general rebuild ? when?

[nyvoyager]

Thinking ahead to next project...I lean to the side of if it ain't broke don't fix it....
Thinking of pulling the A4 and generally sorting the engine compartment and cleaning and painting the engine... Generally to get a good hard look, refreshing things and replacing whatever external items I may find.
She's ticking along fine, last I checked compression she was within spec, doesn't burn any oil to speak of.
But shes now 40 years on.
What's the general opinion and what would you looking at?

[Ajax]

Good question, and I look forward to hearing the opinions.

My engine is running perfectly, and asks nothing of me other than routine maintenance, yet it's at least 42 years old. Compression is at the low hundreds, within 5 psi of each other.

I can see jumping on the FWC bandwagon, but I'm trying to figure out the overhaul question. I really don't want to rip it out if it's not necessary.

[JOHN COOKSON]

How long have you owned your boat\engine?
What I'm asking in an indirect way is how much of the engine's history are you familiar with?
Are you planning a long cruise away from your usual support network for a while?
How do you use the engine? In and out of the harbor for afternoon sails or longer more demanding cruises?

TRUE GRIT

[nyvoyager]

I've owned the boat (Pearson 30) for approx. 18 years. Very familar with engine. Much of the assecories (?) have been replaced, some for the 2nd time. I try to get away every year for a couple of weeks and hoping for longer. Sail as often as possible but in trying to make distance I'll motor when need be. Usually try not to push too hard and often will set her just beliw cruising speed and I'm fine with that. Having said this, 5 years ago I moved the boat onto the hudson from LIS and use it significantly more....not sure about total hours but certainly per sail.
Smart questions and I think you got me to answer my own question.
If cruising up the coast I'd want the comfort of knowing I've a sound engine.
The only thing I could think of that would definitely be a trip killer would be a spin bearing, but have no idEea if this is a failure point on these old engines. Regards

[Al Schober]

NY,
Certainly wouldn't do it for 'preventive maintenance'.
Loss of compression due to rings (good compression with oil in the cylinders) would be one clue. Oil on the spark plugs would be another. Another 'smoking gun' is smoke in the cabin from the fill pipe or the slash tube. Minor smoke can be controlled with a PCV system.
Of course, banging noises/ broken parts are another issue. Son's auto engine quit, towed to garage. Mechanic looks underneath and said 'This is an easy one - don't even have to put it on the lift.' End of a rod was sticking through the oil pan. Glad my sons are now on their own...

[nyvoyager]

Thanks Al. I'm sort of thinking the same. So far it's been maintaining external bits as needed. I would feel more comfortable doing this without the fire drill aspect so maybe I'll set my sites on that for the winter. Attainable and not terribly expensive.

[Mo]

2 cents

-bearing knock...crank.
-loss of oil pressure...not fixed with adjustment...oil pressure does NOT increase with RPM...bearing wear.
-burning excessive oil fouling plugs
-low compression not valve related with loss of performance...don't let this be confused with inappropriate prop selection
-broken crank.

>>>>and the kicker. If I should have to take the engine out for some other "break-down" repair I may as well do the crank, bearings, rings while it's apart.

[Al Schober]

NY,
Remember the definition of cruising: Getting to fix your boat in exotic locations.
A local friend was into antique cars. Drove a 1930 +/- vintage Cadillac (double windshield model) from CT to Nova Scotia where the engine failed (bearings). Spent his vacation under a tree with a chain fall fixing it. 'Bummer' I told him afterwards. 'No' he said, 'I was where I wanted to be doing what I like doing. It was a fine vacation.'

[Skywalker]

That is a great answer!!

Love it.

Skywalker

[nyvoyager]

Lol...I've done similar on land and sea.
Replaced a clutch somewhere in the Rocky mountains. Rebuilt the carb on the a4 while rolling along on a beam reach... all good.
Often wonder what life would be like without these memories.

[joe_db]

An A4 will die very slowly of low compression and bad valves. It can go from 100% to useless in 20 seconds when the last bit of cylinder wall erodes away. So.....I would switch that old engine to FWC so it no longer loses metal bit by bit.

[nyvoyager]

yes and than there is that.......

[hanleyclifford]

Read my signature line.

[Cool Beans]

I have a rebuild thread and a couple follow up threads floating around of my rebuild debacle.

As to when? Well, mine for example leaked water around the #4 spark plug hole and rear stbd side. The head was rotten, so I needed a new head. The manifold gasket and head gasket were compromised and weeped saltwater. You could see a constant build up of salt along the edges. It desperately needed a proper alignment, but 3 mounts were bad. . .and the mount under the water pump was rusted solid to the oil pan. It leaked oil everywhere, and weeped saltwater around the side cover. I also wanted to convert to FWC but had no idea just how bad it was caked with gunk. The bearings were so bad it sounded like a tin can filled with rocks on a cold start up, even with 20-50 oil.

That all being said, the engine ran like a top! Took me on a 5.5 hr trip to the eastern shore with nary a hiccup. The engine probably would have ran until it rotted in 2

My opinion, wait till it breaks. . .but it probably never will as long as it has oil in it. That being said, if you really want to pull it to rebuild. . .get a spare motor to rebuild in your spare time.

[nyvoyager]

Thanks I'll search out your threads. Yes a spare sounds like the way to....but that raises a whole other issue...Where to do this work! I don't think the living room will work. When the time comes I will more then likely give Don a call.