Westerbeke Genny: Water in Oil?

[Prospective]

Hey, asking this for a friend.

He has a 2002 32ft SeaRay Sundancer with a 5kw Gas westerbeke Genny. He has had trouble starting it from time to time but this summer it wouldn't start after repeated attempts.

Calls in mechanic, who is good but not a genny specialist. He checked all the basics including fuel, spark, etc.. without any success. Finally after checking the oil he saw that it was overfilled and drained some. That's when they saw significant water in the oil.

3 Question:
-Given no obvious mechanical failures anywhere, how the hell does water (presumably seawater)get in the oil?
-I seem to remember reading stuff about not excessively cranking a generator that won't start because it could ingest water. Could this be the issue and if so how? I don't get the plumbing I guess.
-What is the remedy? Rebuild, Replace, or some lesser rehab?

Mechanic is not a Westerbeke specialist and thinks maybe it ingested water through the exhaust if it was run under way? But he's really not sure. This is such a common setup I'm guessing there is some common explanation for such a major failure.

 

[pdecat]

Excessive cranking will fill the exhaust and then the engine. That is the most likely cause of water under the circumstances.

 

[Prospective]

quote:

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Originally posted by pdecat

Excessive cranking will fill the exhaust and then the engine. That is the most likely cause of water under the circumstances.

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pdcat, I thought I had read that somewhere. Can you explain the plumbing to me and how that would happen or direct me to some place that has more info?

It doesn't make sense to me how raw water gets from the that side of the engine into the crankcase oil. Like I said, I don't get the plumbing.

 

[pdecat]

the exhaust usually passes through a water lift muffler. That muffler needs exhaust pressure to push the water out. With no exhaust the cranking umps water into the system eventually flooding it. It is a common and serious problem. Genny makers should put a big red sign on them warning people.

The solution is to close the intake seacock if you have a problem starting.

 

[tugboat kevin]

its an 8 hp 3 cylinder Mitsubishi engine with dainty connecting rods the slightest water in the cylinder bends the rod (it has a 2 inch thick heavy flywheel) a bent rod will show up as low compression in that cylinder its cheaper to replace the engine than rebuild all thease small gas gennys are around 10 grand now so maintaining the older ones is a good investment