Hi newbie looking for some advice...
I’ve got twin, fresh water cooled, 2004 Volvo Penta 8.1 Gi which was serviced less than 5hrs ago.
Recently while cruising I looked down at the oil pressure gauge and it was showing 0psi (at 3600rpm) but there was no alarm!! Thought it might just be a faulty pressure sender but stopped the engine and checked the dipstick anyway... No oil!
Limped back to closest marina on one engine and filled crankcase with about 8 Litres of oil. Started the engine and pressure came up to normal but did note a bit of an oil sheen off the stern. Assumed I have an oil leak somewhere (not into the bilge or closed water cooling system) but after only a very short run (3mins at about 2200rpm) pressure dropped to zero again. No Alarm, no rough running, no smoke but did hear some tappet noise this time (because I was listening for it). Stopped, checked dipstick, empty again! No milky oil - just nothing on the dipstick. Suspected that my oil cooler has a hole, causing oil to pump straight into the raw water cooling. Did the rest of the trip on one engine.
When I finally got back home, the dipstick showed there was water in the crankcase but no oil. Pumped out the crankcase and about a litre of water came out but very little oil. There’s no evidence of any oil in the closed cooling water. Where can 8L of oil go in less than 3mins. Pulled the oil cooler but it doesn’t seem to have any holes in the cooling tubes (I will have it pressure tested).
Does anyone have any suggestions of what else could cause it to dump that much oil (must be into the raw water system) that quickly? Do any of the oil galleries get close to any raw (not fresh) water galleries in manifolds, head or anywhere else?
I’ve got twin, fresh water cooled, 2004 Volvo Penta 8.1 Gi which was serviced less than 5hrs ago.
Recently while cruising I looked down at the oil pressure gauge and it was showing 0psi (at 3600rpm) but there was no alarm!! Thought it might just be a faulty pressure sender but stopped the engine and checked the dipstick anyway... No oil!
Limped back to closest marina on one engine and filled crankcase with about 8 Litres of oil. Started the engine and pressure came up to normal but did note a bit of an oil sheen off the stern. Assumed I have an oil leak somewhere (not into the bilge or closed water cooling system) but after only a very short run (3mins at about 2200rpm) pressure dropped to zero again. No Alarm, no rough running, no smoke but did hear some tappet noise this time (because I was listening for it). Stopped, checked dipstick, empty again! No milky oil - just nothing on the dipstick. Suspected that my oil cooler has a hole, causing oil to pump straight into the raw water cooling. Did the rest of the trip on one engine.
When I finally got back home, the dipstick showed there was water in the crankcase but no oil. Pumped out the crankcase and about a litre of water came out but very little oil. There’s no evidence of any oil in the closed cooling water. Where can 8L of oil go in less than 3mins. Pulled the oil cooler but it doesn’t seem to have any holes in the cooling tubes (I will have it pressure tested).
Does anyone have any suggestions of what else could cause it to dump that much oil (must be into the raw water system) that quickly? Do any of the oil galleries get close to any raw (not fresh) water galleries in manifolds, head or anywhere else?
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