Hi everyone,
I got the sailing bug last year and I recently got myself a boat - a 1971 Paceship P29. A C&C design, looking much like the Pearson 30. Very sturdy, well rigged, impeccable hull, lots a sail. Unfortunately, I haven't sailed at all with it. I did work on it in the yard for some weeks, redoing the teak rub rail, installing shore power, new battery banks, an inverter, new VHF, windex, antennas, new cushions and a spankin' new composting toilet. I bought the boat on the hard, quite a ways from home and couldn't assess in what shape the engine was in - but it looked quite clean and well taken care of.
On my first day on the water, I warmed the engine for about 10 minutes, then berthed the boat a few yards away. Oil pressure was initially at 40, then I noticed at the end it was at 20 psi. The week after, time for a second outing, I fire up the engine - which starts like a champ but, I'm new to boating, and I forget to open the water intake sea cock. After what may be 5 - 10 minutes, I realized what I have done, and open the damn thing. But the pump has lost its prime, so I shut everything down, reprime the pump, and fire up the engine again. Initial temp reading was 170, and descended to 160 in a matter of minutes (idling at 700 rpm). Oil pressure was at around 20. I waited a bit, everything looked stable, so I went out. I could easily achieved 7 knots without pushing it to hard, no overheating, but oil pressure remained below 20 so I headed back. I installed a mechanical gauge to assess the truthfulness of the installed gauge with a sending unit, using a "T" coupling. By now the initial pressure when firing up the engine is around 20-25, and it drops to 5 o 6. Throttling up does increase the pressure, but marginally. Oil level doesn't seem to change but, although I had just changed the oil, it was really black and dirty. So I changed the oil again, putting in SAE 30 instead of 10-30. I also cranked in two turns of the oil pressure screw. Upon firing up the morning after (cold engine) I got an initial pressure of 60, which dropped to 40 at idling, then to 25. I took it out, but within 5 minutes the pressure was back at around 5 or 6. I came back and noticed a clear lack of power. That's now where I'm at.
Let's see, it's not the gauges, it's not the oil pressure valve (but I still did order a new one) since the screw thing had some effect. What is left? The oil pump itself, the possible looseness of the cams. The head gasket? That would account for the loss of power, but can it really let go that much pressure without making a mess somewhere?
The thing is, I don't even know if the engine overheated enough to cause this, or if the engine was in this state when I got the boat. So, to summarize, I have some initial oil pressure which turns to close to nothing when the engine warms up, it doesn't overheat at all (staying at 120 - 130 at idle), doesn't knock, rattle or sounds funny in any way, starts every time on the first try.
I have been avidly reading this forum since the Spring, and the troubleshooting mentioned above was made possible by numerous advice and suggestions made on other threads - thanks. It is a real boon to encounter a community so dedicated to making things work - even if that thing is to other eyes but just a weird chunk of old technology.
Long live the A4!
Best,
I got the sailing bug last year and I recently got myself a boat - a 1971 Paceship P29. A C&C design, looking much like the Pearson 30. Very sturdy, well rigged, impeccable hull, lots a sail. Unfortunately, I haven't sailed at all with it. I did work on it in the yard for some weeks, redoing the teak rub rail, installing shore power, new battery banks, an inverter, new VHF, windex, antennas, new cushions and a spankin' new composting toilet. I bought the boat on the hard, quite a ways from home and couldn't assess in what shape the engine was in - but it looked quite clean and well taken care of.
On my first day on the water, I warmed the engine for about 10 minutes, then berthed the boat a few yards away. Oil pressure was initially at 40, then I noticed at the end it was at 20 psi. The week after, time for a second outing, I fire up the engine - which starts like a champ but, I'm new to boating, and I forget to open the water intake sea cock. After what may be 5 - 10 minutes, I realized what I have done, and open the damn thing. But the pump has lost its prime, so I shut everything down, reprime the pump, and fire up the engine again. Initial temp reading was 170, and descended to 160 in a matter of minutes (idling at 700 rpm). Oil pressure was at around 20. I waited a bit, everything looked stable, so I went out. I could easily achieved 7 knots without pushing it to hard, no overheating, but oil pressure remained below 20 so I headed back. I installed a mechanical gauge to assess the truthfulness of the installed gauge with a sending unit, using a "T" coupling. By now the initial pressure when firing up the engine is around 20-25, and it drops to 5 o 6. Throttling up does increase the pressure, but marginally. Oil level doesn't seem to change but, although I had just changed the oil, it was really black and dirty. So I changed the oil again, putting in SAE 30 instead of 10-30. I also cranked in two turns of the oil pressure screw. Upon firing up the morning after (cold engine) I got an initial pressure of 60, which dropped to 40 at idling, then to 25. I took it out, but within 5 minutes the pressure was back at around 5 or 6. I came back and noticed a clear lack of power. That's now where I'm at.
Let's see, it's not the gauges, it's not the oil pressure valve (but I still did order a new one) since the screw thing had some effect. What is left? The oil pump itself, the possible looseness of the cams. The head gasket? That would account for the loss of power, but can it really let go that much pressure without making a mess somewhere?
The thing is, I don't even know if the engine overheated enough to cause this, or if the engine was in this state when I got the boat. So, to summarize, I have some initial oil pressure which turns to close to nothing when the engine warms up, it doesn't overheat at all (staying at 120 - 130 at idle), doesn't knock, rattle or sounds funny in any way, starts every time on the first try.
I have been avidly reading this forum since the Spring, and the troubleshooting mentioned above was made possible by numerous advice and suggestions made on other threads - thanks. It is a real boon to encounter a community so dedicated to making things work - even if that thing is to other eyes but just a weird chunk of old technology.
Long live the A4!
Best,
Comment