Engine overheat despite all new water intake system
- Thread starter Ward H
- Start date
External strainer will keep you from sucking in a jellyfish which will surely plug your hose. As you have stated remove all hose reducers. Internal strainer will stop the grass from proceeding further without blocking flow. In addition, wire an electric boat horn to your engine over-temperature switch. Simple installation that you are sure to hear when your engine overheats. Horn saved my engine twice.
Interesting idea. Also, might try checking the temp gauge every now and then.
Before taking everything all apart, the easy way to clear something between the raw water strainer and the outside is to disconnect the thru-hull to raw water strainer hose at the strainer, shove the bitter end into your air horn and blow the horn. If what ever is in the intake line can come out easily it will.
The devil is in the details: make sure you press the hose VERY firmly into the air horn because otherwise it can be noisy. Secondly, (firstly?
) make sure the hose on the thru-hull is firmly attached.
Another option is to lower the bitter end down low (below the water line) and it should flow water. If it does then depending on the flow probably don't need to use the air horn trick. If slow then try blowing with your mouth. If it blows easily with no problem then go looking elsewhere for the problem.
This has saved me troubleshooting numerous times and normally it has been some eel grass. Its quick and easy.
The devil is in the details: make sure you press the hose VERY firmly into the air horn because otherwise it can be noisy. Secondly, (firstly?
) make sure the hose on the thru-hull is firmly attached.Another option is to lower the bitter end down low (below the water line) and it should flow water. If it does then depending on the flow probably don't need to use the air horn trick. If slow then try blowing with your mouth. If it blows easily with no problem then go looking elsewhere for the problem.
This has saved me troubleshooting numerous times and normally it has been some eel grass. Its quick and easy.
Does the air blow the critter out, or does he back out because of the noise?Before taking everything all apart, the easy way to clear something between the raw water strainer and the outside is to disconnect the thru-hull to raw water strainer hose at the strainer, shove the bitter end into your air horn and blow the horn. If what ever is in the intake line can come out easily it will.
The devil is in the details: make sure you press the hose VERY firmly into the air horn because otherwise it can be noisy. Secondly, (firstly?
Another option is to lower the bitter end down low (below the water line) and it should flow water. If it does then depending on the flow probably don't need to use the air horn trick. If slow then try blowing with your mouth. If it blows easily with no problem then go looking elsewhere for the problem.
This has saved me troubleshooting numerous times and normally it has been some eel grass. Its quick and easy.
I repowered from an M25 to a beta 25 and the beta specifies 3/4 as the minimum raw water supply size. Both motors are Kubota of similar size so Universal was probably at bare minimum size at my original 1/2 inch system. Also if your Groco used 1/2 inch NPT fittings that is the thread size not the ID of the fitting. See if you can get a 3/4 barb with 1/2 NPT. The other limitation is the size of the inlet and outlet of the pump. If that is 1/2 bigger hoses upstream won’t help much.
As both @LeslieTroyer and I (and probably others) have, the nmea engine monitors do output data to the displays, and things like water temp can be configured so that the cockpit displays will also start making racket when things are headed for the cliff.
I also agree that an external strainer is not necessarily a great idea. When transiting the little Catalina home, we went into Crescent Beach to clear customs, and rewarded for that with a strainer full of sea grass going into the marina and leaving the marina. Had there been an external strainer, it would have been a problem as we were not even close to prepared to take a swim.
I also agree that an external strainer is not necessarily a great idea. When transiting the little Catalina home, we went into Crescent Beach to clear customs, and rewarded for that with a strainer full of sea grass going into the marina and leaving the marina. Had there been an external strainer, it would have been a problem as we were not even close to prepared to take a swim.
It has been a few years, but I recall comeone had a clogged line to the head intake. Pulled everything aprt and there was a fish big enough to clog the hose. External is good.
That's my plan. I was impressed by @LeslieTroyer 's setup when I was on his boat. I was thinking I didn't
need that high tech but instead of playing with better gauges and alarms I'm now planning on the NoLand RS11 system to bring engine data to my i70S displays.
External is NOT so good: Why External Strainers are a Bad Idea 101 (Maine Sail) http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=124964
Air horn? Try taking the input hose to the rw pump off and using the dinghy foot pump. Worked for me a couple of times. Wouldn't have worked with what Ward sucked up, though. It did clear the thru hull those two times for me, in SF. Water's cleaner up here...
Air horn? Try taking the input hose to the rw pump off and using the dinghy foot pump. Worked for me a couple of times. Wouldn't have worked with what Ward sucked up, though. It did clear the thru hull those two times for me, in SF. Water's cleaner up here...
That's all I got, and depend on it. It's a habit, easily learned. Just keep lookin'. Gettin' deaf isn't conducive to audible alarms. What, what, what?!?
Ward:
Was the engine overheating at all before you did the work over the winter?
If the engine was doing "fine" at lower RPM's but suddenly overheated at higher flows, you may have a condition that I discovered: Your heat exchanger needs to by ultrasonically cleaned -- NOT just routing it out; or using a little acid cleaner. I spent two frustrating weeks on a long cruise having a major, "renowned" yard, going over everything else -- only to discover what my home Mechanic suggested might be an issue in the beginning. While the yard ended-up not charging me much, it cost me and my bride a couple weeks of sit-in the harbor and greet mechanics who were ordering this and that overnighted to Maine. Each test sail produced the same old result. Finally, I demanded that they pull the heat exchanger and take it a radiator shop overnight. The next day it was fixed.
Steve
Was the engine overheating at all before you did the work over the winter?
If the engine was doing "fine" at lower RPM's but suddenly overheated at higher flows, you may have a condition that I discovered: Your heat exchanger needs to by ultrasonically cleaned -- NOT just routing it out; or using a little acid cleaner. I spent two frustrating weeks on a long cruise having a major, "renowned" yard, going over everything else -- only to discover what my home Mechanic suggested might be an issue in the beginning. While the yard ended-up not charging me much, it cost me and my bride a couple weeks of sit-in the harbor and greet mechanics who were ordering this and that overnighted to Maine. Each test sail produced the same old result. Finally, I demanded that they pull the heat exchanger and take it a radiator shop overnight. The next day it was fixed.
Steve
Not at all. It would climb to 160 and hold that temp so far this season and all last season, which was my first with this boat.
I did pull the heat exchanger before launch last season and had it cleaned and tested at a radiator shop.
Stu, I like this idea. A foot pump in on my buy list.
Glad you got it figured out and thanks for the pic.
Another idea for clearing clogs in the intake line if you have an inside strainer. I picked up a Sea Flush unit last fall for winterizing. In theory, at least, you can put the Sea Flush funnel on top of the strainer with the cover removed, use a shop vac and blow the clog back out. I happen to have a Dewalt battery operated shop vac on the boat. Not sure if it would have enough poop to get the job done. Of course, the Sea Flush is stored in my garage right now. Their video makes it look easy. No reason to doubt it as it works as advertised for everything else.
http://www.seaflush.com/sea-flush-1/
Another idea for clearing clogs in the intake line if you have an inside strainer. I picked up a Sea Flush unit last fall for winterizing. In theory, at least, you can put the Sea Flush funnel on top of the strainer with the cover removed, use a shop vac and blow the clog back out. I happen to have a Dewalt battery operated shop vac on the boat. Not sure if it would have enough poop to get the job done. Of course, the Sea Flush is stored in my garage right now. Their video makes it look easy. No reason to doubt it as it works as advertised for everything else.
http://www.seaflush.com/sea-flush-1/
All this talk about pushing and blowing the sea grass out gave me pause. Maybe it was a sign. Maybe your supposed to recover it and make it into a sea grass salad.
Or maybe it’s the Santa Barbara wine and vibe of the area I’m picking up. I have seen some odd things on the menus here.
Or maybe it’s the Santa Barbara wine and vibe of the area I’m picking up. I have seen some odd things on the menus here.
is in order. Ha.