[C38] How do I tell if my heat exhanger is not working?

Patrick 1derful at comcast.net
Sun Aug 2 20:18:56 EDT 2015


Tom 
Is it difficult to make 3" heat exchanger?
Patrick

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 2, 2015, at 7:21 AM, Tom Troncalli <tdtron at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> The original 2" heat exchanger on the 5424 was marginal in the best of conditions but with any debris or warm sea water environment the engine will overheat.  I have seen the 5424 overheat on a relatively new boat going across the Florida straight to Bimini.
> 
> I kept my Catalina 38 in Tampa bay and even with the engine flushed and using clean antifreeze water, the engine would run on the hot side in Summer when the bay was warmer.
> 
> I made a 3" exchanger for my 38 and never experienced overheating again.
> 
> Prestone makes an engine flush kit that puts an elbow in a coolant hose from the engine to the heat exchanger which allows easy flushing of the engine and also an easy way to "burp" the engine to remove air in the system.  This kit is cheap and works well with any boat, upgraded heat exchanger or not.
> 
> With this kit you can put the chemical flush in the engine, run it to clean up the engine, then use a city water hose to flush the residual cleaner from the cooling system. We first drained the engine into a bucket to remove as much of the cleaning solution safely from the boat as possible before we used the city water flush with the intention of keeping as much of the flush chemical from exiting through our bilge pump into the harbor.
> 
> Flushing probably eventually helps any engine but on the 5424 nothing beats a larger heat exchanger.  The original 2" exchanger just could not handle 24hp except in ideal conditions.  With a thermostat controlled engine, it is better to have an exchanger larger than needed but not smaller.
> 
> That's my experience anyway.
> 
> Tom Troncalli
> Previous owner #95
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On 8/1/2015 11:29 PM, 1derful at comcast.net wrote:
>> 
>> Hello,
>>  
>> My Catalina has been overheating.  Universal Diesel 5424.
>> I removed the thermostat........it was corroded and wrapped with debris.
>> I removed and cleaned the internal water pump.  Also lot of debris.
>> Put hose in engine.  Water didn't flow but eventually it did.  More debris.
>> now when I run the engine it is cool until I put on the radiator cap..........then it gets too hot and loses water.
>>  
>> Any thoughts?
>>  
>> Patrick
>> 
>> 
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