Westerbeke 33 overheating

[soyuz]

The problem started last year it would overheat at random times but now soon i get her going she overheat. I did find a peice of the impaler in the heat exchanger,i did remove it put a new impaler in same result. My options are somewhat limited since I am on the hook at southwest harbour Maine and i am from gaspesie and I don't know anyone here. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Mike.

[DeepFrz]

If you look down at the bottom of this page you will see a number of threads dealing with engine overheating.

[model 10]

A Friz said, the other posts might help. Anyway it would be nice to get it back to being random, I suppose. You might need to take another look at the heat exchanger. There could be small pieces down in the tubes. Pull off the hose to the exhaust elbow and fire up the engine and check the flow. Even though everybody seems to think you can put the impeller in any old way, make sure you have all vanes going the same direction. On some engines it really does make a difference. It's hard to describe what the volume of the pump output looks like but you should be able to tell something by changing the rpm. Say a 3' stream at 2000?

[soyuz]

I have been reading lots of post about my problem but so far no luck. New impaller,boiled the thermostat,boat shop cleaned the heat exchanger.Lots of water is coming from exhaust at 2000 rpm I did take the coolant pump off but the last bolt was hard to reach so i pulled on the pump and she came free, once it was off i could tell she was not screwed properly.could it be my problem ? Also engine overheat at idle so I am not over propped. I am trying to post pictures from my tablet but it's asking a URL and I am new with a tablet and can't get it to work.

Thanks for replying Soyuz.

[model 10]

[QUOTE=soyuz;187527 I did take the coolant pump off but the last bolt was hard to reach so i pulled on the pump and she came free,[/QUOTE]

That is pretty funny. Normally we use a big hammer for that .
Did this pump you pulled off, pump water? You are talking about the belt driven "fresh water" pump right?

[antoha]

Are you sure it's real? I mean, engine really overheating and not just a faulty gauge or temp probe? Would the shop you're dealing with be able to diagnose?


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Cap Erict3]

Originally Posted by antoha

Are you sure it's real? I mean, engine really overheating and not just a faulty gauge or temp probe? Would the shop you're dealing with be able to diagnose?


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Rule #1 in my book "Believe your equipment when they show problems".

Don't whack the buzzer when the bilge alarm sounds.

Easy to check temp sensor. Put probe in boiling water, 212 degrees, in ice water, 32.




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Looking for another pretty place to work on the boat.

[soyuz]

No there was one bolt super hard to reach on the prestone pump that was not in properly.
I did unscrew all others when it came to the last one I pulled a bit on the pump and she came free.

I was thinking the temp gauge maybe broken but I dunno when smoke is coming from the back of the engine (vdrive) something is not right.

[antoha]

could also be wiring. i'm not asserting the engine is fine - just saying that if there's an easier thing to test, maybe that could be done first?

some sensors on my westerbeke 35Cthree have failed in the past: the wiring is very stiff, and simply breaks off on occasion due to vibration (newer engine, but the original wiring looks strangely poorly done). this happened to the lift pump wire and the oil pressure switch wire (there actually it wasn't the wire that broke off but the connector prong on the sensor - the oil pressure alarm went off, and then stopped as the wire jumped back onto the connector, then started again etc).

in both cases i used a less stiff wire (just regular ancor marine wire of the right gauge), made a few turns on a pencil to make it look like a telephone cord, and used proper crimped connectors to splice it back into the circuit. has worked so far.

[antoha]

another silly (but easy to check) suggestion is: are you low on antifreeze? do you have leaks in that circuit? is there a way to check the temperature of the antifreeze itself? because if it's not flowing through the heat exchanger (or if you have no coolant in the system), you'll have the raw water circuit doing the right thing, but nothing taking the heat away from the engine itself.

at some point when my engine overheated, i discovered the clamps on the hose from the coolant canister were loose at the engine side, and coolant was weeping out of there. i tightened these clamps, refilled antifreeze, and problem went away.

another thing is: do you have a hot water heater connected to the engine's cooling system? (so you put the heat into the hot water tank rather than into ambient water.) does that get hot when you run the engine? are all hose connections tight in that circuit?

[Cap Erict3]

Originally Posted by antoha

could also be wiring. i'm not asserting the engine is fine - just saying that if there's an easier thing to test, maybe that could be done first?

some sensors on my westerbeke 35Cthree have failed in the past: the wiring is very stiff, and simply breaks off on occasion due to vibration (newer engine, but the original wiring looks strangely poorly done). this happened to the lift pump wire and the oil pressure switch wire (there actually it wasn't the wire that broke off but the connector prong on the sensor - the oil pressure alarm went off, and then stopped as the wire jumped back onto the connector, then started again etc).

in both cases i used a less stiff wire (just regular ancor marine wire of the right gauge), made a few turns on a pencil to make it look like a telephone cord, and used proper crimped connectors to splice it back into the circuit. has worked so far.

The boiling water and ice water are 2 simple accurate tests for temp sensors in that range.

Btw, thermocouple wire is special purpose and a might stiff.


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Looking for another pretty place to work on the boat.

[AlphaBravo]

If it's overheating at idle, I would have thought no coolant flow, so either the water pump is at fault, or there is a blockage in the system. Good luck.

[AlphaBravo]

And as the problem has got worse, a build up and blockage in the cooling system would make sense.

[soyuz]

Thanks for the replies guys. I did put the temp sensor it hot water was reading 150 so i guess it's working. Did try without the thermostat still goes over 140, I did run the engine for 24 hours few years back never went above 140 even last year after several hours of motor sailing never went above that. So i am assuming anything above 140 something is wrong. The coolant pump looks fine put it back on and there is no leak anymore. Not sure how much coolant is in there since every time I disconnect i am losing a bunch but i top it off every time.Now what seems odd is every hose that connect to the heat exchanger is cold the whole area stay cold even if the manifold and valve cover are hot. Been talking to my neighbor and he thinks there is something wrong with coolant flow maybe a blockage are something like that, not sure what to do next

[DeepFrz]

I'm not sure that you even have a problem here but checking the block in different areas and the coolant temp. with an IR Temp. Sensor would help you determine that.

If hoses at heat exchanger are cool then you don't have any coolant flow. Troubleshoot that issue. Its a simple system.