Crusader internal coolant leak
1982 Crusader 270 has major internal coolant leak, oil pan had about 1 ½ gallons of coolant in it.
I pulled all the spark plugs and checked compression on all cylinders which were in the 150# range with the exception of the #7 cylinder which was at 210. When the engine was rolled over moisture was blown out of #7.
I pressurized the left side exhaust manifold to 60 pounds, it slowly lost pressure to about 30 over a half hour. Then I pressurized to whole cooling system to about 12 lbs., coolant ran out of the #7 cylinder plug hole at a very fast flow rate.
My assumption at this point is: The cylinder makes compression, the exhaust side coolant is not leaking into it. The coolant is coming into the top of the cylinder so it flows out the plug hole. Why is so much going into the pan? Also the spark plug electrode gap was bent closed like something had hit it.
The history: I purchased this twin crusader boat last fall. The engines have run well with the exception of fuel issues. The fuel tanks were very contaminated which caused the engines to stall out at the most inconvenient times. Neither engine has ever need coolant added to them except for I topped them off when I first acquired it. I put the boat in a yard in Port Townsend to replace the fuel tanks about two months ago. I just got it out on the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP]. of January. The tank replacement dragged on and on. I knew the port engine had been worked on a few years back but I had no knowledge of the condition of the exhaust risers on the starboard engine. The shop owner said he had a man who could check these risers out. In the end both 8" risers and elbows were changed on the starboard engine. A day or so before I was to pick up the boat the shop owner emailed me to tell me they could not get the starboard engine to turn over and he was not going to do anything more to it. I had the boat returned to the water so there would be good sea water cooling available. I put a new battery on the starboard engine. A few weeks earlier when the risers had been replaced I had brought down three gallons of coolant and filled the system. When I was now going to try to start the engine I looked at the overflow tank which was still full and I think I looked into the heat exchanger tank, not sure. The engine turned over hard and slow the first few rotations then took off. It rattled a little at first then smoothed out. After a couple minutes I saw it was heating up so I shut it down. I let it sit a few minutes then saw the coolant overflow tank draw down. I added more coolant to the overflow tank. I spend about 20 minutes but saw it was not going to hold coolant so had the boat towed away to my home dock.
Other than having a cracked block, how could so much coolant get in the pan?
Sorry to be so long winded about this but a lot is going on.
Thanks, Terry
1982 Crusader 270 has major internal coolant leak, oil pan had about 1 ½ gallons of coolant in it.
I pulled all the spark plugs and checked compression on all cylinders which were in the 150# range with the exception of the #7 cylinder which was at 210. When the engine was rolled over moisture was blown out of #7.
I pressurized the left side exhaust manifold to 60 pounds, it slowly lost pressure to about 30 over a half hour. Then I pressurized to whole cooling system to about 12 lbs., coolant ran out of the #7 cylinder plug hole at a very fast flow rate.
My assumption at this point is: The cylinder makes compression, the exhaust side coolant is not leaking into it. The coolant is coming into the top of the cylinder so it flows out the plug hole. Why is so much going into the pan? Also the spark plug electrode gap was bent closed like something had hit it.
The history: I purchased this twin crusader boat last fall. The engines have run well with the exception of fuel issues. The fuel tanks were very contaminated which caused the engines to stall out at the most inconvenient times. Neither engine has ever need coolant added to them except for I topped them off when I first acquired it. I put the boat in a yard in Port Townsend to replace the fuel tanks about two months ago. I just got it out on the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP]. of January. The tank replacement dragged on and on. I knew the port engine had been worked on a few years back but I had no knowledge of the condition of the exhaust risers on the starboard engine. The shop owner said he had a man who could check these risers out. In the end both 8" risers and elbows were changed on the starboard engine. A day or so before I was to pick up the boat the shop owner emailed me to tell me they could not get the starboard engine to turn over and he was not going to do anything more to it. I had the boat returned to the water so there would be good sea water cooling available. I put a new battery on the starboard engine. A few weeks earlier when the risers had been replaced I had brought down three gallons of coolant and filled the system. When I was now going to try to start the engine I looked at the overflow tank which was still full and I think I looked into the heat exchanger tank, not sure. The engine turned over hard and slow the first few rotations then took off. It rattled a little at first then smoothed out. After a couple minutes I saw it was heating up so I shut it down. I let it sit a few minutes then saw the coolant overflow tank draw down. I added more coolant to the overflow tank. I spend about 20 minutes but saw it was not going to hold coolant so had the boat towed away to my home dock.
Other than having a cracked block, how could so much coolant get in the pan?
Sorry to be so long winded about this but a lot is going on.
Thanks, Terry
