[C38] who said overheat??

Marci Brown mb at seafor.us
Mon Jun 13 16:21:48 EDT 2011


You have my utmost sympathy, Max! Due to a series of challenging events, our
engine has boiled over twice since we've owned it - without any apparent
damage. I cleaned out the drain hole under the engine so at least
everything's not sitting over a pool of water anymore. The engine has  some
major corrosion going on - can't continue to ignore the progression. And the
3-year-old transmission looked positively dreadful (externally), all pitted.
I'm guessing it's an aluminum housing. One day we'll have to pull the engine
and components out to deal with the corrosion. It's going to be replaced
with something smaller (footprint-wise) and beefier (horse-power). $$$$$.
This fall we must take care of the numerous hull blisters...
 
Marci J. Brown 
 
From: Max Soto [mailto:maxsoto at gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2011 12:11 PM
To: Catalina 38 Listserve
Subject: [C38] who said overheat??
 

Yesterday  Estancia's engine suffered of extreme overheating due to a very
awful chain of events... hard for me to believe that everything happened on
the same trip, but they did.....
 
1- a zip tie holding the engine harness broke
2-  the wires fell to the only part or the riser that wasn't protected
3-  few wires melted but I noticed it and stop more wire to be melted.
4- when they made ground I Iost one cockpit speaker and my temp meter, but
since engine was ok, I though I could relie on the alarm for my way back
home, after all, I have suffered overheating only once in 9 years...... What
could go wrong this time???????? 
5- Then , ********the manifold  "radiator cap" base had a massive failure
due to corrosion and separated from the manifold********
6- I installed an overheating alarm years ago, but is only a light, it has
no buzzer...... since I'm always checking the temp constantly, I gave it
some time to buy the buzzer...... ( that was kinda stupid mistake........)
 
When I smelled the coolant evaporating it was already too late, engine had
spilled all the coolant and smoke was coming from all the engine, specially
from the breathing hose from the valve cover... compression was coming out
like I've never seen before, and now I know that the alarm can come on with
just hot vapor.... I learned it the hard way........
I cooled down the engine, but still I'm suspecting a blown head gasket...
now that manifold and head have to come out, the whole block is following
them.... heavy corrosion have damaged the thermostat housing, the aluminum
front engine cover and the oil filter base, so I have oil spills all over
the place.........
Overhaul or engine replacement came on the last trip that I made before
hauling the boat for complete peeling for a blister job.....  An I lucky or
what?????????LOL...
 
Check out the pics.. Still don't know if the manifold can be repaired or if
I should start looking for a new manifold.......or engine........
Regards,
-- 
Max Soto
C38 #198 ESTANCIA
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://catalina38.org/pipermail/listserve_catalina38.org/attachments/20110613/18430d9e/attachment-0001.htm>


More information about the Listserve mailing list