Overheating Issues-gctid811943

[bmwilson814]

Hey All,

Currently traveling along the Erie Canal, and having issues with my Starboard engine overheating. I have a 1986 Bayliner 3270 w/ 110 HP HINO's.

Started having overheating issues on the NJ ICW. Not sure if it is a coincidence or not, but it started after I grounded, in the channel. At that point I noticed some light white smoke coming from the Starboard Exhaust. We stayed at a marina for a few days, so I pulled the strainer and cleared that out, pulled the hose off the "IN" side to the oil cooler, and cleared a little bit of grass out of there. I checked the impeller, which looked brand new, and pulled the hose off to the heat exchanger and made sure I didn't have any old impeller blades in there.

Next trip was to the Manasquan River. Was running at 2650 RPMs, and it started overheating again around 200 degrees. Kicked it back to 2500 RPMs, and the temp back down to the normal 175 degrees. Ran from Manasquan River to Staten Island with minimal issues running around 2550. Still a little bit of white smoke. At Staten Island I took a temp gun and checked the temp at the in-flow from the sea cock, and at the elbow just leading into where the water meets up with the exhaust. Only 10 degrees difference.

Ran up the Hudson River for 2 days at 2630 RPMs, with a little white smoke, but not overheating.

Went through 5 locks on the Erie Canal and got to a section where we could open it up, and was running at 2500 RPMs, and it pegged the temp gauge needle. Pulled into a little repair marina, checked everything again. Strainer, in-flow at oil cooler, impeller, heat exchanger, and pulled the thermostat. Fired up the boat, and it is now overheating at the dock.

Only other "thing" I can think of is the coolant pump, but it is a mechanical pump, and those are pretty rare on going out, so not sure where to turn next.

Any ideas on troubleshooting this a little further? Is there a way to "flush" the system with a hose to force water across, just in case I sucked something up when I grounded? Does/Can a mechanical coolant pump go out where it would cause this?

I'm at a loss......can't understand why I could run 2600 RPMs 2 days ago, and now I can't even get off the dock without it overheating.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!!

Thank you!!

[Pcpete]

How is your outflow of water at the exhaust exit? Does it have the same flow as the other engine? My knee jerk reaction is when you flushed the system at the dock, you actually increased the blockage. The thermostat can be tested by putting it in hot water, did you check the flow at various points by removing a hose and starting the engine for a few seconds? It's an ugly way to do it and you may be able to get confirmation by loss tending the hose clamp and breaking away a bit of the hose from the fitting.

Next thing I would do is contact smitty477 and earl international. Both are excellent resources here on the BOC.

[bmwilson814]

My outflow at the exhaust looks the same as the Port side engine. I didn't flush the system at the dock, was wondering if that could be an option. I pulled the thermostat out, in order to eliminate that from the equation, but still overheating.

I have info to add to this ongoing saga.

So, found out this morning, when checking the oil, that the mechanics forgot to turn back on the seacock, which caused the boat to overheat at the dock. I turned the seacock back on, but it also gauged up my impeller, so I replaced the impeller. I also noticed when checking the oil, that there was hardly any oil in the engine, just a small bit on the end of the stick. So, I put oil in it, up the the recommended fill area.

We pulled away from the dock, and was traveling around 2500 RPMs, and no white smoke. The temp gauge was bottomed out when we first started because we do not have the thermostat in that side. As we traveled, the temp increased to normal range.

One thing I noticed that was odd, was when we were waiting for the lock, I had dropped the RPMs to idle, and when I did that, by oil pressure gauge bottomed out. I gave it a little bit of "juice", and it popped right back up. Not sure if it has anything to do with my issue, but thought I would put it in there.

We exited the lock, and I was running around 2500 RPMs again, and running fine. No white smoke, no overheating, oil pressure gauge looking good. Then, I slowed down to around 1500 RPMs, as we were coming up to another boat, so I didn't want to wake them. We passed with no problems, but when I went to throttle back up to 2500 RPMs, I glanced over and saw that my temperature gauge was pegged to the top. No white smoke, no buzzing from the gauge, nothing.

I shut the engine down, and pulled into the nearest marina for the night.

Hopefully some of this additional information will assist the experts!

Thanks again!!

[Pcpete]

I'd be talking to the mechanic about a new impeller, at least at half of his cost, not half of retail.

The other stuff is just weird.