OK folks, I went to run up my Westerbeke 13 that had been in storage. I removed the raw water intake hose at the impeller input, and noticed the water sitting in the pump cavity was anti-freeze-colored. Morveren had been on the hard all winter, and it's possible the non-antifreeze water circuit had not been drained fully. I could not get the engine to fire at all.
Has anyone seen this symptom before? and was it right before you were then told your block was cracked?
Heading for the whiskey,
-WS
I'm bracing for bad news...
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Warren S
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Jul 27th, '06, 21:22
- Location: s/v Morveren
Cape Dory 270 Hull #5
Washington, NC
I'm bracing for bad news...
"Being hove to in a long gale is the most boring way of being terrified I know." -Donald Hamilton
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Andy Denmark
- Posts: 630
- Joined: Feb 5th, '05, 11:38
Who winterized your engine?
Warren,
If a boatyard winterized your engine it is entirely possible for there to be antifreeze mixture in the raw water pump. The easy way they do this is to disconnect the raw water intake hose at the thru-hull and place it in a 50/50 antifreeze mixture while the engine is running and let the engine suck it in until the colored mixture comes out of the exhaust. This is very common.
If this is the case then I think you're okay. If the engine turned over that's a good sign. Fuel/injectors/injector pump are the usual culprits for post winter hard starting or low compression because the rings aren't sealing well at the cylinder walls due to lack of use and subsequent poor lubrication.
The W-13 is a tough and very basic engine and problems easily diagnosed. Any good mechanic can figure out problems with it pretty easily.
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DRUGTEST
If a boatyard winterized your engine it is entirely possible for there to be antifreeze mixture in the raw water pump. The easy way they do this is to disconnect the raw water intake hose at the thru-hull and place it in a 50/50 antifreeze mixture while the engine is running and let the engine suck it in until the colored mixture comes out of the exhaust. This is very common.
If this is the case then I think you're okay. If the engine turned over that's a good sign. Fuel/injectors/injector pump are the usual culprits for post winter hard starting or low compression because the rings aren't sealing well at the cylinder walls due to lack of use and subsequent poor lubrication.
The W-13 is a tough and very basic engine and problems easily diagnosed. Any good mechanic can figure out problems with it pretty easily.
________
DRUGTEST