quarter of water emulsioned with
oil in the sump. Something that makes you think: "gee, finally my
engine has stopped burning oil...!!!!"

Daniel