Engine overheating

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Glenn

Went sailing yesterday, great. When motoring back, checking water flow through exhaust as always and temp guage, temp was about 230 degrees. First thing was to see if water was coming out of exhaust, ok, next went below and felt raw water pump, cold, no water in bilge. Took out of gear and reduced engine speed and no change in temp. Then I smelled coolant, shut it down and opened port cockpit locker and bellowed steam. Coolant was coming out of the overflow. Finally got towed back to the slip where I checked over all hoses, by this time there was a little coolant in the bilge, less than a quart. No hose leak. The only sign I found was where it came out the top of the overflow, cap is rusted through. My thoughts at this time are 1) thermostat frozen, 2) air in the system, 3) low on coolant ot 4) heat exchanger. By the way the temp did, I think it might be the thermostat. Any other thoughts. I did not recheck the oil to see if water was present, but engine was running fine. It is a Universal 5424 (M30).
 
P

Pat

a couple of thoughts

I did have the thermostat freeze on me once. I ended up tapping on the housing and it was fine after that. This was after the spring launch which made sence. The boat sat idle for 6 months.
 
J

John

I have the same engine. My thoughts would be has follows- Change the rusty cap with a correct one. Bleed the air from the top of the raw water pump. Have you changed the impeller? I do mine each spring before launching. If pieces of the impeller have broken off it could be a problem. Then if you don't punch the tubes in the heat exchanger I would do that as well. Check the zinc to make sure that hasn't broken too. I would save the thermostat for last as I hate removing the air from the coolant which would result. Let us know what you find. Good luck.
 
G

Glenn

John

it seems that most of what you suggest have to do with the raw water side and are good maintenance items. I have not changed the impeller nor have I cleaned out the heat exchanger. It has been 3 or 4 months since I changed the zinc. The water flow through the exhaust seemd to be normal and the raw water pump was cold so I assume the is no problem here. I'm thinking out loud here, since the overflow cap has rusted through, coolant could evaporate even though I have never noticed any coolant in the tank. Is it possible that is the problem, coolant evaporated and allowed air in the system.
 
P

Phil

Cap

Caps can fail and if you have a reserve tank the cap can discharge the coolant but not allow it to return to the radiator when required as the spring seal stops operating properly. Could it be the pump on the sealed coolant side?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.