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Am I overheating?

87point2psi

87point2psi

Member
Hi all..

I have a "new to me boat",with an AQ145A in it. Im also new to Volvo Penta, have only run outboards and Mercruisers...I haven't had it out yet as im still going through the systems and making sure its good to go.
The boat is in awesome shape but has been sitting for about 3 years, its a Glasply 1800 runabout.
Since its been sitting for so long, Im sure there are going to be a few demons within.

So today, I go out and flash it up...it was kind of a bitch to start I have to say, but once it was finally warmed up it idled like a champ....BUT....I noticed steam coming out of the exhaust after about 10 min of running, some antifreeze was leaking out from under the fresh water cap, exhaust manifold pretty hot to touch on the side,so I shut it down. Let it cool and flashed it up again after checking coolant level, left the cap off and noticed after a couple minutes of running that the coolant in the tank started to circulate (thermostat opening?) Also noted that the heater up in the bow was working,so hot coolant being circulated up there. So, thermostat works, and FRESH water pump works.
Shut it down again when i noticed steam at the exhaust again. Let cool, remove cap off raw water exchanger, flash it up, water pours out..so, raw water pump working. I should mention that the temp on the dash only read about 170 deg, yet I have this feeling its going hot due to the steam at the exhaust along with the ejected water.
No coolant in the oil,..no oil in the coolant.
Am i being paranoid or is steam normal? Shouldn't i be able to put my hand on the outside of that manifold if its cooling correctly? Or do they run that hot at idle? If it is hot, why dosent my gauge tell me? where is the sender for the temp? Maybe my gauge wrong?

Also, regarding the coolant leaking from the cap, I notice this cap has no rubber seal, should there be one?, I know my truck has a rubber gasket in the cap.
It says 30kpa on the cap, which means about 4.3 psi, sound like the correct cap?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me, I really like the looks of this volvo, engine sounds great...also it has a 280 leg.
 
The exhaust manifold should stay fairy cool and just get warm when the engine is up to normal temp. It is real common for the water out ports on the exhaust manifold to get rusted and greatly reduce water flow. Shortly after starting the motor you should get good water flow out of the exhaust on the lower gearbox. Being new to you pull the exhaust manifold and inspect it and the ports on the head, You can get new manifold gaskets at the auto part store for a volvo B230. If the raw water side of the heat exchanger quickly fills up after starting then the exhaust manifold should stay cool for some time before warming up when the thermostat opens up.
 
kimcrwbr1 said:
The exhaust manifold should stay fairy cool and just get warm when the engine is up to normal temp. It is real common for the water out ports on the exhaust manifold to get rusted and greatly reduce water flow. Shortly after starting the motor you should get good water flow out of the exhaust on the lower gearbox. Being new to you pull the exhaust manifold and inspect it and the ports on the head, You can get new manifold gaskets at the auto part store for a volvo B230. If the raw water side of the heat exchanger quickly fills up after starting then the exhaust manifold should stay cool for some time before warming up when the thermostat opens up.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!
I have taken your advice and removed the exhaust manifold and am in the midst of cleaning it out....a couple of questions....I removed the one frost plug on the bottom of the manifold...I see there are 2 others on it but they appear to be inverted? Should I remove these ones as well? I would have to reinstall them in the same manner as the other one was installed, from the outside. Just wondering what the norm is for cleaning these manifolds..or should I leave those ones alone?
The manifold was plugged on the bottom side and was ok on top so that's why I still see water shooting from the exhaust when it's running.
There is pluggage in the oil cooler and exchanger as well.
Oh and also found bits of old Impeller in there as well so I'll have to recheck on that.
 
How do the slots look around the large hole going out and is the center baffle in the large hole still good? The #4 exhaust port on the head is the one that goes bad first. If there is plenty of good surface for the gasket it should be OK. I am sure you pulled the drain cock on the bottom allways remember to drain the manifold for winter storage. It shows 8 expansion plugs in the parts diagram part # 968955. If they are like the ones in the block you need to give them a good smack to seat in the recess. then put a bead of permatex aviation around the edge to seal them off good I put a light coat on the seat before smacking into place.
 
kimcrwbr1 said:
How do the slots look around the large hole going out and is the center baffle in the large hole still good? The #4 exhaust port on the head is the one that goes bad first. If there is plenty of good surface for the gasket it should be OK. I am sure you pulled the drain cock on the bottom allways remember to drain the manifold for winter storage. It shows 8 expansion plugs in the parts diagram part # 968955. If they are like the ones in the block you need to give them a good smack to seat in the recess. then put a bead of permatex aviation around the edge to seal them off good I put a light coat on the seat before smacking into place.
Click to expand...

Center baffle still looks good...slots look ok...3 long slots..1 shorter one.
As you mentioned, no4 port is eaten away a fair bit...can still get a gasket on it...I wonder if that could be built up with jb weld or something as I'm reinstalling the manifold?
I'm not too clear on the expansion plugs...the one plug looks like a regular expansion plug that you would find on a block...the others almost look like they were installed from the inside? Is this a different type of plug or are they a special volvo plug? Can a regular plug be installed here?

Thanks again for the advice.
 
As a matter of fact I did use some JB weld on the port on my motor when I first got it and put a new hose connecting the manifold to the tube going out the shield and it actually held up pretty good. I forgot to drain the manifold and it cracked two winters ago and decided to change the head and manifold. But in pulling the head There were deep rust grooves in the cylinder walls from the engine sitting for a long time not used. I stuffed a rag up in the #4 exhaust port and sanded down to good aluminum with real course paper formed the port according to one of the old gaskets then quickly put it back together. I was actually suprised mine had a nice leak that was still plugged when I took it apart. I cant say it is necessary tho just add a ground wire from the back bolt on the manifold directly to the battery neg post and that will arrest the electrolysis that occurs there.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Volvo-Hose-...ash=item2112553696:g:vYAAAOSwhOVXdWsR&vxp=mtr
I do recommend installing a new hose if that one is hard or cracked otherwise you need to pull the manifold to change it.
 
kimcrwbr1 said:
As a matter of fact I did use some JB weld on the port on my motor when I first got it and put a new hose connecting the manifold to the tube going out the shield and it actually held up pretty good. I forgot to drain the manifold and it cracked two winters ago and decided to change the head and manifold. But in pulling the head There were deep rust grooves in the cylinder walls from the engine sitting for a long time not used. I stuffed a rag up in the #4 exhaust port and sanded down to good aluminum with real course paper formed the port according to one of the old gaskets then quickly put it back together. I was actually suprised mine had a nice leak that was still plugged when I took it apart. I cant say it is necessary tho just add a ground wire from the back bolt on the manifold directly to the battery neg post and that will arrest the electrolysis that occurs there.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Volvo-Hose-...ash=item2112553696:g:vYAAAOSwhOVXdWsR&vxp=mtr
I do recommend installing a new hose if that one is hard or cracked otherwise you need to pull the manifold to change it.

Good info...my hose looks pretty good yet,no cracking and still very rubbery. I will definitely run a wire to the neg post.
Click to expand...
 
So I am one of those guys that hate it when people ask for help and then dont bother to post their results/findings,,,,,,,soooo, that being said:

Removed exhaust manifold, was pretty rusty but was able to clean it out....twice.....probably only needed to do it once but I will get to that.

cleaned, reinstalled, started, ran it for 6 or 7 minutes and noticed steam at the exhaust again, reach down to feel manifold and its hot to touch for anymore than about 1-2 seconds...think to myself "damn...must have not gotten it all, so reluctantly pull it all apart again and get to rodding it out...again(found a couple of chunkies but not much). BTW, still lots of meat left inside by the looks of it but im going to replace it this winter for sure.

ANYWAYS..I reinstall.....same procedure, start...run...6-7 min...steam!..hot manifold.

I shut it down, go sit in my chair and stare at my project, like us guys like to do (women dont get this ritual).... I consider myself a pretty smart guy, a gearhead, but admittedly , sometimes I just dont think.

I was runnng my engine in a tub...you know those large totes? I was using the lid as a deflector so the water it ejected would run back into my "test tank"...the level was up to the cavitation plate/exhaust....so of course I had good water flow.....most of you have probably figured out why i was getting steam by now but ill continue anyways....so water goes in engine, cools engine...WARM WATER DISCHARGED....do this for a few cycles and warm water becomes a tank of hot water...and...YOU CANT REALLY COOL YOUR MANIFOLD WITH HOT WATER.....why I didnt think of this is beyond me...but nevertheless, im posting my findings anyways. Dang it.

end of story, hooked up the hose with muffs, ran engine, manifold after half hour barely feels warm and no steam.
 
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