Clicking noise from engine at speed

[Rugburn]

Yesterday I was running my LSV successfully for at least 2 hours. We idled through a no wake zone for about a half an hour. When I cleared the no wake zone, I went up to speed and I heard a loud clicking from the engine. I put the tranny in neutral and rev'd the engine and got no clicking, but when under load, it clicks again. Its definately not anything on the drive train. The clicking comes from within the engine. I noticed alot of condensation on and around the carburetor (its fuel injected). I also noticed my temperature guage was at 100 (lowest to the left). The left exhaust was signicantly cooler than the right exhaust. When I pulled the dipstick it looked like chocolate milk. The engine starts right away, idles fine, doesnt smoke. Im taking it to a dealer today hoping its not a blown engine or cracked head. Anybody else have this happen to them?

[VA LSV]

Sounds like a head gasket. Chocolote milk on the dipstick = water in the oil.

[Rugburn]

That is what they are saying so far at the repair facility. They havent officially contacted me yet. They think it could have been that weeds jammed up an intake and overheated the engine.

[Rugburn]

UPDATE: weeds sucked in to the transmission cooler caused the engine overheat, warping the heads. Cylinders #4 and #6 show only 28psi compression. Using a borescope they saw scoring on the cylinder walls too, which could mean engine replacement.

My question is, how could have I seen this coming? I almost always keep my eye on the temp guage and it never got above 180. Matter of fact it hovered around 100, which I thought was odd, but put it down to being a faulty sensor or connection to the sensor.

[Rugburn]

UPDATE #2: Looks like only one head is bad, the other is fine, just a gasket. No cylinder damage either. What they saw on the scope was only mark left by the milky oil and was wiped away. State Farm Insurance rocks, they have been awesome.

FYI: It is a Mastercraft dealer doing the repair. 1) because they are 3 miles from me, not 75, like the nearest Moomba Dealer.

2) Moomba Dealer did factory ballast system in my boat last year and used a razor blade to scrape off the caulk around the floor. Not so good for the gel coat. Also, greasy footprint and handprints left everywhere, and I do mean, everywhere. When I asked the Dealer manager about it, he said it should just wipe off and walked away. Bad taste left in mouth.

[deerfield]

just a gasket.

Rugburn - Was this the source of the clicking sound? - Deerfield

[Rugburn]

Yes it was. It was the sound of lifters and valves clicking in two cylinders that didnt have compression.