Engine pan full of polypropelene glycol

[steve poulin]

So--the good news--the port scupper backing plate replacement project goes swimmingly. New G10 plate epoxied in today--used a sawzall with a metals blade and then a belt sander to get the desired cylindrical effect. Used a box wrench to remove the thru-hull, much to my delight.

Then I happened to glance down into the abyss below the engine and saw a liquid cavern of pink where it is normally bone dry. Clearly my winterizing effort seeped out. Thought of a cracked block, but the oil is full and clean.

Any thoughts? Trouble shooting I can do before the splash to determine where the special sauce is coming from? It's the 1982 Yanmar 2GM 13 HP.

Thanks in advance, wisdom of the CD crowd.file:///C:/Users/poulins/Downloads/20190414_144345.jpg

Stevefile:///C:/Users/poulins/Downloads/20190414_135844.jpg

[Steve Laume]

Freeze plugs or hoses would be the first suspects.

Hope you find something simple, Steve.

[sloopjohnl]

no help with the anti-freeze but for anyone removing or installing a thru-hull Home Depot stocks a spud wrench to do the job. $16.00 out the door. beats west marine and others at $60.

[fmueller]

The oil being uncontaminated does not rule out a cracked block

Can't you put additional coolant in the engine and try to observe additional leakage?

[steve poulin]

Thanks all. Checked the hoses visually and manually--found nothing, though I'm hoping after re-seating the intake post-winterizing perhaps I didn't tighten the airplane clamp enough. Not sure where the freeze plug is? And can I run the engine sitting on the hard, drinking from a pan of glycol? Thought that was a no-no.

[fmueller]

You can run an engine sitting on the hard drinking from a 5 gal bucket of fresh water supplied by a hose/faucet, although I'd ask your yard first if the fresh water spillage is ok (often yes just to see if you can get the engine started before splash ie for a few minutes) ...

Your engine came in directly cooled and heat exchanger versions. Which is yours?

[steve poulin]

Fred--it's the direct cooled--no heat exchanger. I was wondering about the durability of gasket at the bottom of the exhaust/water reservoir. Do those typically fail? Running it with the pail sounds like the next step for sure.

[fmueller]

" exhaust water reservoir" ..... Do you mean the "water lock muffler", or sometimes "water lift muffler" or "wet muffler" ? Did you know most of those have a weep hole/drain plug for winterization? Although if you have really run antifreeze thoroughly thru the exhaust system, you should not have "popped" that component over the winter even if you did not drain it.

https://www.betamarinenc.com/exhaust-design/

https://www.northern-lights.com/media/P ... own_me.pdf

Most mufflers are positioned such that if they did burst any fluid would end up in the bilge, after thawing out. Mine is now just forward of my starboard side scupper thru hull on a little platform. I'm trying to understand what you mean by "engine pan". My CD 27 still has the original white fiberglass pan modified to accept a new Beta 14. Only fluid leaking out of the block, or hoses directly on/surrounding the block, will end up in that pan. Anything else will end up in the bilge. It's a nice thing to have a proper pan, diagnostically, because anything in it came from directly overhead - and you stand a chance of identifying the fluid. Anything in the bilge is just gumbo. Plus easier to clean out than the bilge.

[steve poulin]

file:///C:/Users/poulins/Downloads/CD%20below%20engine.jpg

I tried attaching this photo earlier. The "pan" is simply that fiberglass "V" shaped wedge extending from below the motor mounts to the stern. I also discovered a good amount of the glycol in the bilge.

Indeed, I meant the water lock muffler, and no I was not aware of the drain plug. Mine appears to be similarly placed, Fred, and the reason I ask is the base of the muffler felt a bit wet/damp as a searched yesterday for the leak. But I'll look for it when I'm next on the boat. Hoping fingers crossed for a little plastic or rubber failure, rather than metal.

(By the way, Fred, as a fellow custodian of a CD 27 I am awed by that maroon/black combo--I will look for it on Narragansett Bay!)