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Hey guys. This is my first post to this (or any) forum ever, so be nice or at least have a lot of fun with the newbie! I recently acquired a '92 235 Vista and my family has had a great time with it. However, I was messing with it in the driveway the other day and pulled the dipstick. This was probably a good idea, because I found my oil to be brownish-gray color and as thick as a milkshake. It also went halfway up my dipstick (11") instead of the "safe" level of 3". I have a couple of theories of what it may be, but I'm hoping for some feedback from some of you crafty veterans. The two things I can think of are a head gasket and a cracked manifold. The boat was running perfectly when I parked it, so nothing even showed up in the way it was running to give me any clues. Another thing that's adding to the confusion is the very strong smell of gasoline also present in the oil. Any suggestions? Oh, and there appears to be about 2-3" of water in the engine compartment.

Possible Helpful Info:
351 King Cobra with 330 hours
Recently replaced exhaust bellows due to some stupidity. Exhaust manifold was probably superheated at one point (ran about 6-8 minutes at 3500 RPM with no water to cool them). So much steam from the engine compartment we thought the boat was on fire!!!

Warped head, bad head gasket, cracked block, cracked head, nothing thats good news.

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I agree (and you know) that you have a problem. You're going to have to tear down the motor and examine the head gasket and intake gasket. I suspect that will reveal your problem area. If not then check the power steering and oil coolers (if eqquipped). Look at the bright side...atleast you will have a winter boat project!

PS---> What was the source of the overheating? I assume you have corrected this problem?

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Marc, Kathlin & Nathalie


'89 Chaparral Laser 32

'93 Vista 245, 5.8L w/ King Cobra

Former Boats
'01 H260, 7.4 VP Duoprop
'98 H200, 5.0 GL w/VP SX drive

MIght as well go from the top down and find the crack in either your intake, heads (most likely), or the block. I think it's wishful at best for just a gasket.

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1992 Baja 38 Special Twin 502 Mags

03 Stingray 3.0
88 261 Liberator 460 King Cobras
95 Bayliner 1850 3.0
77 Fiber Form 20ft 350/385hp
70 Wescraft 1800 SS 455 Jet

Lead, Follow, or get the Hell out of the Way!

F word! Not good news! From any of you! Well people told me owning a boat was bad for my wallet...Thanks for the info, though.

The source of the overheating of the exhaust was 2 missing soft plugs in the bottom of the engine the previous owner (moron) failed to mention. It was dumping all the water from the bottom of the engine into the boat instead of sending it out the exhaust. The motor itself never got over 155 degrees, though. I had the compression checked out after the ultra hot exhaust, and it was fine, so hopefully the cracked head thing will be only a scary theory. It does have a power steering cooler, so I'll definitely check that out, too.

Maybe I should have renamed this thing...

I have seen this once before in an engine that didn't have brass freeze plugs because it was an auto block. When the boat was exposed to salt water for cooling the plugs eventually leaked the water into the block and turned the oil into a milkshake like substance similar to yours. Unfortunately a rebuild is in the order. I am in the rebuild stage myself with the exact same boat. What is your engine make and size? Pm me with your Info maybe we can help each other out. I don't know anybody else with our boat model. Good luck!

if your soft plugs were out, then that means the thing froze with water in it during the winter, soft plugs are not designed to be removed, they push out when water freezes behind them. Sorry to say but you most likely have "other" cracking issue's in that engine allowing the water to get in the oil. Check for cracks along the sides of the block where the soft plugs are (both sides) and pull the heads and look for cracks there

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Bridgewater, PA
2008 Vista 318