Hi again,
I have twin Crusader 8.1L 2004 with full closed cooling system in my boat. Two winters ago we completely replaced manifolds, risers, raw water pumps and hoses; cleaned HX and oil coolers, and replaced belts and belt tensioners. Over this past winter I found some coolant in the bilge on the outboard side of my port motor. The mechanics at the yard took a look and said there was an overtightened hose clamp and they pressure tested the entire system and it's fine. So far this season I have not seen any coolant leaking in that same place so I guess it was fixed. I have put 60 hours on the motors this season no problems.
This leads me to yesterday - I checked the oil before yesterday's trip and notice the overflow tank on the port motor was all the way full (way above the "full" mark). I ran the boat out 10 miles and fished for a few hours and when I returned to the harbor and came to idle I noticed a burning smell from the helm. At first I thought it smelt like wires burning, but then I felt it was the smell of burning coolant. The engine temp gauges read within 5 degrees of each other and the port motor was the cooler one just under 180 degrees F, stbd was just over 180. I got back to dock and raised the hatch and find the overflow tank on the port motor still full to the top and there is some coolant on the outside of the tank bottom where the return line goes back to HX, and there were little spots of coolant sprayed in the bilge and on tranny just below that spot.
This morning I drained the overflow tank back down to the "full" mark and fired up the engines and let them warm up. The port motor warms faster than stbd on the gauge, but the gauge never reads above 180. I used infra heat gun all over the motors. What I found is that the risers on the port motor are ~10 degrees or so warmer than stbd, and the inboard manifold of the port motor is reading 200 degrees in some places in the center just under the riser, while the other three manifolds I can never find much over 180 degrees. After heat up and cool down the overflow tanks on both engines stayed exactly in same spot. If I take off the HX caps when cool they are not full, you have too look down inside to see the coolant. Is that expected
I am kind of at a loss here for what to do next. Any advice appreciated.
I have twin Crusader 8.1L 2004 with full closed cooling system in my boat. Two winters ago we completely replaced manifolds, risers, raw water pumps and hoses; cleaned HX and oil coolers, and replaced belts and belt tensioners. Over this past winter I found some coolant in the bilge on the outboard side of my port motor. The mechanics at the yard took a look and said there was an overtightened hose clamp and they pressure tested the entire system and it's fine. So far this season I have not seen any coolant leaking in that same place so I guess it was fixed. I have put 60 hours on the motors this season no problems.
This leads me to yesterday - I checked the oil before yesterday's trip and notice the overflow tank on the port motor was all the way full (way above the "full" mark). I ran the boat out 10 miles and fished for a few hours and when I returned to the harbor and came to idle I noticed a burning smell from the helm. At first I thought it smelt like wires burning, but then I felt it was the smell of burning coolant. The engine temp gauges read within 5 degrees of each other and the port motor was the cooler one just under 180 degrees F, stbd was just over 180. I got back to dock and raised the hatch and find the overflow tank on the port motor still full to the top and there is some coolant on the outside of the tank bottom where the return line goes back to HX, and there were little spots of coolant sprayed in the bilge and on tranny just below that spot.
This morning I drained the overflow tank back down to the "full" mark and fired up the engines and let them warm up. The port motor warms faster than stbd on the gauge, but the gauge never reads above 180. I used infra heat gun all over the motors. What I found is that the risers on the port motor are ~10 degrees or so warmer than stbd, and the inboard manifold of the port motor is reading 200 degrees in some places in the center just under the riser, while the other three manifolds I can never find much over 180 degrees. After heat up and cool down the overflow tanks on both engines stayed exactly in same spot. If I take off the HX caps when cool they are not full, you have too look down inside to see the coolant. Is that expected
I am kind of at a loss here for what to do next. Any advice appreciated.