Quote:
Originally Posted by leecea
Is there a typical amount of engine coolant that a 3GM30F with approx. 2000 hrs would use?
I noted the coolant level in my overflow tank, then motored for about 7 hours over two days, and the level is down somewhere around 1/8"-1/4". I'd been noticing these small drops in overflow tank level and wondered whether it was normal.
I've looked at the oil and it seems fine and no noticeable white smoke.
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The answer is NONE. Not at 100 hours, not at 2000 hours, not at 10,000 hours. An engine has no way of "using" coolant that should be tolerated.
If coolant is leaving the system, it is leaking out somewhere. It might be leaking out of the engine into the pan below it. Are there any traces of coolant there? Is your engine and the space under it clean enough that you would SEE a coolant leak? If not, make it so.
If not escaping into the engine room, it is leaking out of the engine into the oil, or into the cylinders, or into your water heater. Or, possibly out into the raw water.
If you have a leak out into the sea water
cooling circuit, you will also get some seawater back into the coolant. This can be found with a coolant analysis looking for levels of chloride.
You can get small
leaks of coolant into the oil that are not visible. If you run the engine at operating temperature, for significant time, the water will boil out of the oil, and the remaining glycol does not show as an emulsion. An oil analysis is the best way to find it if it is there.
On most wet exhaust
boats, you will never see the plume of white vapor you get with a car that is burning coolant. The water sprayed into the exhaust pretty efficiently "scrubs" out the glycol from the exhaust gas. If it is a large leak, you can usually tell by collecting a sample of the exhausted water and checking for the distinct oder of hot coolant.
The most important one to check RIGHT AWAY is your water heater. Ethylene glycol is a poison and should not be treated lightly. If you have coolant in your water system it is likely you would be able to detect it by taste, it is distinctly "sweet", but I would not count on that being enough to keep you safe.
The gold standard for determining if you have a leak is a pressure test. Either get a
cooling system pressure tester, or get somebody in who has one.