Hi Silas Talb!
Sorry to hear about the water in the oil issue you’ve experienced.🫣
Typically that means a head gasket failed between the oil gallery and the coolant passages. ( Possibly fixable

)
Alternatively it could be corrosion through the coolant passage wall(s) to the oil galleries ( Probably not fixable

)
The services of a good mechanic should be of value in actually determining what the problem is if you have an interest in knowing.
Curiosity, what year and how many hours of operational time does your old DF70 engine have anyway?
If your looking for a new engine here is the link to the official Suzuki Dealer Finder.
https://www.suzukimarine.com/find-a-dealer/
We changed from a 2001 Tohatsu 50 hp 2-stroke to a new Suzuki DF60AV 4-stroke ultra low emissions a couple of years ago.
We are

VERY HAPPY

with it!!!
Very reliable, easy to service, lots of power for our needs and gets stunning fuel economy (especially compared to our old 2-stroke).
As with anything good annual and preventative maintenance practices help from the very get go.
Just the normal stuff of :
> Upper & lower unit oil and oil filter changes every 100 hours.
> Annual inspection and replacement (as required by condition) of the external AND internal engine sacrificial anodes
> Annual replacement of the water pump impeller (and impeller housing as required by condition)
> Annual replacement of the on engine fuel filter
> Annual replacement of the engine spark plugs
The above are just the normal stuff one should be doing for any engine anyway irrespective of age or type to help it have a happy and productive life for as long as possible.
These are all easily accomplished on our DF60AV in our driveway in a couple hours.
We had our purchasing dealer do the initial break-in service interval and beneficially were able to watch him go through that process.
We’ve done this twice now as we’ve reached 300+ hours so far of actual meter logged operational hours.
It’s not hard or difficult (but it is nice to have a second set of hands when removing the lower unit as it is a bit awkward, as it is on any outboard).
The only cautionary aspect is to make sure that when undoing the shifter rod BEFORE unbolting & removing the lower unit you MEASURE & MARK THE FACTORY SET POSITION BEFORE UNDOING IT! (As you might rightly assume I almost missed




accomplishing that on the first go round…Whew!!! Thankfully my neighbor came over to help (ex-Navy small engine mechanic) and caught my impending boo-boo


).
Note: If that does happen to someone it’s not the end of the world. One just needs to do a couple of simple driveway test runs (with running water muffs installed) to adjust it… Would be easier with two people than one!
Hope this is of some help for you and others… We’re all in this together


Best Regards,
Over Easy



