1st post to CF, although I've been reading it religiously for years...
I did 10,000 miles through the
Panama Canal and back to WA this year and have had my share of engine/
fuel system
maintenance fun. While the 1982
Perkins 4108 off of an Alajuela 38 has been bombproof (4500 hours or so), I pulled a real awesome job on it last week.
Out we were in Bellingham Bay for a daysail and Salmon
fishing. I donned a rarely used
fishing rod from the
engine room, accidentally bumping a
coolant drain in the process on the manifold. We sailed most of the day. An
alarm sounded as we transmitted in the harbor. I shut down at the slip and checked the
oil. The temp looked okay on the gauge. I don't remember seeing
coolant in the very obvious
bilge. I went back out later that day , the
alarm sounded again at trolling speed (1200 rpm). This discouraged me as the temp and pressure still showed normal. The ignition was replaced with a goofy spare from an
electrical meltdown in
Mexico earlier this year, and it was not uncommon to have erratic beeps during shutdown and startup. attributing this to the switch, I pulled the 'do not disturb' move and shut off the panel, continuing to
motor for 15 minutes at low speed. I went below to check the
engine and saw excessive smoke and spraying coolant from the venerable drain valve. We brought the
boat to an idle and shut down. The thermostat now read 215 or so. I set up a fan in the engine compartment to blow out smoke and reveal a
bilge full of coolant. I closed the drain, sailed for 30 minutes, refilled a gallon of coolant...
When I got home, I changed the
oil and again flushed the coolant. The
boat did not make any erratic sounds during the
overheating process. The boat starts easy, although now requires a small amount of throttle to get going (newish). There is excess whitish smoke at start up and more than normal, but not offensive smoke at idle. Small amounts of soot exist in the
exhaust water when running at the
dock, with some sheen to the
water.
We have had some excessive whitish smoke after an
oil change in
Panama, slowly dissipating with several hours to a pretty clean burn.
I don't see signs of water in the oil, oil in the coolant, or water in the oil. We had a drip of coolant from the
water pump that has since resolved. I'm worried about the damage done. Horrified by my mistake and disregard to the alarm.
The engine runs a little 'rougher' not quite as even, but only noticeable to me since I've been checking on it everyday for the last year.
Questions, does this sound like piston ring/ cylinder scoring that is manageable? Is there any benefit to seafoam in the oil in this scenario? Do I need to reseal/ replace gaskets on the
head? Should I just keep running it and accept that I did irreparable damage, but it still works type of approach? Is a
compression test on the engine and
cooling system in order? Do I reseal what's available or
rebuild or wait and see?
The engine already weeps oil from certain
seals. Monitoring oil consumption/ condition, coolant level in the interim. Cracking injectors tomorrow.
If you got this far, thanks for reading.