Simondjuk
Well-Known Member
My engine lost its coolant recently. It wasn't in the bilge so must have gone down the exhaust.
On investigation, I initially put this down to a very choked up and corroded exhaust elbow leading to back pressure unseating the heat exchanger boot, allowing the coolant to mix with the raw water and escape.
Coming to put things back together just now, I was about to clean up the exhaust elbow gasket face, which led me to looking at the aft end of the heat exchanger housing/exhaust manifold.
It's now clear how the coolant escaped and my wallet is £600 lighter.
When inspecting your exhaust elbow, it's probably worth a poke around in the back of the heat exchanger housing/manifold as this would be a rather inconvenient failure to suffer when on passage. On which note, some blessing I suppose that I found this now rather than wondering why I was still losing coolant later or it having let go hundreds of miles from home during our summer cruise.
The hole was pin prick sized but opened up with nothing more than a scrape from a fingernail.
On investigation, I initially put this down to a very choked up and corroded exhaust elbow leading to back pressure unseating the heat exchanger boot, allowing the coolant to mix with the raw water and escape.
Coming to put things back together just now, I was about to clean up the exhaust elbow gasket face, which led me to looking at the aft end of the heat exchanger housing/exhaust manifold.
It's now clear how the coolant escaped and my wallet is £600 lighter.
When inspecting your exhaust elbow, it's probably worth a poke around in the back of the heat exchanger housing/manifold as this would be a rather inconvenient failure to suffer when on passage. On which note, some blessing I suppose that I found this now rather than wondering why I was still losing coolant later or it having let go hundreds of miles from home during our summer cruise.
The hole was pin prick sized but opened up with nothing more than a scrape from a fingernail.
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