Help! Milky oil pouring out of the PTO seal on my 2003 GTX 4-Tec SC!

[rcarp64]

I recently purchased a 2003 Sea Doo GTX 4-tec Supercharged with 107 hours. I knew when I bought it that it needed an impeller and wear ring and a supercharger rebuild. I didn't know that it needed a whole new pump too. So now I have a new pump, Solas impeller, and rebuilt supercharger. After spending all that money, a hose clamp broken on my stainless exhaust manifold while riding and allowed about 4 inches of salt water to fill the hull, thereby tripping the exhaust hi-temp warning light/beep. The exhaust wasn't getting cooled properly because water was not circulating through the whole system. I pulled the ski out of the water and opened the rear drains and that's when I noticed an oil slick coming out. Back home, I fixed the hose clamp and ran the ski with a garden hose while I used my inspection camera to watch the PTO seal. It was pouring out milky oil (water in the oil) while the engine was running. Is it possible that my PTO seal is so bad that the 4 inches of standing water got in through the seal and contaminated the oil? I pulled the dipstick and there is milky oil at the bottom of the stick below the bottom notch too. Do I have a bad manifold that is allowing water contamination? The engine runs great and the compression is at factory spec on all cylinders. Any ideas what the oil contamination problem is? I ordered a new PTO seal to install, but I don't want to install it and possibly ruin the new seal if the water is getting in the oil elsewhere. I'm going to pull the manifold and check for any holes, but if that is OK, what else could be the source? I am not a PWC mechanic, I just have a good mechanical background and I've read a lot on-line how to replace the PTO seal. I'm getting in over my head and I need help.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

It's unclear how the water entered the crankcase but if you see water mixed with your engine oil, you need to change the contaminated oil immediately (probably two or three times consecutively), to absorb the contamination.

I tend to believe the water entered the crankcase from around the PTO, or it may have entered through the oil cooler mounted in the oil pan but since the bilge was flooded I would guess the water entered from around the PTO.

 

[rcarp64]

Thanks Sportster. I pulled the PTO seal off, removed the supercharger, removed the oil filter and sucked out all the oil I could (almost 4qt). I am waiting on my new PTO seal to arrive so I can reinstall everything and do several oil changes. I did a manifold test a mechanic told me about where you put a hose fitting on the water intake hose going into the exhaust manifold and then loop the hoses on the other end of the manifold so as to create a closed system. I connected a hose and turned on the water full blast to see if any water penetrated from the water jackets into the exhaust opening of the manifold itself and there was no penetration of water at all, so my manifold is not leaking water into the engine. The water in the oil must have come from the faulty PTO seal like you said.

 

[devonte007]

Did you by any chance have the water connected to the flush port and turned on without the engine running? If you did, this could be why you got water inside the engine.

If you are flushing the exhaust with water the engine MUST be running or you will flood your cylinders with water. Without exhaust back pressure water can enter the engine through the exhaust manifold/exhaust valves when it is not running.

Based on your last post, it sounds like this is what you are doing?

 

[rcarp64]

Thanks for your response devonte007. Your post and question is valid, but I've been into Jet Skis for over 40 years and I know that #1 rule about flushing the engine. I haven't run water into the engine without starting it first. What I did with the pressure test was on a closed loop cooling 4-tec engine. The outside water is only drawn into the exhaust system, not the engine. It would take a lot of water forced into the exhaust system to backfill into the cylinders. The test I did isolates the water to flowing through the exhaust manifold only. I connect a garden hose to the water inlet hose that connects to the bottom of the manifold at the front. Then I connected together the two small hoses at the rear of the manifold which makes a sealed loop. Water is going into the water jackets of the exhaust manifold and around the exhaust manifold pipes only, but cannot escape unless you have a penetrating hole in the metal from one of the water jackets into the exhaust piping of the manifold. You will know you have a hole if water runs out of the rear of the exhaust manifold where it connects to the stainless J-pipe of the exhaust system. If no water leaks out anywhere, then there is no problem with the manifold. This hole in the manifold is a common problem with the 2003+ 4-tec engines and the water leak will often fill the back cylinder with water causing engine hydro-lock.

 

[devonte007]

Sorry man, did not mean to offend. Didn't know you had a good working knowledge of these marine motors. I am by no way an expert, but it often surprises me how little most people understand about boats and marine engines in general.

Totally understand what you are trying to do now, isolating the individual systems that could potentially cause your problem.

Seems like you have narrowed your problem down to a bad PTO seal. Curious, was the seal leaking oil prior to the water contamination event? Didn't realize a bad PTO seal could cause this type of water contamination issue in the crankcase. Do you think it went bad due to age, rubber got hard, cracked, not sealing any more?

Asking because I also have an older 4tec engine and I may take a closer look at my PTO seal so something like this does not happen to me if for some reason I get water in the bilge above that seal. Haven't really heard about this sort of thing being an issue before, just trying to stay informed. I'll keep tabs on your progress, I hope you are able to get back out on the water without too much trouble.

 

[rcarp64]

No devonte007, you didn't offend me at all. I agree with you about how many people make the "improper flushing" mistake. I am no expert either, I just read as much as possible to learn. The PTO seal's bearing is sealed when it's new and it looses that sealing ability over time. Salt water in the hull speeds that process up. I just bought this ski a few weeks ago and didn't realize how much salt water had been in it prior to my ownership until all the rear hoses/parts were removed and I could see all the corrosion/rust on the clamps down low. After removing it last night I could see that my PTO seal bearing was actually coming apart. It still spins, but it is not seated properly and that's where my leak was coming from. I've checked everything else I could think of and the PTO seems to be the only possible source of my oil contamination. Everything is out of the rear of the ski now after having to cut my floating seal in half to get it out because everything was corroded together. So, I have ordered a new driveshaft, PTO seal kit, carbon seal, floating seal, "O" rings, circlip, etc. and will be putting everything back together this weekend hopefully. Then I will do several oil changes to flush my engine of all the contaminated oil and see if the ski works like it should. Praying hard because, even though I bought the ski at a discounted price, I am now into it for more than it's worth. Ugh.