I have Volvo MD7A, 13 hp two cylinder unit with salt water cooling.

Runs perfectly with one exception, it occasionally overheats and I can't
figure out what the heck is going on. I bought the boat used and the
previous owner had fitter her out himself. Every time she overheats, I
find something to "fix" after which she is fine for a spell then she
will overheat again. Clearly I'm not getting to the root cause.
Generally she will seem to be running along just fine and all of a
sudden the pressure gauge just goes up, up, up. It seems to be a
bi-state kind of thing, it either works perfectly well or not at all.
Its almost as if there is a ball valve or something somewhere that is
sticking. It's obviously not a bad gage.

The plumbing goes like this:
Through hull fitting
Salt water strainer
Tap to the transmission/engine
Tap to secondary pick up from bilge
Tap to sinks


Here is some of the history and what I had done, in each case I have
also checked/changed the impeller. They usually look just perfect.

1: Recently fitted salt water strainer seemed to be blocked with debris
from its construction. It is home built out of some interlocking pieces
of PVC pipe, the inner piece has a zillion small holes drilled in it. I
dumped this stuff out and she was fine.

2: Found a small leak in the copper pipe from the transmission to the
impeller. I thought that maybe it was sucking in air and the impeller
was getting air bound. Repaired the leak.

3: Moved and lowered the salt water strainer. This was mounted pretty
high on a bulkhead with real long hoses. I moved it to the engine
compartment and lowered it. I thought that maybe there was just too
much suction head to get the water going.

4: Threw thermostat overboard.

Any clues?

Many thanks,

Howard

"hpeer" wrote in message
...
I have Volvo MD7A, 13 hp two cylinder unit with salt water cooling.

Runs perfectly with one exception, it occasionally overheats and I can't
figure out what the heck is going on. I bought the boat used and the
previous owner had fitter her out himself. Every time she overheats, I
find something to "fix" after which she is fine for a spell then she will
overheat again. Clearly I'm not getting to the root cause. Generally she
will seem to be running along just fine and all of a sudden the pressure
gauge just goes up, up, up. It seems to be a bi-state kind of thing, it
either works perfectly well or not at all. Its almost as if there is a
ball valve or something somewhere that is sticking. It's obviously not a
bad gage.

The plumbing goes like this:
Through hull fitting
Salt water strainer
Tap to the transmission/engine
Tap to secondary pick up from bilge
Tap to sinks


Here is some of the history and what I had done, in each case I have also
checked/changed the impeller. They usually look just perfect.

1: Recently fitted salt water strainer seemed to be blocked with debris
from its construction. It is home built out of some interlocking pieces
of PVC pipe, the inner piece has a zillion small holes drilled in it. I
dumped this stuff out and she was fine.

2: Found a small leak in the copper pipe from the transmission to the
impeller. I thought that maybe it was sucking in air and the impeller was
getting air bound. Repaired the leak.

3: Moved and lowered the salt water strainer. This was mounted pretty
high on a bulkhead with real long hoses. I moved it to the engine
compartment and lowered it. I thought that maybe there was just too much
suction head to get the water going.

4: Threw thermostat overboard.

Any clues?

Many thanks,

Howard


Do you have water flow out the back when it overheats? Is it normal flow?

Also, I'm thinking about a failing raw water pump... not the impeller. It's
driven by a belt... is the belt snug?

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

hpeer wrote in news:494e6e63$0$5528
:

The plumbing goes like this:
Through hull fitting
Salt water strainer
Tap to the transmission/engine
Tap to secondary pick up from bilge
Tap to sinks



Are you telling us there's ONE thru hull fitting feeding water to the
engine while the sink and bilge pump use it to pump water overboard??

That's so incredibly stupid I'm amazed the engine survived!

The engine pulls on its tit. The suction pulls on the sink and bilge pump
line and SUCKS AIR so the engine doesn't get cooling water.

Please tell me it's not installed this stupidly! Please?!

I guess there are intake taps, but also seems starnge as for me - taps may let some air to be sucked-in.
JaC


-----


Are you telling us there's ONE thru hull fitting feeding water to the engine while the sink and bilge pump use it to pump water overboard?

hpeer wrote:
I have Volvo MD7A, 13 hp two cylinder unit with salt water cooling.

Runs perfectly with one exception, it occasionally overheats and I can't
figure out what the heck is going on. I bought the boat used and the
previous owner had fitter her out himself. Every time she overheats, I
find something to "fix" after which she is fine for a spell then she
will overheat again. Clearly I'm not getting to the root cause.
Generally she will seem to be running along just fine and all of a
sudden the pressure gauge just goes up, up, up. It seems to be a
bi-state kind of thing, it either works perfectly well or not at all.
Its almost as if there is a ball valve or something somewhere that is
sticking. It's obviously not a bad gage.

The plumbing goes like this:
Through hull fitting
Salt water strainer
Tap to the transmission/engine
Tap to secondary pick up from bilge
Tap to sinks


Here is some of the history and what I had done, in each case I have
also checked/changed the impeller. They usually look just perfect.

1: Recently fitted salt water strainer seemed to be blocked with debris
from its construction. It is home built out of some interlocking pieces
of PVC pipe, the inner piece has a zillion small holes drilled in it. I
dumped this stuff out and she was fine.

2: Found a small leak in the copper pipe from the transmission to the
impeller. I thought that maybe it was sucking in air and the impeller
was getting air bound. Repaired the leak.

3: Moved and lowered the salt water strainer. This was mounted pretty
high on a bulkhead with real long hoses. I moved it to the engine
compartment and lowered it. I thought that maybe there was just too
much suction head to get the water going.

4: Threw thermostat overboard.

Any clues?

Many thanks,

Howard

Is water coming out of the exhaust?

It will come out of exhaust irrespective of the thermostat position.

So if you have water then there is insufficient circulation around the head and block.

As you have removed the thermostat, try clearing the small hole behind the thermostat in
the housing. Its prone to blocking with rust/crud as it's small.

Best of luck

On Sun, 21 Dec 2008 15:38:40 -0500, hpeer wrote:

I have Volvo MD7A, 13 hp two cylinder unit with salt water cooling.

Runs perfectly with one exception, it occasionally overheats and I can't
figure out what the heck is going on. I bought the boat used and the
previous owner had fitter her out himself. Every time she overheats, I
find something to "fix" after which she is fine for a spell then she
will overheat again. Clearly I'm not getting to the root cause.
Generally she will seem to be running along just fine and all of a
sudden the pressure gauge just goes up, up, up. It seems to be a
bi-state kind of thing, it either works perfectly well or not at all.
Its almost as if there is a ball valve or something somewhere that is
sticking. It's obviously not a bad gage.

The plumbing goes like this:
Through hull fitting
Salt water strainer
Tap to the transmission/engine
Tap to secondary pick up from bilge
Tap to sinks


Here is some of the history and what I had done, in each case I have
also checked/changed the impeller. They usually look just perfect.

1: Recently fitted salt water strainer seemed to be blocked with debris
from its construction. It is home built out of some interlocking pieces
of PVC pipe, the inner piece has a zillion small holes drilled in it. I
dumped this stuff out and she was fine.

2: Found a small leak in the copper pipe from the transmission to the
impeller. I thought that maybe it was sucking in air and the impeller
was getting air bound. Repaired the leak.

3: Moved and lowered the salt water strainer. This was mounted pretty
high on a bulkhead with real long hoses. I moved it to the engine
compartment and lowered it. I thought that maybe there was just too
much suction head to get the water going.

4: Threw thermostat overboard.

Any clues?

Many thanks,

Howard


I am the process of rebuilding my own raw water cooling and have the
following comments about yours:

The usual configuration for the engine cooling is Thru-hull to
Strainer to xmission cooler to water pump to oil cooler to engine to
exhaust elbow and overboard.

You used the word "tap" to indicate connections to the transmission
cooler. This should be the entire flow from the strainer to the pump,
i.e., hose from strainer to xmission cooler to pump. The hose from the
thru-hull to the strainer to the cooler to the pump and onward to the
engine should be the full size of the thru-hull (if possible).

If you are going to install "taps" in the line for uses other then
engine cooling you MUST be sure that these taps are isolated with
valves and not used while the engine is running.

The main strainer should/must be located below the water line so that
with the sea cock open the strainer fills.

If this is an old engine and it has not been flushed after every use
in salt water, which is seldom/never done you probably have scale
built up inside the engine that could be blocking water passages. This
scale will not dissolve in fresh water, by the way. There are acid
flushes which will remove it but I do not have a formula. Perhaps
google if you feel this might be a problem.

Regarding water coming out the exhaust. It is not an accurate
indicator of anything except that water is getting through. In my own
case there ~appears~ to be normal amounts of water out the exhaust but
the engine overheated over 1800 RPM due to restrictions in the inlet
line to the pump.

By the way, you DO want a strainer in the line to keep stuff out of
the system. I have removed plastic bags from the main strainer as well
as small creatures, weeds, mud, small sticks and innumerable things
that you probably don't want in the engine or pump.
Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

"Bruce In Bangkok" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 21 Dec 2008 15:38:40 -0500, hpeer wrote:

I have Volvo MD7A, 13 hp two cylinder unit with salt water cooling.

Runs perfectly with one exception, it occasionally overheats and I can't
figure out what the heck is going on. I bought the boat used and the
previous owner had fitter her out himself. Every time she overheats, I
find something to "fix" after which she is fine for a spell then she
will overheat again. Clearly I'm not getting to the root cause.
Generally she will seem to be running along just fine and all of a
sudden the pressure gauge just goes up, up, up. It seems to be a
bi-state kind of thing, it either works perfectly well or not at all.
Its almost as if there is a ball valve or something somewhere that is
sticking. It's obviously not a bad gage.

The plumbing goes like this:
Through hull fitting
Salt water strainer
Tap to the transmission/engine
Tap to secondary pick up from bilge
Tap to sinks


Here is some of the history and what I had done, in each case I have
also checked/changed the impeller. They usually look just perfect.

1: Recently fitted salt water strainer seemed to be blocked with debris
from its construction. It is home built out of some interlocking pieces
of PVC pipe, the inner piece has a zillion small holes drilled in it. I
dumped this stuff out and she was fine.

2: Found a small leak in the copper pipe from the transmission to the
impeller. I thought that maybe it was sucking in air and the impeller
was getting air bound. Repaired the leak.

3: Moved and lowered the salt water strainer. This was mounted pretty
high on a bulkhead with real long hoses. I moved it to the engine
compartment and lowered it. I thought that maybe there was just too
much suction head to get the water going.

4: Threw thermostat overboard.

Any clues?

Many thanks,

Howard


I am the process of rebuilding my own raw water cooling and have the
following comments about yours:

The usual configuration for the engine cooling is Thru-hull to
Strainer to xmission cooler to water pump to oil cooler to engine to
exhaust elbow and overboard.

You used the word "tap" to indicate connections to the transmission
cooler. This should be the entire flow from the strainer to the pump,
i.e., hose from strainer to xmission cooler to pump. The hose from the
thru-hull to the strainer to the cooler to the pump and onward to the
engine should be the full size of the thru-hull (if possible).

If you are going to install "taps" in the line for uses other then
engine cooling you MUST be sure that these taps are isolated with
valves and not used while the engine is running.

The main strainer should/must be located below the water line so that
with the sea cock open the strainer fills.

If this is an old engine and it has not been flushed after every use
in salt water, which is seldom/never done you probably have scale
built up inside the engine that could be blocking water passages. This
scale will not dissolve in fresh water, by the way. There are acid
flushes which will remove it but I do not have a formula. Perhaps
google if you feel this might be a problem.

Regarding water coming out the exhaust. It is not an accurate
indicator of anything except that water is getting through. In my own
case there ~appears~ to be normal amounts of water out the exhaust but
the engine overheated over 1800 RPM due to restrictions in the inlet
line to the pump.

By the way, you DO want a strainer in the line to keep stuff out of
the system. I have removed plastic bags from the main strainer as well
as small creatures, weeds, mud, small sticks and innumerable things
that you probably don't want in the engine or pump.
Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)


He said it was an intermittent problem... so does your situation reflect the
same sort of over-heating?


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

Capt. JG wrote:
"hpeer" wrote in message
...
I have Volvo MD7A, 13 hp two cylinder unit with salt water cooling.

Runs perfectly with one exception, it occasionally overheats and I can't
figure out what the heck is going on. I bought the boat used and the
previous owner had fitter her out himself. Every time she overheats, I
find something to "fix" after which she is fine for a spell then she will
overheat again. Clearly I'm not getting to the root cause. Generally she
will seem to be running along just fine and all of a sudden the pressure
gauge just goes up, up, up. It seems to be a bi-state kind of thing, it
either works perfectly well or not at all. Its almost as if there is a
ball valve or something somewhere that is sticking. It's obviously not a
bad gage.

The plumbing goes like this:
Through hull fitting
Salt water strainer
Tap to the transmission/engine
Tap to secondary pick up from bilge
Tap to sinks


Here is some of the history and what I had done, in each case I have also
checked/changed the impeller. They usually look just perfect.

1: Recently fitted salt water strainer seemed to be blocked with debris
from its construction. It is home built out of some interlocking pieces
of PVC pipe, the inner piece has a zillion small holes drilled in it. I
dumped this stuff out and she was fine.

2: Found a small leak in the copper pipe from the transmission to the
impeller. I thought that maybe it was sucking in air and the impeller was
getting air bound. Repaired the leak.

3: Moved and lowered the salt water strainer. This was mounted pretty
high on a bulkhead with real long hoses. I moved it to the engine
compartment and lowered it. I thought that maybe there was just too much
suction head to get the water going.

4: Threw thermostat overboard.

Any clues?

Many thanks,

Howard


Do you have water flow out the back when it overheats? Is it normal flow?

Also, I'm thinking about a failing raw water pump... not the impeller. It's
driven by a belt... is the belt snug?


No, the engine is not sucking up water. The bilge intake is used when
winterizing so that I can put anti-freeze into the engine. The last
time this issue/problem occurred was during layup and I was not able to
get the engine to suck up anti-freeze.

This particular water pump is on a little shaft on the back of the
engine. I suppose the pump could be failing to turn intermittently, I
had not considered that possibility. Seems kinda far fetched, but then
again this whole problem feels weird.

Larry wrote:
hpeer wrote in news:494e6e63$0$5528
:

The plumbing goes like this:
Through hull fitting
Salt water strainer
Tap to the transmission/engine
Tap to secondary pick up from bilge
Tap to sinks



Are you telling us there's ONE thru hull fitting feeding water to the
engine while the sink and bilge pump use it to pump water overboard??

That's so incredibly stupid I'm amazed the engine survived!

The engine pulls on its tit. The suction pulls on the sink and bilge pump
line and SUCKS AIR so the engine doesn't get cooling water.

Please tell me it's not installed this stupidly! Please?!



The "bilge" line is there only for winterizing the engine and is isolate
by a valve.

The galley line is also isolated by its own valve.

I had considered that I might be getting air into the engine line from
the galley, although I have had the galley working in tandem with the
engine. Probably no more.

None the less, during the most recent episode I shut off all the
"taps/valves" so that the engine was drawing ONLY from the bucket of
anti-freeze. With no success.

Now that you have me thinking about it, I wonder if the strainer had
gotten air in it? I don't know.

Thanks for the response.

If you are going to install "taps" in the line for uses other then
engine cooling you MUST be sure that these taps are isolated with
valves and not used while the engine is running.

There are valves and I will heed this admonition.



The main strainer should/must be located below the water line so that
with the sea cock open the strainer fills.

The original installation of the strainer was most assuredly ABOVE the
water line. I believe that it is still slightly above but I am not
positive.

Well now, you've got me digging into Calder. While the text does not
specifically say to install the strainer below the water line the
diagrams, although fairly diagrammatic, surely tend to indicate that is
the way to do it.

I do (at least at times) get water flow through the system with the
engine off. This MUST be due to a siphon effect. I can't swear that it
happens when I am having the overheating problem.

Well I now have one MORE thing to put on my summer to do list.

Make sure strainer is below water level.

Thanks,

Great reply