Engine temp gage

jabs

jabs

New Member
Sep 25, 2009
179
Saint Croix river/Stillwater MN
Boat Info
2000 Searay 270
Engines
Twin 4.3 Alpha 1 - 240 hours
I had a blast taking my first Sea Ray a 2000 270 with twins out for the weekend. Started out in Stillwater MN late Friday night beached on an Island called Beer Can Island dodged a bunch stubborn fishing boats through narrow channels to Prescott and then ended up in Welch MN at Treasure Island marina for the night one of two visiting boats there.

When we left Treasure Island in the morning after 15 minutes of moving I noticed the port engine temp gage was reading 125 while the other engine was reading 170. After another 30 minutes the port engines temp raised to 130 to 140 I was going maybe 15 mph.

Once I got out to a larger part of the river I raised my speed to about 30 and the ports temp raised to 170 held for a long time and then went to 180 so I shut the engine off let it cool then started it up again and it seemed to hold at 170 for the rest of the trip.

Any ideas on what was going? I noticed when I was reversing off the island I was kicking some muddy water up and was wondering if that might have caused it.

Picture is of a small river town in Prescott WI at a public dock on Sat
 
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Hey Jabs, nice pic in Prescott. I've never seen the dock so empty! Sounds like you got a great ride in before things got too busy. Where do you slip at? We're in Bayport.

You said the boat is new to you so did you get the service records? Its possible you just have an impellor that needs to be changed. Running from Stillwater to Beer Can Island you may not have noticed the temp because its such a short ride. We power on and off those islands all summer long - I doubt that's what did it.
 
We slip at Boomsite just slightly north of Stillwater.

Very little on service records the owners friend is a mechanic and did most of the work. I had a guy I trust go through the mechanicals for me. Which I did have repairs but nothing to unexpected except exhaust valves.

A ton of fishing boats out right now enjoying the quiet times before the large pleasure craft start using the channels but it was so bad I had to hit the horn when I couldn't pass through some areas and no one was moving :smt021
 
Could be: impeller, t-stat, bad gauge (clean the electrical connections first), bad sensor (clean electrical connections first). My first guess would be bad t-stat... if it was the impeller, it would have overheated right away, not run cool.

But, like mentioned above, what's the service history? (EDIT: Nevermind, we must have been typing at the same time). Start with replacing both T-stats - it's easy, inexpensive and if you don't know when it was done last - it's due. Replacing the impellers would be good, too.
 
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It was WINDY for opening weekend, too. We're at River Park, another one of the River Marinas.

You had to replace the exhaust valves? Like the flapper valves or the actual intake/exhaust valves in the engine?
 
Lazy Daze said:
Could be: impeller, t-stat, bad gauge (clean the electrical connections first), bad sensor (clean electrical connections first). My first guess would be bad t-stat... if it was the impeller, it would have overheated right away, not run cool.

But, like mentioned above, what's the service history? (EDIT: Nevermind, we must have been typing at the same time). Start with replacing both T-stats - it's easy, inexpensive and if you don't know when it was done last - it's due. Replacing the impellers would be good, too.
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Good deal I will try that tomorrow.
Just out curiosity what does it cost for impeller replacement?
 
Alibuma said:
It was WINDY for opening weekend, too. We're at River Park, another one of the River Marinas.

You had to replace the exhaust valves? Like the flapper valves or the actual intake/exhaust valves in the engine?
Click to expand...

The wind was challenging for me. When I was at Prescott the girl removed the bow line and when she started to walk back to remove the aft line the wind took the boat and did a perfect 180 and the fishing boats tied up behind me had to put there hands up to stop the boat from nailing them...My fault should have known before hand that was a possibility.:smt021

We had to install the flappers on both engines. He said if we didn't beach he wouldn't bother with it but since we do better safe than sorry. About 220.00 for both engines.

We had our old boat over at River Park cleaning it last month which we sold on Friday for over what we paid for it last year :grin:

I'm pretty sure I have seen your boat on the island. If you see a Sea Ray with two barking schnauzers one white one black that's us. We are still working on the name of our new toy might be LB
 
Might want to check the actual temperature gauge. I had a rear main seal replaced on my 1998 270SE. I had them doing alot of other work while the engine was out. The also changed the impellers. When the marina was checking the engine after the repair they noticed the temperature high while running it. the battery gauge was also not accurate. They checked the engine temp with a gun and checked the batteries and all was fine. I may have to replace most of my gauges.
 
As I read this, I was thinking "flakey thermostat". I agree with Lazy Daze's assessment.

A T-Stat is a quick, easy, in water replacement. Do that first :)

I don't know if you trailer or not. On Alpha drives, the impeller is in the drive and thus replacement is an "out of water" job. It is also a standard wear item on the system.
 
I had a problem with a thermostat. It would heat up as I bought up the RPM, when I slowed down it would cool. I first had the impeller changed. That helped a lot, but still having problems with heat. It turned out some ID 10 T put the thermostat upside down. Installed it correctly and all was fine.
 
During the sea trial and engine survey for the boat I am purchasing I noticed a 6 degree difference between the eng temp gauge (running over spec) and the IR temp gun reading off the engine which was in spec. The owner has since replaced the engine temp gauge and a later sea trial showed the gauge to now be reading in spec. So, it happens!!

Terry
 
jabs said:
Good deal I will try that tomorrow.
Just out curiosity what does it cost for impeller replacement?
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I'm not sure, off-hand, what the kit costs. But, if memory serves, it should be less than 2 hours. The "book" rate is 2 hours, but it can be done in less.
 
Unless I missed it here, no one has mentioned what your engine temps -should- be. 125 sounds way too low (or thermostat hadn't opened up yet). 170 sounds OK. The temps you were reporting didn't seem all that bad to me. What should they read?
 
I have an IR gun as well. Real handy to double check things when things are not going as well as they should.
 
180 is a normal temperature. If your gauge keeps reading approx 125 then something is wrong with your sender.
 
Jim M said:
180 is a normal temperature. If your gauge keeps reading approx 125 then something is wrong with your sender.
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Just had this same problem start with my merc 3.0 on a Sport 175 (right after I churned up some sand inadvertently idling into a sand bar). Ran the boat for about a 4 hr round trip cruise and all was fine with the engine temp gauge (reading around 170-175). After I restarted the engine following the sand bar thing, temp gauge dropped down to around 120 and won't move from there. Boat is a 2009 and has 45 hours and impeller is pulling the water through just fine. Anyone know where the sender is on the engine so I can see if something got dislodged? Thanks.
 
ZZ13 said:
Anyone know where the sender is on the engine so I can see if something got dislodged? Thanks.
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On the 4cyl, it's right there on the front of the T-stat housing. On V-6's and V-8's it's on the side of the housing.
 
ZZ13 said:
Just had this same problem start with my merc 3.0 on a Sport 175 (right after I churned up some sand inadvertently idling into a sand bar). Ran the boat for about a 4 hr round trip cruise and all was fine with the engine temp gauge (reading around 170-175). After I restarted the engine following the sand bar thing, temp gauge dropped down to around 120 and won't move from there. Boat is a 2009 and has 45 hours and impeller is pulling the water through just fine. Anyone know where the sender is on the engine so I can see if something got dislodged? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Does the gauge go from cold up to 120F when warming up and then stay there, or is it stuck on 120F no matter what? I'm thinking maybe you got something stuck in the thermostat itself, not allowing it to close completely when it cools off...so it's always open a little, not letting the engine get to normal operating temperature.

I wonder if the original poster figured out his issue? Be curious to know what it turned out to be.

btw, nice 175! Nice to see they haven't changed all that much, it's a great little boat.

Tom
 
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Lazy Daze said:
On the 4cyl, it's right there on the front of the T-stat housing. On V-6's and V-8's it's on the side of the housing.
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Thanks - looks like the thermostat is right at the very front (has a handle on the cover - is that it?) and there are two electrical connections right below it, one with a red tape around it. Am I in the right spot?

Any chance I pulled enough sand into the cooling system to mess up the sensor/sendor, but not enough to prevent the water from flowing through?
 
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