Cruiser 33 2014 . Volvo D130 F Water in engine and Compression test

[ANTREVELL]

Volvp D130 F Engine and saildrive

I did a stupid thing using the boatyard mains water tap to cool my engine . The result was water got into the cylinder and the oil. I did not run the engine but burnt the starter motor out trying to start it.   I have since removed the injectors replaced the starter and replaced the engine oil and filter and spun the engine to exhaust any water out of the injectors . Adding a liberal amount of wd 40 in the injector holes . A marine engineer has since tested the compression on all cylinders and run the engine. He says one cylinder is slightly lower pressure  than the other 2  . Apparently the engine runs smoothly so in his opinion I have been very lucky  .  He suggests I run the engine for an hour using my normal method of a container of water hung over the exhaust with a hose connected to the water pump so it recirculates . Then replace the engine oil again.  He says he will then do another compression test. Mainly for my peace of mind .  I keep my engine running kit at home and will never again try to save the journey home to get it!!
Ironically the engine is only 18months old and done 100hours.  The original was damaged by a boat hoist .  I am thinking I am lucky the starter motor failed instead of bending a con rod or something worse.

Does anybody have any experience and knowledge of my stupid mistake .   Never too old to learn !!!   

Regards Tony Revell

[IslandAlchemy]

Sounds like a lucky escape to me.

[Yngmar]

Well, I guess you've learnt your lesson and got away with it!

For those who didn't catch on what happened: Never connect a pressurized hose to your water intake - the pressurized water will flow up the wet exhaust in the absence of exhaust pressure and into whichever cylinder has an open exhaust valve. Same reason you shouldn't endlessly crank an engine that doesn't want to start (the cranking still turns the raw water pump). Water is not compressible, so when cranking the engine with water in a cylidner, something else will break, in this case luckily only the starter, worst case you will end up completely destroying the engine.

I met a guy with a classic motorboat which had a long, gently sloping exhaust run. When lifting the boat, the stern got raised higher than the bow and the water sitting in the exhaust hose ran back into one engine. Upon cranking it (without knowing about the water in the cylinder), the pushrods bent and he was lucky it was just that. Surprisingly, the engine ran like that - a bit rough and on 3 cylinders

Taking the intake hose off the seacock and hanging it in a bucket that is being filled by the boatyard hose is fine.

[Rampage]

I helped a mate to get his boat back in the water after a long layup and we managed to waterlock the engine (insect nest in the anti syphon loop).  Engineer removed all the injectors, we span the engine and all got soaked with seawater, replaced the injectors and the engine started first time and ran with no problems thereafter. 
We had a lucky escape as the engine position was such that it was stuck in position without being able to rotate and thus damage anything by spinning.  Also it was only an hour or so between discovering the problem and the engineer arriving, so not enough time for any corrosion.

[Salty]

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For those who didn't catch on what happened: Never connect a pressurized hose to your water intake - the pressurized water will flow up the wet exhaust in the absence of exhaust pressure and into whichever cylinder has an open exhaust valve. ..........

.........................Surprisingly, the engine ran like that - a bit rough and on 3 cylinders

Taking the intake hose off the seacock and hanging it in a bucket that is being filled by the boatyard hose is fine.

Listen up Guys, Yngmars comments in reply no 2 above and partially copied here are really good advice, so take heed.

P.S. He should be so lucky, I never ever managed to get my MD2020 engine to run on more than three cylinders !!! 🤪🤪🤪