Numerous Issues Electrical Loss of Oil Loss of Coolant

"Have a 1973 350 Crusader that

"Have a 1973 350 Crusader that is FWC, Engine has ran great and gone on numerous 12 -14 hour offshore fishing trips with no issues except for some minor dieseling when stopping quickly after high RPM's. This last trip we were returning and once I hit the mouth of the harbor I opened up the throttle and the engine began to over heat. We shut it down waited for it to cool. Started it up and it ran a little bit warm back to the dock but it limped home okay.

Next day I check coolant and oil both are low. Filled it up and I cranked the ignition and the starter started turning but then would not stop once I turned the iginition off (I don't know what happened it was a first and it has since not repeated) I did the stupid thing and turned the battery switch off(since we have no other breaker on the engine). I killed the Voltage Regulator. Ordered it, but here is the weird thing. All the electrical on the boat will not work unless I take my voltage meter and ground the negative to the engine block and test the hot going to the breakers. Once that is done everything works again???? Is it holding a charge??

Next Issue - Where is my oil and coolant going?? Engine runs strong?

Next Issue - When I did start it the first time it sounded like what could only be describe as the engine was partially hydro locked. It sounded like rrrr and then it stopped. I repeated 3 times and then on the 4th time it fired up with no problems (except for the alternator putting out 15 volts). I don't know if it is a short that is causing the stop? Or if the engine is locking? It didn't sound like the starter was trying to turn the engine anymore.

Do I need to pull spark plugs and look for water?? Is this caused by dieseling or is the list very long to consider?

Thanks for all of your help. I have been lurking on this site for awhile and your advice has been greatly appreciated."

"Josh,

Your starter run on

"Josh,

Your starter run on may be a bad key switch or starter relay. I had that same exact thing happen 2 weeks before my latest disaster with the drive damper. It has not happened again but with two engines, I had to change the key on the port side last year and thought that after 25+ years of use, it is probably time for a new one

As for the coolant and oil, IF your not seeing it in the bilge, it has got to be going out thru the exhaust either burned or unburned. When is the last time you looked at the manifolds and elbows. My engines ran very strong but they were developing a water intrusion problem as they ran. It was an oil analysis that clued me in as a very high ratio of anti-freeze elements showed up in the oil. A valve job cured that with a complete FWC cooling system replacement. Check out Blackstones new web site"

"Update - Figured out the elec

"Update - Figured out the electrical issue (it wasn't the voltage regulator it was a wire that was shorting out) and we took the boat for a couple hour boat ride. Engine is running warm, around 180, however when you shut the engine down it heats up to 200+, alarm goes off and once we get moving again it comes down to 180. It use to run right around 160. The engine feels like it has lost some of its power and we burned through way more gas then normal. Any suggestions?"

"You may look into several thi

"You may look into several things. Raw water pump thru put, manifolds, riser age and condition, impeded water flow thru any strainers just for starters"

Add oil cooler to Al's lis

Add oil cooler to Al's list and you should be covered for the engine specific items.

Thanks for all of the feedback

Thanks for all of the feedback guys.

What specifically about the Oil Cooler should I be looking at?

"restriction in the water flow

"restriction in the water flow portion. If you have the combined U shaped cooler up front, look for zinc remnants at the bottom of the U. if they are there, you have three choices.

You can replace the cooler, you can 'boil it out' in place, or you can remove it and disassemble it to clean it. Use the search button at the top and search the crusader topic for oil AND cooler."

"Thanks Mark,

I have NO ID

"Thanks Mark,

I have NO IDEA why I forgot about the cooler.."

"i should have chimed in, its

"i should have chimed in, its amazing how the oil cooler changed my boating experience, from temps creeping up to 175 and steam, to 165-168 and a 2-3 foot steam trail....best 20 bucks on acid ever!"

Same here. There were times we

Same here. There were times we had a steam trail 25 foot long. It looks weird to see that as a boat is passing by.

Probably because you guys have

Probably because you guys have such clean cooler passages from the recent cleanings...with my memory getting so overloaded I'm really glad I keep a lot of details in the logbook.

"Logbook??? They still use th

"Logbook??? They still use those?

Actually If it was not for the opportunity to go back and look at the changes, modifications and adjustments just on the Mechanical side....I 'd be lost"

"Well, I guess your pretty saf

"Well, I guess your pretty safe as long as this site stays up...I think there are many entries here that mimick what's in my book. the photo additions make me wonder how to get them in the logbook. Maybe I'll have to convert to 1's and 0's vs paper and pen....."

"Funny thing is when we get th

"Funny thing is when we get the boat ready to go out, we check everything...Then we get so focused on going fishing that we find it difficult to write stuff in the log. I can see the kind of person who takes the details home or logs them directly into the computer along with digital pictures and then prints the whole thing out.

We are just not set up that way. Anytime we have a clean spot or shampooed carpet, spotless countertop, etc...it gets fishing knives, rigs, leaders, tools spread out all over it. The boat is clean and tidy when we leave, makes a nice spot to have someone onboard for a cocktail but too hard to maintain that way with the two of us preferring fishing instead of boating.
Thats hard to do when we have squid juice dripping from each hand!"

"I was really good about makin

"I was really good about making the entries after the washdown and before getting dinner. Get the maintenance items and the notes scratched from the loran about what what hit, when, etc. If I waited, the notes were lost, wet, or blew over the side and the memory was fogged. Just conditioning I guess....BUT, we you get that hull with the stand up engine room, I'll be happy to get you hooked up with the grease friendly touch screens and the network server so all you manuals will be right there, the internet wil let you pull up the past five years of oil analyses, and the factory support will be standing by to "chat" if needed......."