Good morning everyone,
First, I am a new poster to the forum, however I have read several threads in the past. That being said I have made several mistakes on this boat with this engine already and it has been a steep learning curve. Here is the issue.
A couple of months ago I bought my first sailboat, a 1969 Bristol 32. When we looked at the boat the atomic 4 engine seemed to have no issues. However when we picked up the boat the following weekend it was draining all the water from the fresh water cooling tank. Now in-between the time of looking at the boat and picking it up the PO had replaced the water pump impeller. We took the boat anyway and just continued to fill the water tank as it drained. Eventually the fuel pump died and we were towed to an anchorage. After replacing the fuel pump I tried to start her back up... Several times... With all the water valves open. I now know this is probably what caused the water I found on the spark plugs, however at the time, having only tinkered with car engines, I assumed it was a blown head gasket. So after buying an outboard to get the boat to a yard we tried to get the engine turning to test compression, only to fine the engine had seized and no amount of effort was able to get her turning again. So sticking with the out oard we pulled the A4 for a rebuild and brought the boat to a mooring. While disassembling the A4 I found a working one for rather cheap a few hours away, that PO had replaced it with a diesel inboard. It came with several extra parts and maintenance papers and had had a full rebuild sometime around the early 2000's. However the PO had pulled it after he bought the boat and let it sit outside in a yard for a while. After getting it home and making sure the compression was good I took parts off my old engine, like the new fuel pump, the water pump, exhaust manifold, and transmission (because the new one had a v drive), I then assembled it and got it back into the boat. It took me a while to get it running however because the carburetor float needed to be adjusted. Eventually however I got her running. Only to find that water is still getting pumped into the oil and I'm losing water in the overflow tank again. I have tried both exhaust manifolds, and checking to.make sure all of the water hoses from the FWC system and the RWC system at hooked up correctly. She starts with a little persuasion, but she runs with oil pressure maxed on the guage and now the raw water seems to have stoped flowing. So now I'm down to the only parts from the old engine are the water pump, carburetor, fuel pump, exhaust pipe, FWC and RWC systems. Is it possible that the MMI water pump is pumping water into the oil? I have a few rebuilt Oberdorfer Pumps that I can replace it with, I'm going to inspect for weephole leakage today. Every time I start and stop the engine I make sure the through hulls are closed for the water system to prevent water getting back in, could there be another intrusion point. I'm also going to test the water system pressure and adjust the oil pressure today. What are the odds that I have 2 engines with the same losing water problem? My assumption is it has to do something with the water pump because the engine was running fine for over 30 mins with clean oil when we looked at the boat, then he changed the impeller and now there is problems. And those problems have persisted through 2 engines with the same pump.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to include the whole story for a better diagnosis.
First, I am a new poster to the forum, however I have read several threads in the past. That being said I have made several mistakes on this boat with this engine already and it has been a steep learning curve. Here is the issue.
A couple of months ago I bought my first sailboat, a 1969 Bristol 32. When we looked at the boat the atomic 4 engine seemed to have no issues. However when we picked up the boat the following weekend it was draining all the water from the fresh water cooling tank. Now in-between the time of looking at the boat and picking it up the PO had replaced the water pump impeller. We took the boat anyway and just continued to fill the water tank as it drained. Eventually the fuel pump died and we were towed to an anchorage. After replacing the fuel pump I tried to start her back up... Several times... With all the water valves open. I now know this is probably what caused the water I found on the spark plugs, however at the time, having only tinkered with car engines, I assumed it was a blown head gasket. So after buying an outboard to get the boat to a yard we tried to get the engine turning to test compression, only to fine the engine had seized and no amount of effort was able to get her turning again. So sticking with the out oard we pulled the A4 for a rebuild and brought the boat to a mooring. While disassembling the A4 I found a working one for rather cheap a few hours away, that PO had replaced it with a diesel inboard. It came with several extra parts and maintenance papers and had had a full rebuild sometime around the early 2000's. However the PO had pulled it after he bought the boat and let it sit outside in a yard for a while. After getting it home and making sure the compression was good I took parts off my old engine, like the new fuel pump, the water pump, exhaust manifold, and transmission (because the new one had a v drive), I then assembled it and got it back into the boat. It took me a while to get it running however because the carburetor float needed to be adjusted. Eventually however I got her running. Only to find that water is still getting pumped into the oil and I'm losing water in the overflow tank again. I have tried both exhaust manifolds, and checking to.make sure all of the water hoses from the FWC system and the RWC system at hooked up correctly. She starts with a little persuasion, but she runs with oil pressure maxed on the guage and now the raw water seems to have stoped flowing. So now I'm down to the only parts from the old engine are the water pump, carburetor, fuel pump, exhaust pipe, FWC and RWC systems. Is it possible that the MMI water pump is pumping water into the oil? I have a few rebuilt Oberdorfer Pumps that I can replace it with, I'm going to inspect for weephole leakage today. Every time I start and stop the engine I make sure the through hulls are closed for the water system to prevent water getting back in, could there be another intrusion point. I'm also going to test the water system pressure and adjust the oil pressure today. What are the odds that I have 2 engines with the same losing water problem? My assumption is it has to do something with the water pump because the engine was running fine for over 30 mins with clean oil when we looked at the boat, then he changed the impeller and now there is problems. And those problems have persisted through 2 engines with the same pump.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to include the whole story for a better diagnosis.
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