Westerbeke W21A No Longer Frozen

[Khaos13]

Well, I finally got the engine freed up after soaking everything in Marvel Mystery Oil for 2 months. After that didn't work, I decided to pull the head. Not really that bad of a job once I committed to it. I'm glad I did too! This boat (and engine) sat for several years with zero attention. It was left on a mooring with dead batteries and never took on any water. I've yet to pump a drop out in almost 3 months. All of the through hulls were open too. Getting them to move was a chore. I'll be sure to exercise them regularly from now on.

The coolant in the engine was full but kind of rusty looking. When I started pulling the hoses I found several problems:
Some were almost blocked with rust and debris.
The heat exchanger had a broken impeller fin in it.
The coolant lines to the water heater were nearly blocked.
The seacock was frozen.

Pulling the head revealed other issues:
One exhaust valve didn't close all the way.
The exhaust manifold had deep corrosion that almost breached the water/exhaust separation.
The cylinder walls were not really smooth.
And of course, the pistons were stuck.

Now that I could see everything, I sprayed PB Blaster on top of the pistons and let it soak over night. Then I put the 3/4" breaker bar with a pipe on it and bounced on it with all of my 200 lbs. No go. The I took my ball peen hammer and began tapping on the piston tops. The crank finally moved an eighth of an inch. I kept working it and now I can spin it over by hand.

The engine is 35 years old and has 609 hours according to the clock. Westerbeke parts are expensive but of course this IS a Mitsubishi K3D tractor engine and those parts are quite reasonable. I've ordered a rebuild gasket set from Amazon ($150) which includes the head gasket and valve seals but the hoses and seawater related stuff will have to come from Westerbeke. I'll keep you posted.

Cheers,
Dan

[tjr818]

Dan,
Where are you located? We have a 1986 21A that we pulled from our 27, it was running at the time, we just wanted to go electric. No one in the Midwest seem interested, so it is available cheap.

[Khaos13]

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