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Old 06-28-2017, 04:22 PM
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Chris Simenstad Chris Simenstad is offline
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Vinegar flush works...

Just a quick follow up about trying to bring the engine temp down:

After sailing several times this spring, and noticing that the temp at cruising speed was 170-175 degrees (about 155-160 at idle after being run for a while), I attempted a second vinegar flush.

The first time I had let the vinegar sit for about 3 hours. This time, after warming up the engine at speed for about 45 minutes, I went back to the slip and ran 5 gallons of household vinegar into the block. Then I let the engine sit for 4 days.

When I started the engine, I expected to see some discolored water come out with the exhaust water. There was a little discoloration, but mostly just the smell of vinegar.

Then I went out for a 40 minute cruise. The temp at causing speed is about 165 degrees--a little improvement--but idling after being run is about 130 degrees, which tells me salts were restricting flow somewhere inside the block.

Looking in my maintenance notes, the first time I did an acid flush was 2008. At that time, the engine was 180 at cruising speed, and when I did that flush I had a big rusty cloud come out in the exhaust water. The temp went down to 155 at cruising/125 at idle after cruising.

My plan from here on out is to do a vinegar flush in the manner every year to so to keep the passages free from excessive salt buildup

I'm also going to change the exit fitting in the exhaust manifold from a 90 to a straight one, and see is that gets me down to under 160 at cruising speed.
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