Anyone ever experience this?

[12vman]

I have a '97 Gsi that I keep on a trailer for occasional use in freshwater.

2 years ago I did a motor Swap with SBT for a rebuilt 720.

I put 10-15 hours on that motor since it was swapped out.

I had the machine in the water back in July for the day.

My normal procedure:, back on the trailer and pull it out of the water. Open the drainplugs and run it briefly on the ramp to
clear out any water. Turn off the fuel, disconnect the battery and cover it up.

Flash forward to last week. I was ready to put it in the water - tried to start it
and the battery was weak.

Pulled the plugs and hit the starter. Copius amounts of liquid blew out of the cylinders.

Honestly I couldn't tell but it seemed to me that there was some water in there.

How is that possible? I am the only operator. There wasn't any residual water in the bilge.

I see no evidence that anyone else tried to use it.

 

[mikidymac]

Are you sure it isn’t oil? Pretty common on these to have the inner crank seals leaking oil into the cylinders.

 

[AKnarrowback]

Double check if it is oil and get back to us.

 

[12vman]

Finally getting back to this issue.....

It wasn't water, it was oil! The oil tank(which was previously 3/4 full) is now empty.

I took the plugs out and put a a towel over the engine and cranked it for 5 seconds. The towel was completely soaked and there is still a ton of oil in the cylinders.

Much better than water but what a mess! I checked the throttle cable linkage to the oil pump and everything looks normal.

 

[mikidymac]

It’s your inner crankshaft seals. Only true fix is a new crankshaft.

If it’s only filling up after sitting a few days you can put a ball valve on the rotary cavity feed line.

 

[12vman]

I am finding it very hard to believe that it could be the inner crank seals.....

This is a SBT Rebuild that was completed in 2019. I have only put ~ 15 hours on this motor since the rebuild.

Is there some kind of diaphragm inside the oil pump that could have failed where gravity is constantly allowing it to flow?

 

[mikidymac]

Nope. It’s the crank seals.

FYI SBT isn’t the best quality.

You can contact them about warranty issues.