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Good Thing I Checked

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dropbear68

Contributing Member
During the course of my cleaning up process I elected to pull the oil cooler apart on my AQ130 lucky I did I was totally blocked with what looked like fine grass, so I made the decision to pull the exhaust fitting off so I could get to the water pick up, good thing I did too the hose was stuffed totally, the clamp rusted so bad I had to use the dremel too cut it off and the pick up itself was totally blocked as well, so now im going to strip of every cooling related fitting I can and flush it clean and tidy all the fittings up.
 
When I had that setup, i.e., the combo water pickup/exhaust, I had just about the exact same problem. My fix:
Changed water inlet to a thru the hull "high speed" pickup. I used a Dremel tool to grind off the "flashing" on the grill of the casting and to slightly enlarge the spaces between the grill.
I installed a good internal strainer in a place ( near front of engine) so I could easily inspect and clean out the filter, sometimes, once a trip.
I installed a 1/4 turn shut off immediately inside the hull directly on the thruhull pickup and then above that a bronze T fitting. On the third leg, I installed a reducer and a hose "bib" fitting, so I could flush the cooling system routinely. I've done this on all my boats since then and on the fresh water cooled ones, i.e. heat exchanged, this setup allowed me to winterize the system in just a few mins. Make sure all fittings are bronze. You may have a problem finding a bronze hose bib fitting, ( I never did!), so I just change out the hose bib every 4 or 5 seasons. The ones intended for "boiler drain" use seem to hold up quite well.

The only "down side" is that some inline strainers have inspection/cleaning port seals that are "finicky" and care needs to be taken when opening/closing the filter for cleaning/inspection.
 
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Rick I am sure if I didn't check this a seized motor may have resulted or a burst inlet hose with no way to stem water flow coz its under the cast fitting that sends the exhaust gas out,I have a bilge pump but doubt it would keep up with the flow of water through a burst 5/8 cooling hose, really scares me this sort of thing, so I can guarantee you I will cross every T and dot every I with this renovation and Im fitting bigger capacity bilge pumps not one but two, the exhaust is being changed to more modern straight thru transom ski boat fitting with a flap I have a brass pick up to go in the floor, Ill fit this tomorrow, I picked up a modern water/fuel filter with a water trap that factory Volvo glass thing is a joke and its in the bin, my fuel tank has 100 litres of stale ULP in it so its gone, fuel tank out and cleaned, new vent and fuel hose to the filter, my dad always said boats are a money trip but until your in the water in great white shark territory you will wish youd not over looked any small trivial things.
 
re: "I have a brass pick up to go in the floor, Ill fit this tomorrow"

Hopefully with at least a minimum of a 1/4 SS/Bronze shut off valve ( screwed right on the pick up threads if you have the room) for safety reasons. Strongly recommend a sea water strainer... While they cost more, the ones with the perforated SS screens last longer than the plastic screen ones.
 
re: "I have a brass pick up to go in the floor, Ill fit this tomorrow"

Hopefully with at least a minimum of a 1/4 SS/Bronze shut off valve ( screwed right on the pick up threads if you have the room) for safety reasons. Strongly recommend a sea water strainer... While they cost more, the ones with the perforated SS screens last longer than the plastic screen ones.
 
sandkicker said:
re: "I have a brass pick up to go in the floor, Ill fit this tomorrow"

Hopefully with at least a minimum of a 1/4 SS/Bronze shut off valve ( screwed right on the pick up threads if you have the room) for safety reasons. Strongly recommend a sea water strainer... While they cost more, the ones with the perforated SS screens last longer than the plastic screen ones.
Click to expand...

.....errrrr.... that's a 1/4 TURN SS/Bronze shut off valve @ appropriate hose dia.
 
Got the rest of the oil cooler apart today, bugger me was it blocked, I used a stainless steel skewer and rodded each hole out this black crusty junk was coming out, I clean them all then doused it with a good caustic degreaser and washed it several times its a clean as snow whites ass now, the reason there was oil in the water side of the cooler was the dodgey cardboard gasket used where the unit mounts to the engine block, the pipe out the stern end of the cooler where it goes to the manifold was fairly blocked but it was with silastic gasket sealer, Im going to stick the garden hose up there and try and get the crud out of the block, I fitted the new pick up in the floor, Ill get a shut off valve as you suggested Bob and screw it onto the pick up, I need to find a big spanner now to get the original widget thing out of the transom, looks pretty rusty the thread, hope it comes off.
 
dropbear68 said:
, I need to find a big spanner now to get the original widget thing out of the transom, looks pretty rusty the thread, hope it comes off.
Click to expand...

I ended up hacksawing mine off from the outside and having to use a dremel to grind off the bits I could not hacksaw off. A bit of marine epoxy putty product patched up the saw scrapes in the gel coat. I ended up plugging up the leftover hole with a piece of fiberglass tape that I saturated with epoxy and rolled up and forced into the hole. Be sure to take a round file to the hole first to clean out the grung and get to clean bare wood ( transoms normally plywood cored). Saturate the bare wood with thin epoxy first, saturate & roll up fiberglass tape plug and insert with a screwing motion. Let a small amount protrude out thru the transom and when it hardens, sand (80 grit) it flush with the transom and then cover with a single layer of tape or cloth as a patch at least an inch larger than the hole (sand nearby transom to roughen the gel coat) . Let harden, sand w/80 , A thin layer of thickened epoxy over the sanded patch and a final sanding to get rid of drips ending up with 200 grit finishes the job. Since this area is covered with bottom paint, I never bothered with gel coat. I let the ugly bits on the inside alone.
 
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Thanks Ricky for the link, man did u see the cost of the new oil cooler 1800 euro, you could buy a new boat for that lol, looking at the pics of the parts diagrams I see differences to mine, trivial things but the elbow of the exhaust manifold on these diagrams it shows it to the rear of the manifold mines on the front, which is why it has the big copper pipe that runs from this elbow back to the transom pipe for the exhaust just with rubber joiners and clamps, some plumbing differences, now on a USA boat that runs this motor, with mine the water enters the motor through the oil cooler, runs around does it thing at the back of my motor around the rear of the exhaust manifold area there is a fitting it has a temp sender unit and a brass tail fitting so the water exits the engine from this tail via a hose to a skin fitting on the transom and away it goes back into the ocean, this sound anything like normal?, Ill have to hunt around locally for the seals and what not to get the oil cooler on and leak free
 
The cleaned up oil cooler, should be fine and leak free now, I have fitted the quarter turn shut off valve to the pick up but Im worried its not catching many threads so I think Ill remove the nut of the back of the pick up and use the valve as the nut with the big washer and liberal amounts of silicone sealent,Ill tackle the silly exhaust outlet on the transom tomorrow somehow ill get it off
 

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dropbear68 said:
The cleaned up oil cooler, should be fine and leak free now, I have fitted the quarter turn shut off valve to the pick up but Im worried its not catching many threads so I think Ill remove the nut of the back of the pick up and use the valve as the nut with the big washer and liberal amounts of silicone sealent,Ill tackle the silly exhaust outlet on the transom tomorrow somehow ill get it off
Click to expand...

That's what I did, i.e., use the valve as the nut, but I don't like silicone sealant. I use "Boat Life". 4200 would work well also... don't use 5200.
 
Maybe I missed it, but didn't see that you had the cooler pressure tested. Most good radiator shops can do this. Just doesn't seem to make sense to go to all of that trouble and not verify that there are no leaks.
 
Its been tested and was given the seaworthy stamp of approval, I had to remove the hose tail of the pick up did you do this? I picked up a brass T piece today Ill play with all this over the weekend and get the system sorted, pulled the Alternator of my spare motor to replace the rusted pile of crap that was on it, got some other useful parts so Ill be busy all weekend
 
Don't know what "locally" is for you, but most big nation wide marine retailers have them, available online..
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc... the same stuff as your anodes and when alloyed with copper in brass and exposed to salt water, the zinc acts like the zinc in your anodes, i.e., goes away with time, leaving a porous and brittle copper fitting. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, which is resistant to dissolving in sea water.
 
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Im inland australia, nearest marine shop is 3 hours that way lol, luckily for you the tail I bought I didnt fit the shut off, too small so I might hop online and sniff out a bronze fella
 
Something the previous owner told me was playing on my mind he said it had no thermostat, I stripped the tstat housing off and again lucky I did, yes no thermostat, but the base of the old thermostat was still therejust had the guts knocked out of it so its restricted in a way, nice housing its solid brass so Ill strip the paint of and polish it up Ill replace all the bolts with new stainless bolts and washers, Im all for silicone sealant if used correctly, this idiot had slapped it on with a shovel half the holes were clogged with it, it was everywhere, no sign of any new orings so Ill replace all them, do I fit a new thermostat and if so for summer conditions what temp rating? I cleaned up under the thermostat housing with the dremel tool and had a good look at those mysterious holes with the missing cover, I found these holes in my workshop manual for the volvo 140 car 1974 model, as i said it the water pump inlet hole and bypass hole as the auto pump doesnt feed through the front of the block like a normal car, Ill make the plate up for this, Ill try and drill the old busted bolt out and re tap it for a new bolt, eventually Ill work over the motor and replace every single exterior bolt with stainless steel, Im going to fit some sacrificial anodes here and there on the motor and leg try and keep the tin worms at bay. Im getting more confident this old Volvo will be a good motor
 
The purpose of a T'stat is not to keep the engine cool, but rather to keep it up to the desired operating temp. In salt water the proper T'stat year around is in the 130 to 140 degree F range. Marine T'stats are different materials than automotive. If run in fresh water, you can go up to 165 ish T'stat and get better fuel consumption. People often remove T'stats to solve an overheating problem, so be prepared to have a problem pop up. Running without a T'stat not good for engine life or for keeping condensation out of the oil.
 
Yes I unerstand thermostats quiet well Ill find the right one for it, u can run a motor too cold and I know its not good for them if they cant get up to running temps, much the same with a car, if the oil doesnt get hot the acids and fuel dont burn off out of the sump oil, cast iron expands and contracts as does aluminium, engineers werent silly
 
Sorry, I never know the skill set or background of a poster, so as a semi retired engineer, I always "assume" the worse. On the bright side, the plugged hose and "crusty" oil cooler were likely the root cause of overheating problem the P/O was trying to solve by removing the T'stat!
 
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