Heat exchanger pin hole leak

R

R. Chapin

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Jul 3, 2011
12
Catalina 310 Jersey City, NJ
I repeatedly loose small amounts of coolant and think I have located a pin hole leak in the underside of the heat exchanger. I am not having any problem with over heating but want to address the problem in a sensible way that does not result in much down time and which is not super expensive.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem?

How difficult is it to remove and replace the heat exchanger?

Any comments would be appreciated.

Bob
 
JK_Boston_Catalina310

JK_Boston_Catalina310

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Nov 18, 2010
2,441
Catalina 310 Hingham, MA
You can remove the exchanger fairly easily. Drain, remove the hoses and the the two brackets holding the exchanger onto the bell housing.

You will most likely find that the crappy factory brackets have broken. That might the source of your leak.

Once you have it removed you could take it to a local radiator shop and they can plug and pressure test it for you. They might be able to fix and clean it too.

Also, check out Mainesail's website, Compass Marine How To Articles. He covers this in great detail.
 
c130king

c130king

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Mar 22, 2009
360
Catalina 310 Gulfport Small Craft Harbor, MS
Please correct my lack of understanding or knowledge here but if the heat exchanger was leaking wouldn't it be leaking sea water? My understanding is that the coolant is inside a radiator that is inside the heat exchanger.

Thanks,
Jim
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
22,814
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Yes, but if one of the tubes inside leaks the coolant, then it goes into the shell.
 
c130king

c130king

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Mar 22, 2009
360
Catalina 310 Gulfport Small Craft Harbor, MS
So then it is a leak of the radiator tube and the outer casing of the heat exchanger. And the resultant spill into the engine bilge would be "watery". But if the coolant leak was coming from somewhere else...say a leaking coolant hose...it would look more deep yellow like the coolant. (* I use a yellow coolant *)

Does that make sense?

Thanks,
Jim
 
SawyerCurt

SawyerCurt

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Dec 16, 2011
257
Catalina 310 Atlantic Highlands
On my 1988 C34 (before Hurricane Sandy destroyed her), I had chafing from the bracket the heat exchanger sits on, and it wore a hole in one of the attachment points for a coolant hose. It was a slow leak, and one day when heeled over the exchanger slipped just enough in the bracket to fully expose the hole and all my coolant dumped and the engine overheated. I had to be towed back to my slip (much to the amusement of other members of my club who heard the exchange over the VHF). It had to be patched and re-glazed, and for good measure I replaced the hoses at the same time.
 
I

iSailor

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Oct 17, 2011
221
Catalina 310 USA
Interesting topic. I too have been chasing down a small coolant leak. I have replaced all original hoses last year. I will investigate around the heat exchanger.
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

.
Feb 26, 2004
22,814
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
c130king said:
So then it is a leak of the radiator tube and the outer casing of the heat exchanger. And the resultant spill into the engine bilge would be "watery". But if the coolant leak was coming from somewhere else...say a leaking coolant hose...it would look more deep yellow like the coolant. (* I use a yellow coolant *)

Does that make sense?
Click to expand
Jim, yes it does.


SawyerCurt said:
On my 1988 C34 (before Hurricane Sandy destroyed her), I had chafing from the bracket the heat exchanger sits on, and it wore a hole in one of the attachment points for a coolant hose. It was a slow leak, and one day when heeled over the exchanger slipped just enough in the bracket to fully expose the hole and all my coolant dumped and the engine overheated. I had to be towed back to my slip (much to the amusement of other members of my club who heard the exchange over the VHF). It had to be patched and re-glazed, and for good measure I replaced the hoses at the same time.
Click to expand
Curt, yes, that parallels the discussion in the link I provided in reply #3 above.
 
JK_Boston_Catalina310

JK_Boston_Catalina310

.
Nov 18, 2010
2,441
Catalina 310 Hingham, MA
I have attached a couple of photos from when I did this project.

The first is the heat exchanger after I removed and cleaned off the old paint. The raised, rectangular areas is where the factory had just solder on some metal brackets. On was broken off at the solder and the other was broken in half. If not addressed this easily could have worn a whole in the exchanger. If you wear a hole in this location, it would be antifreeze that would leak.

The second photo is the rear of the engine with the heat exchanger removed. The brackets bolted onto the bell housing just below the area where you can see it was curved to fit the exchanger, just above the transmission.

The last photo is what my local Westerbeke dealer sent me as replacement brackets. They work but were a royal pain to use. I have seen other ones on the internet that are better since I installed these. Do some searching around.

Good luck and fair winds,

Jesse
 

Attachments

R

R. Chapin

.
Jul 3, 2011
12
Catalina 310 Jersey City, NJ
Thanks for the info. The coolant I am leaking is not watery so I am going to look some more at the connections.

There is a petcock on the bottom of my heat exchanger. Does anyone know if that would drain coolant or sea water?
 
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