Water damage

[Unregistered]

My boat was damaged by Hurricane Wilma recently. There was a lot of water in the engine compartment, but it didn't cover the engine completely. Please tell what I should do before trying to crank it. I think the spark plugs and the distributor were not submerged, seems like all the engine oil ended up in the bilge, batteries were submerged or nearly so. You rebuilt my engine last year, and it was great!

[Don Moyer]

In a nutshell, the best thing you can do for your engine is to get it started as soon as possible.

It sounds as though the water level rose to the point that it buoyed most (if not all) the oil up and out of the front of the engine and into the bilge. If this is your situation, you would only have to pump the water out of the oil pan and replace it with good oil, run the engine a few minutes, and then change the oil again. It usually takes at least 3 oil changes before the milky color will disappear.

You might want to add a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil (MMO) in with the last oil change to head off corrosion within the oil system.

If the water rose higher than the carburetor, you'll have to remove the 1/2" hex-headed main passage plug in the bottom of the carburetor to drain out the water from inside the carburetor.

Good luck,

Don