Hello A4 afficionados. I am seeking your guidance. I was motor sailing in the Oakland shipping channel towards Jack London Square. After 30 minutes I began to hear a harsher sound on the RPM of the motor for about 5 minutes, then suddenly the sound improved to more of a thrumming, but at the same time I felt a loss of power, and increasing the throttle didn't do anything to lift the RPM past 1800. Then a minute later, we had white smoke coming out the engine room blower exhaust. During this whole time the engine's water intake was open and the water exhaust system was performing correctly.
At the dock the next morning we measured the oil and it was low, so we added 1.25 qts oil. The engine sounded normal and no smoke, so we tried to motor out of the channel. But after 15 minutes, another loss of power, and more white smoked. We sailed slowly home to Berkeley with very light winds, but occasionally we did use the motor for a minute or two here and there to get out of the way of a ferry, to get away from one of the towers of the Bay Bridge. We kept checking oil and added oil twice more. It was dropping to low on the dipstick quickly.
At 430PM we were still a mile off the entrance to the Berkeley harbor so I ran the motor for a good 6-8 minutes to get to harbor and it performed fine, giving decent power at 2000RPM.
We ran the motor again to assist with docking. I gave a blast of reverse to stop the boat as we sailed into the upwind slip.
The boat is a 1973 Cal 33.
After the sail I took a close look. I saw that most of the 3 quarts of oil we'd added was on the floor under the motor. I saw about 2" water in the bilge that was not oily. And most troubling, I saw 2 large pieces of metal on the floor under the starboard side of the motor. One of the pieces was painted the same color as the motor, about the size of a playing card and looks like it's part of the motor itself. And the other piece looks like a cap of some sort that was partially damaged. The photos are taken on top of the transmission cover for scale, but were found on the floor under the right side of the motor.
I looked at the 360 view and the manual and didn't see the round cap. Do you know what it is? I will try to get back to the boat and feel with my hands where they might have fallen off.
The situation feels very discouraging. It feels like I may have ruined my 50-year-old engine and I only purchased the boat in the last few months. I know I must have made a beginner mistake and I'm disappointed in myself. We did service the boat about 6 months ago and changed the oil at that time. I would estimate that I did about 20-30 engine hours since we drained and added oil. Performance had been reliable. I guess I took the motor for granted but also, something really bad must have happened for there to be metal on the floor like this. The engine has about 1200 hours on it.
The only bright spot, and also a confusing thing, is that the motor still runs! For short uses it does start up and go.
I would appreciate anyone who is willing to point me in the right direction. Thank you.
At the dock the next morning we measured the oil and it was low, so we added 1.25 qts oil. The engine sounded normal and no smoke, so we tried to motor out of the channel. But after 15 minutes, another loss of power, and more white smoked. We sailed slowly home to Berkeley with very light winds, but occasionally we did use the motor for a minute or two here and there to get out of the way of a ferry, to get away from one of the towers of the Bay Bridge. We kept checking oil and added oil twice more. It was dropping to low on the dipstick quickly.
At 430PM we were still a mile off the entrance to the Berkeley harbor so I ran the motor for a good 6-8 minutes to get to harbor and it performed fine, giving decent power at 2000RPM.
We ran the motor again to assist with docking. I gave a blast of reverse to stop the boat as we sailed into the upwind slip.
The boat is a 1973 Cal 33.
After the sail I took a close look. I saw that most of the 3 quarts of oil we'd added was on the floor under the motor. I saw about 2" water in the bilge that was not oily. And most troubling, I saw 2 large pieces of metal on the floor under the starboard side of the motor. One of the pieces was painted the same color as the motor, about the size of a playing card and looks like it's part of the motor itself. And the other piece looks like a cap of some sort that was partially damaged. The photos are taken on top of the transmission cover for scale, but were found on the floor under the right side of the motor.
I looked at the 360 view and the manual and didn't see the round cap. Do you know what it is? I will try to get back to the boat and feel with my hands where they might have fallen off.
The situation feels very discouraging. It feels like I may have ruined my 50-year-old engine and I only purchased the boat in the last few months. I know I must have made a beginner mistake and I'm disappointed in myself. We did service the boat about 6 months ago and changed the oil at that time. I would estimate that I did about 20-30 engine hours since we drained and added oil. Performance had been reliable. I guess I took the motor for granted but also, something really bad must have happened for there to be metal on the floor like this. The engine has about 1200 hours on it.
The only bright spot, and also a confusing thing, is that the motor still runs! For short uses it does start up and go.
I would appreciate anyone who is willing to point me in the right direction. Thank you.
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