I think I have chased an engine alarm on my starboard engine for some time and have used poor troubleshooting. The alarm kept going off and I had just replaced the 'low oil pressure' switch (not because of good troubleshooting, but precautionary) so I took her out to see if this fixed it.
During all of this, the temps and oil pressure shown on the gauges are good and the same as the other engine. I've completely gone through the cooling and operate at around 165 degrees F on both engines. Both oil pressure gauges usually go high at start up and drop down to around 60 PSI during normal operation.
This usually (exception stated below) starts about one hour after starting to run in a reasonable RPM range like 2000 or less. The symptoms are it goes into alarm and I kill the engine and restart, alarm clears. May take another 15 minutes or an hour, but it returns. This is typical of the alarm 95% of the time and the new switch has not changed this.
In the morning for the return trip, for the first time it goes off while the engine is warming up. I pull the wire off the bypass switch because that's what I thought it was now (brand new oil filter by the way) given a comment by Billsguns (I think) about a weak spring leading to issues, but the alarm doesn't clear. Pull the wire off of the brand new oil pressure switch and it's the source- alarm stops. Retest to verify.
The new switch is the Cole Hersee listed in the database #8610. The switch opens up at 5-7.5 PSI and my gauge is saying 60 PSI with the alarm buzzing.
Given the original hour of running it took to alarm I was thinking that the oil thinning is affecting it. That said, I cannot explain the alarm clearing by just turning off the engine and immediately restarting.
When I replaced the switch, the oil poured out of the port so I assume that the passage is not plugged, and if it were the alarm would never clear. I intend on buying an external oil pressure gauge to test the system.
For $16 delivered I'll just buy another pressure switch, but am doubtful that's the problem. I can hope but I'm not usually that lucky.
Questions:
1. Any suggestions on something I'm missing?
2. Is there another place to install an external pressure gauge instead of the port that the pressure switch screws into? This would allow me to keep the questionable pressure switch in service during testing.
Your comments appreciated, Dean
During all of this, the temps and oil pressure shown on the gauges are good and the same as the other engine. I've completely gone through the cooling and operate at around 165 degrees F on both engines. Both oil pressure gauges usually go high at start up and drop down to around 60 PSI during normal operation.
This usually (exception stated below) starts about one hour after starting to run in a reasonable RPM range like 2000 or less. The symptoms are it goes into alarm and I kill the engine and restart, alarm clears. May take another 15 minutes or an hour, but it returns. This is typical of the alarm 95% of the time and the new switch has not changed this.
In the morning for the return trip, for the first time it goes off while the engine is warming up. I pull the wire off the bypass switch because that's what I thought it was now (brand new oil filter by the way) given a comment by Billsguns (I think) about a weak spring leading to issues, but the alarm doesn't clear. Pull the wire off of the brand new oil pressure switch and it's the source- alarm stops. Retest to verify.
The new switch is the Cole Hersee listed in the database #8610. The switch opens up at 5-7.5 PSI and my gauge is saying 60 PSI with the alarm buzzing.
Given the original hour of running it took to alarm I was thinking that the oil thinning is affecting it. That said, I cannot explain the alarm clearing by just turning off the engine and immediately restarting.
When I replaced the switch, the oil poured out of the port so I assume that the passage is not plugged, and if it were the alarm would never clear. I intend on buying an external oil pressure gauge to test the system.
For $16 delivered I'll just buy another pressure switch, but am doubtful that's the problem. I can hope but I'm not usually that lucky.
Questions:
1. Any suggestions on something I'm missing?
2. Is there another place to install an external pressure gauge instead of the port that the pressure switch screws into? This would allow me to keep the questionable pressure switch in service during testing.
Your comments appreciated, Dean
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