Our Mastervolt 8 kw generator recently started spewing white smoke/steam. We decided to pull it out of the boat and check it out. We found a lot of leaky raw water connections, a leaky raw water pump, and a mangled impeller. (Yes, we hunted down all of the pieces and put Humpty Dumpty together again.) We also found a lot of crud built up at the heat exchanger. Anyway, we are hoping that fixing the raw water circuit will solve our problem. In the meantime, we are busy sand blasting and painting parts, rebuilding the pump, and getting the heat exchanger cleaned out. My question is, when we are ready to fire it up again in the garage, do we need to be worried about the electrical not being hooked up to anything? All of the control wires are still in the boat along with the panel. We are thinking about just hooking it up to a battery and providing cooling water. We figured we could use a jumper from the stop solenoid to shut it down. Anyone with experience in this area please let us know what you think. I don’t want to end up frying the electrical part of the generator.
Generator Overhaul
- Thread starter Georgedoyle
- Start date
Okay, we fired up the generator, and it works great. No white smoke/steam. Lots of water coming out the exhaust. Turns out, the service start button on the generator worked to start it up even though the remote panel was not attached. We installed a new fuel lift pump just to be on the safe side. We also fiddled with the run/stop solenoid connection because it felt a little loose when connecting the two plastic connectors. By bending the copper leads a little bit out on one side, we got the connection to feel like it has better contact. Now the engine doesn’t labor to start anymore. I think there was a weak electrical connection that affected the solenoid's ability to allow the engine to run. After reading Art's post about the oil pressure sensors, I’m thinking we might want to replace all of our sensors as well while they are easy to access. I don’t think we could have done all of the work that we did on the raw water circuit with the generator in the boat. That being said, it's going to be tricky getting it back in. We took the engine apart to get it out, but now it’s all back together again and weighs over 400 pounds. We might have to visit the boatyard and use their crane.
Good job on getting it running
I would definitely replace any sensors that are going to be very difficult to access once this is re-installed
Yes, a crane will be required. You want to re-install this in a very calm & controlled fashion
We got the generator back inside the boat. We decided to bypass the boat yard and use the boom as a crane. We attached a block to the boom, ran a line from the generator through the block, then through a block at the base of the mast, through the deck organizer, through the main halyard clutch, and around the electric halyard winch. It was a piece of cake. We had great control the whole time. Of course, first we had to hoist the generator into our dinghy at home, trailer it to the bay, drop the dinghy in the water, drive the dinghy to the sailboat, tie it alongside, and finally hook up the hoist system. We also had to take down the dodger, move back the companionway spray hood and remove the sliding plexiglass hatch. It took all day with two people, including getting all of the electrical, fuel, and water lines hooked up. we tested the generator out, and it works great.
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jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 23,360
Nice work. Boom lifting is a great solution.
It was easier on my boat as I was in the slip and did not have to deal with the dinghy.
Here is my sailing buddy, Les, lowering the 200-lb transmission. Note that we used the mainsheet halyard and the topping lift to handle the transmission's weight on the end of the boom.
It was easier on my boat as I was in the slip and did not have to deal with the dinghy.
Here is my sailing buddy, Les, lowering the 200-lb transmission. Note that we used the mainsheet halyard and the topping lift to handle the transmission's weight on the end of the boom.