ralph s3
New member
Hi All,
Bit of a strange issue with one of the Kad32 engines in my Targa 30 yesterday. Our boat is on the Thames so we only run the engines from tick over to about 1100 revs. We left our mooring and the engine had the usual strong oil pressure 60psi when cold slowly decreasing as things warmed up to around 35 at tick over and close to 60 at 1100 revs.
However, on this occasion after running for about 20 minutes with the engine just over 1000rpm the oil pressure alarm went off and the warning light on the alarm panel was lit. I noticed that the oil gauge pressure had indeed dropped to around 15-20 so I immediately turned off that engine.
We moored up and I had a good look around the engine and there were no oil leaks and the oil level was the same as the start of the day so I don’t think there is any diesel leaking into the oil and thinning it. After about 90min I restarted the engine and it was back at 60psi and all sounded normal. We ran it for about ten minutes as we came back into our mooring and all was normal so based on the fact it always starts immediately and has pressure I don’t think it’s a problem with worn bearings. As it was a sudden drop I’m thinking it’s either a false reading, a blockage, the oil pump or a relief valve.
My understanding is that the Kad32 has separate oil gauge and oil alarm sensors so the chances of both providing a false reading is slim therefore my assumption is that it did have a drop in pressure. Anyone suffered a similar problem? Is there an oil pressure relief valve somewhere that may be failing to close or opening early when the engine is hot? That would explain a sudden loss followed by everything being back to normal once it’s cooled down. I will take it out again in a week or two and test it. I’ll obviously keep a close eye on the gauge and see if it does it again when it gets up to temp.
Ralph
Bit of a strange issue with one of the Kad32 engines in my Targa 30 yesterday. Our boat is on the Thames so we only run the engines from tick over to about 1100 revs. We left our mooring and the engine had the usual strong oil pressure 60psi when cold slowly decreasing as things warmed up to around 35 at tick over and close to 60 at 1100 revs.
However, on this occasion after running for about 20 minutes with the engine just over 1000rpm the oil pressure alarm went off and the warning light on the alarm panel was lit. I noticed that the oil gauge pressure had indeed dropped to around 15-20 so I immediately turned off that engine.
We moored up and I had a good look around the engine and there were no oil leaks and the oil level was the same as the start of the day so I don’t think there is any diesel leaking into the oil and thinning it. After about 90min I restarted the engine and it was back at 60psi and all sounded normal. We ran it for about ten minutes as we came back into our mooring and all was normal so based on the fact it always starts immediately and has pressure I don’t think it’s a problem with worn bearings. As it was a sudden drop I’m thinking it’s either a false reading, a blockage, the oil pump or a relief valve.
My understanding is that the Kad32 has separate oil gauge and oil alarm sensors so the chances of both providing a false reading is slim therefore my assumption is that it did have a drop in pressure. Anyone suffered a similar problem? Is there an oil pressure relief valve somewhere that may be failing to close or opening early when the engine is hot? That would explain a sudden loss followed by everything being back to normal once it’s cooled down. I will take it out again in a week or two and test it. I’ll obviously keep a close eye on the gauge and see if it does it again when it gets up to temp.
Ralph
