InTheBite

  • Home
  • News
    • All News
    • Featured Stories
    • General News
    • Captain of the Year
    • Tournament Results
    • First Builds
    • Splash Reports
    • Old Salts Rule
    • Tackle Tips
    • Dock Talk
    • Crew Records
    • Conservation
  • Tournaments
    • Calendar
    • Captain of the Year
    • Champion’s Cup
  • Shop
    • All Products
    • Subscriptions
    • Back Issues
    • Shirts
    • Hats & Visors
    • Miscellaneous
    • Release Rulers
  • Classifieds
  • Job Board
  • Contact
    • Contact InTheBite
    • InTheBite Media Kit
  • Log in

Prevent Overheating – Keep Your Engines Cool This Summer

May 1, 2014 By InTheBite Editor

By Nick Brunetti

Caterpillar Engines

Caterpillar Engines

Summer is usually the time of the year when you notice that your engines may be running a degree or two hotter than usual. Or maybe you can control the temp with the throttle: the higher the RPMs, the hotter the engines become; slow your RPMS and the engines cool. Whatever your circumstances, if you’re noticing a warming trend, it’s probably time to check the heat exchangers. It could be a simple fix, or it could be an expensive and involved resolution—the difference can greatly depend on whether the engine’s cooling systems have been taken care of properly or ignored until the issue becomes a serious one.

Immediate Maintenance for Overheating

Any captain worth his salt will change the impellers on his engines on a regular schedule to keep them from failing. Replacing these little guys at the dock is vastly preferable to changing them at sea after a failure, as unexpected repairs are not only unwelcome but can also be potentially dangerous.

But there is another inevitable issue that quietly builds within the tubing and channels of the heat exchanger and cooling system of an engine. It’s called scaling. As cool water runs through the heat exchange systems it will, over time, leave salt and other mineral deposits behind. These deposits will slowly build, just like barnacles or mussels on an untreated hull. The scaling will eventually rob your heat exchangers of their ability to cool the engine’s coolant and the engine slowly begins to run hotter and hotter.

One way to help lower your engine temperature is to have the heat exchanger units flushed with a substance that helps to remove the scale along with anything else that may be clogging the tiny passages in the exchangers. Captain James Heise of Overtemp offers this type of service, stating that he regularly sees improvements between two and 10 degrees as a result of his chemical flush. “It’s an eight- to 10-hour service [for twin engines]. I also clean your saltwater cooling systems, transmission cooler and everything else in the saltwater loop,” Heise says. He recommends that a heat exchanger flush be performed every 500 hours. Heat exchanger flushes are convenient because the boat is only down for a day and never has to leave the dock.

Preventative Maintenance for Overheating

Brian McNeal from Ace Marine also emphasizes the need for preventative maintenance. Removing the heat exchangers every two years is a part of that maintenance. McNeal states, “It would be wise to pull the coolers off every two years or 1,000 hours and have them properly cleaned.” This means removing the heat exchangers from the engines, having them manually scrubbed or cleaned in a boil or ultrasonic tank, new gaskets and O-rings installed, coolant tubes inspected and cleaned, mating surfaces smoothed and painted and everything reassembled. This might not sound like truly “preventative” maintenance, but it certainly is when compared to the problems that can happen if it’s ignored.

If this removal and cleaning is overlooked, there may well be additional repairs to be done at a much higher cost. John Bowen from Elite Diesel cautions that over time, salt water will eventually begin to corrode the mating surfaces of the heat exchangers. When a problem with overheating does surface, the heat exchangers will be nearly fused to the engine. They will need to be pried apart and will never go back together properly. A whole new assembly will be needed, and on some engines this is a five-figure repair bill. That’s why Bowan says, “There’s no substitute for good preventive maintenance.”

Coolant Maintenance

Another factor to consider in the proper operation of a heat exchanger is the coolant. In time, the ability of a coolant to perform diminishes and can cause problems. Newer “extended life” coolants that are free of nitrates actually contain high levels of solids. These solids will tend to chemically bond to the metal passageways through which they circulate. The solids seek out cool metal, rather than hot, with which to bond. Thus, old coolant will eventually begin to scale on the saltwater side of the cooling system. This will cause the exchange of heat to cease, and it literally becomes an insulator instead. The absence of heat exchange can cause some major problems to your powerplants.

The next time you notice a change in engine temperature, don’t ignore it. A slowly increasing temperature reading can lead to an expensive chain of failures. All it takes is some good preventive maintenance and a watchful eye on the instruments.

Ideal Maintenance Schedule:

  • Annually: replace impellers
  • Every 500 hours: chemical flush and coolant inspection
  • Every 1,000 hours or Two Years: heat exchanger removal and cleaning
  • Every Two Years: new coolant

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Ace Marine Diesel
www.accemarinediesel.com
772-564-7070

Elite Diesel Service
www.elitedieselservice.com
281-535-0200

Overtemp Marine
www.overtemp.com
800-727-2304

Dirty Heat Exhanger Coolant Side
Dirty Heat Exchanger Seawater Side
Clean Heat Exchanger

Caterpillar Engines

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Do you have any comments or questions for us? We’d love to hear from you.

    Filed Under: Boats, Featured Stories, Maintenance, News Tagged With: boat engine, boat maintenace, Coolant, Heat Exchanger

    Recent News

    The Galapagos are the Offshore Escape You’ve Been Looking For

    Photos and Story by Lane Forrer In all of their travels, the Polynesians and South American cultures never settled the Galapagos. It’s debatable whether they found them, but there are no archeological remains of people prior to Europeans. Curious. … [Read More...]

    42.3-Pound Dorado Earns $232,150

    May 17, 2022, Loreto B.C.S —Sunday concluded the third Marina Puerto Escondido Fishing Tournament as 51 Teams competed for over a half-million dollars in cash prizes, the highest ever awarded for a fishing tournament in the Loreto area. According to S … [Read More...]

    Boats Sunk for Artificial Reef in Memory of Capt. Patrick Price

    By Zachary Granat Last year, on Sept. 6, 2021, Capt. Patrick Price passed away after a battle with COVID-19. This month, the MCAC Artificial Reef Fund honored him by sinking two artificial reefs off the coast of St. Lucie County. Two boats, the … [Read More...]

    O-Ring Stop

    Captain Dickie Dickinson Jupiter Fishing Charters Skill Level: Easy … [Read More...]

    Strange Creatures Come Out at Night

      By Captain Kevin Deerman It’s always been amazing to me to see what kind of creatures show up in the lights around the boat at night when tuna fishing off the Texas coast. Over the years we’ve encountered many different types of fis … [Read More...]

    Leave a Reply

    Connect With InTheBite

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Subscribe to InTheBite Magazine Today!

    InTheBite Magazine Current Cover

    Our latest issue is hitting the docks now! Be sure to subscribe to the hottest bluewater mag on the market. Purchase or Subscribe »

    InTheBite Champion’s Cup

    InTheBite Champions Cup Logo

    New for 2022, the Champion’s Cup is an optional paid entry with a winner-takes-all prize format for teams who want to up the stakes in each division utilizing our longstanding tournament scoring formula.

    Captain of the Year Cup Standings

    COTY / ITB Cup Logo

    News

    • 42.3-Pound Dorado Earns $232,150

      42.3-Pound Dorado Earns $232,150

      May 17, 2022, Loreto B.C.S —Sunday concluded the third Marina Puerto Escondido Fishing Tournament as 51 Teams competed for over a half-million dollars in cash prizes, the highest ever awarded for a fishing tournament in the Loreto area. According to Stenson Hamann, marketing manager of the event, "The attendance has grown 85 percent over its short three-year history, beginning in 2019."... [Read More...]

    • Boats Sunk for Artificial Reef in Memory of Capt. Patrick Price

      Boats Sunk for Artificial Reef in Memory of Capt. Patrick Price

      By Zachary Granat Last year, on Sept. 6, 2021, Capt. Patrick Price passed away after a battle with COVID-19. This month, the MCAC Artificial Reef Fund honored him by sinking two artificial reefs off the coast of St. Lucie County. Two boats, the 65-foot Spirit of Palm Beach—renamed the DayMaker—and the 98-foot Last One—renamed the Capt. Patrick Price Reef—are now... [Read More...]

    • Colombia To Ban Recreational Fishing

      Colombia To Ban Recreational Fishing

      By Zachary Granat On May 2, the Supreme Court of Colombia ruled that recreational fishing was unconstitutional. As a result, Colombians expect a ban on recreational fishing to take effect within one year. The decision comes after the Court’s 2019 ban on recreational hunting. Then, the Court held that recreational hunting was animal cruelty and a threat to the environment.... [Read More...]

    • Blue Marlin Blast Fishing Tournament

      Blue Marlin Blast Fishing Tournament

      By Toine van Ierland, Tournament Director Cape Verde on fire! In both 2020 and 2021, we were forced to postpone the tournament thanks to COVID-19, but on the night of April 24, 2022, we finally kicked off the 2022 EFSA European Championship Big Game Fishing Tournament, AKA The PENN Challenge. And what a tournament it was. Expectations Two weeks prior... [Read More...]

    • New State Record for Dolphin Fish

      New State Record for Dolphin Fish

      Georgia DNR, Brunswick, Ga., May 5, 2022—A 53-year-old Midway man is the new state record holder for dolphin fish (Coryphaena hippurus), also known as mahi mahi, after the Georgia Department of Natural Resources certified his catch Friday. James Roberts of Midway landed the 68-pound, 1.6-ounce dolphin on April 26. He was fishing over Deli Ledge approximately 80 miles east of... [Read More...]

    Search InTheBite

    Copyright © 2022 InTheBite, LLC · All Rights Reserved.

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.