A lurkers tale

[galeus]

Recently we came up the Thames having spent the night at Holehaven to get the tide up to South dock marina.
This meant an early start in the dark and nav lights on.
I noticed after about 20 mins that the engine (Bmc 1.5 T/croft) was running a bit hotter than normal ie 90°instead of 87° which was a worry but as I had cleaned the weed filter out before we started that morning ,hoped it was just the gauge as it had stuck before; just the same I put the heater on (car type heater) but the read out remained the same. As the heater did not feel especially hot and the gauge went no higher I remained optimistic and indeed the journey went well.
During that week I thought about things and decided that the tube stack in the engine heat exchanger might have some restriction so I dismantled it and cleaned it though it wasn't bad, obviously checked the pump and impellor and hoped for the best.
A couple of weeks later we left and sure enough it was no better: I also had noted by now that the oil pressure was a bit lower than it used to be and I gradually began to think that it was bad news, but hey I've had the boat for 15 years and the engine is 32 years old' what do I expect, everybody gets their turn.
So as if I didn't have enough to do next year!
But lo and behold I've sorted it.
Do you know how?

 

[Actionmat]

No, but I'll have a guess
When my temp goes up a touch and I know that the baskets are clean and there's plenty of oil and coolant, I take a length of hose, shove it down the intake side of the raw water hose to the basket and blow until bubbles belch up the side of the boat. It's never failed to bring the gauge back to normal after clearing whatever bit of crud was obstructing the intake,.

 

[galeus]

Interesting, but not that.
It was very easy and very quick to rectify.

 

[AuntyRinum]

You sold the boat and bought one with a decent engine. I used to have a boat with a BMC Commander so
I understand.

 

[djm]

You found that opening the sea-cock FULLY was a good idea!!

 

[galeus]

You found that opening the sea-cock FULLY was a good idea!!

Could have been -but no

 

[galeus]

You sold the boat and bought one with a decent engine. I used to have a boat with a BMC Commander so
I understand.

Being quite honest, when we bought the boat 15 years ago, it having a BMC diesel was my biggest worry but it's been a blinder.

 

[AuntyRinum]

Being quite honest, when we bought the boat 15 years ago, it having a BMC diesel was my biggest worry but it's been a blinder.

Then you took the filler cap off and took the thermostat out.

 

[galeus]

The Answer

What had happened was when we set off with the nav lights , I had put the dash lights on, pull up and down thingie and never turned it off as the light is hardly visible in daylight.
When I noticed it was on 6 weeks later and turned it off, lo and behold the oil pressure went up and the water temp. down!
Mighty relieved.

Richard L.Urker

 

[Actionmat]

It sounds like a previous owner has jerry rigged your electrics:ambivalence:
That's the problem with older boats, they can be the victim of decades of hidden amateur bodge jobs

 

[alanch]

It sounds like a previous owner has jerry rigged your electrics:ambivalence:
That's the problem with older boats, they can be the victim of decades of hidden amateur bodge jobs

And I am guilty of that. Wired in my fishfinder to the thruster circuit. Use thruster and low volt alarm goes off on the fishfinder!

 

[JCBOATING]

I am a bit new to boating but for thirty year kept small commercial vehicles and always stared them a all weather and they where worst than ever with damp 20 years ago .This appears to be an electrical fault check all your wires insure there is no corroded terminals and earthing`s if the current is using another coarse due to a bad connection it will have a adverse affect on other parts hence a wrong voltage making a miss reading or dimming of other lights in a further cases it may drain a battery .Its easy to check probably easier than a road vehicle .