Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

[NoGin]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

Drained coolant which was low and a light green color similar to Mountain Dew.

What should I do from here?

 

[slasmith1]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

pull the end caps off the heat exchanger and re pressure test if it is losing coolant that fast you should be able to see the leak.
depending on how bad it looks you will need to have it repaired or replace the heat exchanger.

 

[NoGin]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

pull the end caps off the heat exchanger and re pressure test if it is losing coolant that fast you should be able to see the leak.
depending on how bad it looks you will need to have it repaired or replace the heat exchanger.

Do this with no coolant in there? Should I put coolant in there (@$24) or another kind of mixture seeing as I will be draining this all out again?

 

[slasmith1]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

Do this with no coolant in there?

no you need coolant but for this purpose and not to waste money on coolant that will probably need to come out again anyway just fill with water.
the part that will be exposed when you remove the end caps is the raw water side of the heat exchanger so if you get water leaking back inside you found your leak.

 

[NoGin]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

no you need coolant but for this purpose and not to waste money on coolant that will probably need to come out again anyway just fill with water.
the part that will be exposed when you remove the end caps is the raw water side of the heat exchanger so if you get water leaking back inside you found your leak.

Great thanks. I am going to add a little coolant to help identify any leaks but not the full mixture. Will post results soon.

 

[Glastron_V210]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

In my opinion the best way to test the system is broken up:

1) Remove the heat exchanger. Run a bath. No, it's not for you! The heat exchanger has two sets of iput and outputs, one for the coolant, the other for the raw water (Ocean/lake water). Plug up the coolant inputs and outputs. Using your pressure testing cap, bring the exchanger up to 13-14psi and then place it in the bath.

If you start getting bubbles out of the raw water side then the two sides are connected and that's your problem. No bubbles = no problem!

2) Do the engine in the same sort of way, only use the pressure guage. Plug all the exits. Rig up a 'pressurizer' out of some plumbing stuff. I happened to have pex crimers so I used pex. I used a regular bicycle schrader valve, connected to a guage, and finally a pex 1/2" to 3/4 pipe thread fitting. I placed the pipe thread fitting into a hose et voila...engine pressure tester. Use soapy water or snoop to test all connections for leakage. Pressurize to 12 psi and leave it for a while....any leaks?

3) As per 2, but do the manifolds. The risers will likely be raw water cooled, but the manifolds may be fresh water (coolant) cooled.


Good luck.

Chay

 

[CharlieB]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

You could make a cheap dye in the kitchen if you still have stuff left over from coloring Easter Eggs! (Food Coloring)

 

[NoGin]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

Great advice and ideas guys.

2nd pressure test with heat exchanger end cap off:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I filled it with water and a little coolant. It was very very low.
Pressure was soo much better than before! I gave it 15 LBS and it took 2 mins for it to lower to 12 LBS. I did notice water coming from the fore end of the heat exchanger low side. Very little, nothing shooting out.

What is the normal PSI rating for the 3.7 merc? Should it remain at 14PSI for good or slowly go down?

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

sounds to me like your problem isn't the H/E.......

 

[NoGin]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

With a rather slow drop in pressure like this what can be the cause?

Loose hose somewhere I am not catching? Can it be something more serious with such a slow pressure drop?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

There should be no drop at all unless you test setup is causing the leak.

 

[NoGin]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

I was thinking that as well. I tested my other engine that I have no problems with and I had the same slow drop in pressure to 13 LBS but then it stayed there. The port engine (engine with issues) continued to very slowly drop.

I forgot to mention that when I removed the heat exchange end cap I found a shell!! Just under an inch long and about 1/4 inch wide. That can cause a clog or some damage!

 

[Glastron_V210]

Re: Coolant SHOOTING From Port Side Transom Assembly

You may be lucky enough to have 2 problems!

If your test setup is good (Check connections with soapy water or snoop...did I mention this?) then your heat exchanger has a small leak. Take it to the rad guy for confirmation. It should handle 14psi all day long and not drop. Watch your test hoses for swelling...sometimes old hoses won't take it!

Test the rest of your system. It's likely a big manifold leak or even more likely the block off gasket between the manifold and riser has failed huge.

Chay