Hi,
I had an unsettling Sunday sail, though the first few hours were wonderful, we sailed a little too far and whoops, the wind disappeared. Well I started the engine but, it died after running at 80% power for about an hour and a half. First though, the RPM gradually reduced, along with power and speed, with the engine appearing to recover intermittently. The only working instrument is the temperature gauge, but I wasn't sure I should trust it, it was banging back and forth between 150 and over 200. I went below and couldn't see any signs of unusual heat, in fact could put my hand on the top of the engine and it was simply warm, not really hot. I didn't try to put my hand on any of the lower parts. I tried to manually pull the throttle back at the engine, thinking it might be the linkage slipping, but the symptoms remained.
Eventually it died, I let it lie for 15 minutes or so, then restarted, got full power for maybe 15 minutes, then the symptoms reoccured and the engine died again. The cycle kept repeating though the full power period shortened and shortened, until I gave up and called Sea Tow...
History of the boat and engine:
1982 Catalina 27 (shoal draft, standard rig) with the 11 HP Universal 5411 (sea water cooled 11 hp diesel) meticulously maintained for the past 10 years, not much known before 2000.
No hour meter, but it always starts first try and has had every seasonal maintenance procedure and much more frequent filter changes for the past ten years, the owner until a few weeks ago was a mechanical engineer.
Clue: I've only owned it for a few weeks and have sailed it five days so far. I've been meaning to get the fuel tank flushed, since the ex-owner recommended it (says the fuel in the glass of the first filter should look better than it does [it looks black]) but haven't been able to stop sailing every weekend, I've been having so much fun. Oh well...
One more clue: I went to the local marina and purchased 5 gallons of diesel on Sunday morning. I know it was diesel, it's the very busy Bayshore Shell station, so I don't suspect the fuel, but I did put 5 gallons down the pipe to the tank, maybe stirring up XX already in the tank???? I don't think there was more than a few gallons of old fuel in the tank when I added on Sunday morning.
So, all the books I've read indicate that most problems are fuel problems, and to troubleshoot the entire fuel chain. I haven't read about any incidents like mine though, where the cycle repeated itself over and over while getting shorter and shorter. So I might have overheated engine ruined pistons and now might be facing a big bill...
Anybody have any ideas on what I should do?
I'm thinking of trying the Nigel Calder process of testing fuel, tank, and the whole chain of delivery, but though mechanically inclined and interested, I have no experience. Should I hire a mechanic to come and take a look?
Thanks for any advice!!!
Best, Marc
I had an unsettling Sunday sail, though the first few hours were wonderful, we sailed a little too far and whoops, the wind disappeared. Well I started the engine but, it died after running at 80% power for about an hour and a half. First though, the RPM gradually reduced, along with power and speed, with the engine appearing to recover intermittently. The only working instrument is the temperature gauge, but I wasn't sure I should trust it, it was banging back and forth between 150 and over 200. I went below and couldn't see any signs of unusual heat, in fact could put my hand on the top of the engine and it was simply warm, not really hot. I didn't try to put my hand on any of the lower parts. I tried to manually pull the throttle back at the engine, thinking it might be the linkage slipping, but the symptoms remained.
Eventually it died, I let it lie for 15 minutes or so, then restarted, got full power for maybe 15 minutes, then the symptoms reoccured and the engine died again. The cycle kept repeating though the full power period shortened and shortened, until I gave up and called Sea Tow...
History of the boat and engine:
1982 Catalina 27 (shoal draft, standard rig) with the 11 HP Universal 5411 (sea water cooled 11 hp diesel) meticulously maintained for the past 10 years, not much known before 2000.
No hour meter, but it always starts first try and has had every seasonal maintenance procedure and much more frequent filter changes for the past ten years, the owner until a few weeks ago was a mechanical engineer.
Clue: I've only owned it for a few weeks and have sailed it five days so far. I've been meaning to get the fuel tank flushed, since the ex-owner recommended it (says the fuel in the glass of the first filter should look better than it does [it looks black]) but haven't been able to stop sailing every weekend, I've been having so much fun. Oh well...
One more clue: I went to the local marina and purchased 5 gallons of diesel on Sunday morning. I know it was diesel, it's the very busy Bayshore Shell station, so I don't suspect the fuel, but I did put 5 gallons down the pipe to the tank, maybe stirring up XX already in the tank???? I don't think there was more than a few gallons of old fuel in the tank when I added on Sunday morning.
So, all the books I've read indicate that most problems are fuel problems, and to troubleshoot the entire fuel chain. I haven't read about any incidents like mine though, where the cycle repeated itself over and over while getting shorter and shorter. So I might have overheated engine ruined pistons and now might be facing a big bill...
Anybody have any ideas on what I should do?
I'm thinking of trying the Nigel Calder process of testing fuel, tank, and the whole chain of delivery, but though mechanically inclined and interested, I have no experience. Should I hire a mechanic to come and take a look?
Thanks for any advice!!!
Best, Marc
