Painful Weekend - Need Perspective

vanburen

vanburen

New Member
Feb 18, 2008
324
Annapolis / Alexandria
Boat Info
420 DB
Engines
Cummins 480 CE
So there we are, wrapping up a nice weekend in Havre de Grace, heading south down the bay at cruise between thunderstorms, when all of a sudden, my port engine pitch drops significantly (audible), the mercruiser smart craft alarms go bananas, and black smoke comes billowing out of the exhaust. We shut the engine down immediately and find antifreeze in the bilge - engine overheated. We limp home like a trawler on one screw.

I checked the strainers - clear. I assume the impeller is toasted.

Prince William Marine is of course closed on Mondays so we wait until tomorrow.

Can someone please give me some perspective on the consequences of the above and the applicability of extended warrantees (have it) and insurance to mitigate the same?

Many thanks.
 
I had a friend recently experience the same thing, but on older diesels. They ended up with a cracked turbo housing, blown head gasket, and a couple of other issues. Theirs all began when they developed a leak in (I believe) the exhaust manifold which allowed their coolant to flow out with the bath water, so to speak. Then, their symptoms matched yours.

With yours, not to contradict Frank, it sounds like a fresh water coolant hose blew or blew off, then your engine overheated when the coolant ran out. You may have some parts trashed like my friend did. Sounds like Frank is suggesting that the water stopped circulating due to a bad/loose belt, then got hot, then the hose (or other part) blew allowing the coolant to escape as the engine was overheating.
 
Thanks for the info. I was under the belief that the coolent I found was from expansion - but I guess we could have had a coolent leak.

God I hope the extended warrantee covers the repairs!

Any idea what the black smoke is - is that just super hot combustion or another issue?
 
Those thunderstorms, lighting and down pours, may have been the worst I even seen. You lucked out with one engine.
Black smoke? I’m thinking that maybe the antifreeze found its way into the exhaust
 
You could have picked up something (crab pot) that wrapped around your prop. This could cause the overheating and black smoke. The antifreeze may have just spewed out of the top of the overflow bottle.
 
On my second trip after buying the boat three years ago, I had a hose clamp fail- coolant hose blew off the engine.
I did not get an overheat alarm until there was smoke billowing from the hatches, and even then I'm not sure how it went off. Temperature senders- both those for the gauges and those for the over-temp alarms, do not work in air. So, if you have a sudden and catastrophic loss of coolant, you're screwed.

That's why everyone recommends (and I have yet to install due to my laziness) exhaust pyros and fluid level alarms (Murphy makes them) to alert for just this type of disaster.

I was thinking your situation was similar- like John mentioned above- but you say you only saw a small amount of coolant. My bilge was full- there was no mistaking a blown hose. Had to replace the main oil lines which got soft and a couple of hoses; my mechanics couldn't believe I didn't blow the head gasket- the engine got so hot it cooked the paint right off the exhaust manifold.

Good luck.
 
Thanks for all replies. There is a decent amount of fluid in the bilge - but it could have come out of the bottle - BUT - there is also some under the engine and they are separated by a baffle. So I'm going to go with loss of hose as theory A. Theory B is either impeller or serp belt failure, with Theory C being the crab pot.

Still amazed that I can get that @#$%ed without a Sea Ray Systems Monitor Alarm - "All Systems Normal" - yeah right! Thank God for the Smartcraft but you'd think they'd give you a little more leeway with alarms - like go off BEFORE catastrophe? Will have to look at these additional sensors - can you hook them up to the smartcraft unit?
 
Ed
I blew a hose clamp on the raw water side (after the impeller) a couple of years ago and I actually watched the temp gauge fly up from 140 to 200 in seconds. I immediately dropped to idle and turned around to see white smoke billowing from the exhaust. I shut down, replaced the clamp and went on my merry way with very wet bilge but no damage to anything but my nerves. Hopefully that's all you'll have!
 
Have I ever mentioned that I wish there were true "flow" sensors in these cooling circuits and not just temp gauges?
 
rondds said:
Ed
I blew a hose clamp on the raw water side (after the impeller) a couple of years ago and I actually watched the temp gauge fly up from 140 to 200 in seconds. I immediately dropped to idle and turned around to see white smoke billowing from the exhaust. I shut down, replaced the clamp and went on my merry way with very wet bilge but no damage to anything but my nerves. Hopefully that's all you'll have!
Click to expand...

I sure as hell hope so. The black smoke was particularly concerning.

Gary, I know you have experienced almost every calamity with Diesels -on a scale of 1-10 - in how much trouble am I?
 
vanburen said:
Gary, I know you have experienced almost every calamity with Diesels -on a scale of 1-10 - in how much trouble am I?
Click to expand...

Not enough information....

My engines usually run 163 to 168 degrees and even when I've smoked impellers, they never got over 177... I think "overheating" is well over 200 so I've never been there...

I'm not really sure what caused your issue. Because you heard the engine exhaust sounding different, sounds like you may have had raw water flow stopped...

Was the belt driving the coolant water pump still on the engine? Mine is gear driven so I don't have that issue... Your engines have the 1700-series water pumps and I know they used to have issues with the shafts breaking on those... but you could have sucked something up as well... Have you taken anything apart (like the raw water pump cover) and peeked?

This time of year is bad on the Chesapeake for growth and it could also be that your raw water intakes are plugged and starved the engine... who knows... I'm just guessing...
 
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Ed,
Following on to Gary's post--how hot did you get the engine? What was the time between alarm and shut down?
 
Sounds like a CHT gauge would be a good idea.
 
Skip said:
Ed,
Following on to Gary's post--how hot did you get the engine? What was the time between alarm and shut down?
Click to expand...

It felt like an hour - was probably about 4 seconds. Eh - PW opens tomorrow - we'll see how bad this is. It got hot - we were on plane - perhaps it will be a non issue. Perhaps not.
 
I'm puzzled by the black smoke thing (though, it doesn't take too much to puzzle me...)
Black smoke usually is an indication of overloading, or not enough combustion air. I don't see a connection to either of these.

Hope the wallet hit isn't too hard, maybe it's something that will be covered under your engine warranty. Let us know what you find out...
 
tobnpr said:
I'm puzzled by the black smoke thing (though, it doesn't take too much to puzzle me...)
Black smoke usually is an indication of overloading, or not enough combustion air. I don't see a connection to either of these.

Hope the wallet hit isn't too hard, maybe it's something that will be covered under your engine warranty. Let us know what you find out...
Click to expand...

Turbo seized?
 
Ed,
I do not know your relationship with PWM, but my guess is they will simply turn around and call Cummins Power Systems out of Glen Burnie, MD.

Zack is the Cummins Marine Tech there who does all the work on my engines that is out of my comfort level--valve lash adjustment as an example. Zack was on the sea trial of Truly Blessed and has done the non-operator services every year since. He is good people. If you are out of warranty (or in warranty but Cummins will not cover the repair due to overheating) then I'd eliminate the PWM middle man and contact Cummins Power Systems directly.

They also have a warehouse operation in Pennsylvania for Cummins and Onan parts. I can get most rountine maintenance and repair items in 24 -48 hours via Fedex.

Good luck with it

Skip
 
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