Universal 5411 overheating

[Todd Osborne]

Over the last summer, I have noticed my Universal diesel engine temp slowly warming from 160 degrees to now just over 180 degrees which I understrand to be "overheating" I first checked the impeller and it is in good shape. I plan to backflush the through hull fitting as well, but the slow warming trend has me concerned it is a slow cloggging buildup problem (being raw water cooled). I am entertaining the idea of running some "Salt-X" salt dissolving fluid through the engine to see if it helps. I haven't considered the thermostat as I haven't heard of any historical problems with it. Has anyone had a similar problem? any ideas?

 

[patrick e. boole]

heating

i have the same engine on my 27. i would love to see the temp rise as the engines are designed to run at a high temp. the problem that i see is that since it is raw water cooled it is almost imposible to get the temp up since the water is always being replaced with fresh cold raw water. if you are overheating i would think about the cooling system being impeded. back flushing and desalting is a good step.