www.iFourWinns.com

Hi Guys, in 20 plus years of boating, today was the first time I broke down and had to be towed. Since I"m a firm believer of what happend since the last time it ran ok syndrome, here's my story.

I added about an 1 inch of power steering fluid in the tank since it didn't come close to the "full cold" mark. I went out this morning for a little run, within 5 minutes I noticed the temperature gauge rising towards the 220 mark, usually it's around 160 or so. Started to smell smoke so I immediately shut off the engine, opened the hatch and noticed a reddish colour of fluid (same colour I think as the power steering fluid) in the bilge, not lots, but enough to notice it. I attemped to restart it out of curiosity but to no avail.

Got back to the trailer, thanks to a couple of generous folks who towed me back in.


When I got home I had a good look around to see if I saw any hoses or fittings that had "burst" due to pressure which would answer the reddish colour of fluid which I think is the power steering, when I open the power steering cap, the level is right back to where it was prior to me adding the additional fluid. I didn't see any indications of any.

The other problem which is much larger is the overheating one, do we think it may be the water pump that decided to stop working, I'm thinking Yes, but what about the smoke smell. Do we think I could of done some serious damage to the engine by having it run at that higher temperature for a minute or two. Any chance there is a "High Temperature" switch that would trip before any real serious damage occurrs which would explain the "no restart".

Thanks for any ideas, just trying to convince myself that I didn't "cook" the engine due to a possible defective water pump.


Bruce

If you had a really high temp situtation many times you can tell by the paint on the manifold and risers.

It very well could have been the oil on the belt causing the belt to slip that caused the high temp (lack of water flow). If the oil got on any really hot part that would account for the smoke.

I'd get the hose fixed, check all the fluids and start her up. If the raw water impeller hasn't been changed out or inspected in the last 24 months now would be a good time. See if once the oil is cleaned up if the temp stays normal.

_________________
Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

The gauges on the dash are your warning. If you're not watching those needles you can certainly get yourself into trouble. I don't know of too many engine systems these days that will "automagically" deal with high temp situations. Better ones will sound alarms. Don't recall what was state of the art for 1996.

Along these lines our Kohler 5E generator crapped out this morning. Just as I needed it to make the coffee. It'd run for about a minute and then die. So I started the usual parade of checking starting with the fuel, the sea strainer and then the impeller. Whaddya know, it impleller had eaten itself. No crud in the strainer to explain why though. But while I'm in there I notice the AC strainer's got GREEN fuzz in it, oh joy another thing to deal with...

So tomorrow I'll be picking up TWO generator impellers (to go with the engine spares I've already got onboard). I will NEVER AGAIN get caught without being able to make my own coffee!

But back to your situation, are you SURE you put the fluid in the right place? Probably, but it never hurts to ask. If you overheated the engine and warped something you're unlikely to make it worse trying to debug it. Just make sure actual cooling action is taking place. That would be confirming that the raw water intake is working and that your impellers are in good shape. Pull the impeller if you want to be sure. Steering is generally a closed system and doesn't usually 'burn' any appreciable amount of fluid. If the level changes it's usually because it leaked out somewhere. In your case it appears to have leaked right back to the previous level. The only time I've seen that happen was a car that got a crack in the pump reservoir. Being that it's low pressure at that side it just leaked if the level was up to the crack. If you get a leak on the high pressure side it'll usually drain the whole system. I'd be checking that the connections are all tight and free of fluid. Clean 'em up and retry things to see where it's leaking.

I'm guessing you've got two problems, unrelated to each other. One being a steering fluid leak and the other being a bad impeller. That it smoked was probably just the result of the fluid dripping onto a hot manifold.

Hi Guys, I took my boat into the marina last night and received a call this afternoon informing me that everything is fixed. It turns out I had 2 different issues. The overheating was caused by a defective impeller in the water pump which I think we all suspected. The fluid was the result of a loose clamp at the oil cooler for the power steering fluid.

It will be interesting to see the level of fluid in the power steering pump after they fixed it up. I'll know now depending on the level whether I perhaps accelerated the leaky clamp at the cooler by adding the additional fluid, however, like I said I only added about 1 inch worth which allowed plenty of room in the pump for expansion, like about 2 more inches. I'll report back in once I pick up the boat. The marina shuts at 5:30 pm and it's a 2 hour drive so I'll pick it up on Saturday. No indication of any damages as a result of the high temperature for 5 minutes.

Since I just bought this boat in July I wasn't sure about any previous impeller replacements, however, as we have read many times, every 2 years whether it needs it or not. It just isn't worth the worry of a blown engine because of a defective impeller.

Take Care

Bruce

Sounds like things are working out fine. Good Luck!

_________________
Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

Hi there, just a quick update, I picked up my boat this morning and took it for a run. Runs like a charm, temperature reading good and no leaking power steering fluid.

I checked the power steering pump for the level of the fluid since they had replaced the clamps at the power steering cooler and re topped the fluid. The level is where it should be with respect to the dip stick. So, that means that I didn't overfill it and I simply ran into 2 seperate problems. Perhaps the fluid had leaked before I bought it to that particular level and when I topped it up, it leaked to that specific level again - I don't know.

At any rate, we have the correct level of fluid and no leaks. The old impeller was pretty chewed up, it's amazing to see the amount of deteriation of that impeller with only water passing through it.


I'm a Happy Guy


Bruce

Hi Guys, me again, I was looking closer today at the Power Steering Fluid cooler, it appears that the power steering fluid is cooled by the water that circulates through the engine. The cooler itself has 4 hose fittings, two for the in and out fluid and two for the water.

Maybe when my impeller went bad, which then resulted in no water flow caused the steering fluid to heat up a little more than usual which was just enough to escape the hose fitting.

I know I know, I'm killing you guys, I just like to understand the big picture. So, in a round about way, my 2 problems were kinda of related to one another.


That's it, No more thinking about it - it's fixed and we move on and Remember, change those implellers every 2 years regardless, too much depends on that flow of water.

Take Care

Bruce