Vicki Kanninchen

Thanks for all the very helpful advice! The engine has a wet exhaust, although there's barely any water coming out- lots of steam though! The cooling circuit also runs through a calorifier and my boat's hydraulic drive unit. The engine generally starts to overheat after about 30-60 minutes depending on how hard the engine's working. The reason I thought it might be a blockage in the oil cooler is that this turned out to be the cuprit when I had the same problem last year. The other reason I thought this might be the issue is that the oil cooler's intake hose gets hot while the outlet side is barely warm. I've also been getting oil aspirating from somewhere lower down on the engine but I'm not sure if that's related... I've checked the filters, the coolant tank, the belt, and the impeller, and I've repeatedly run the engine with the heat exchanger cap off in case it's an airlock.

Hi, my BMC 1.5 has been overheating regularly and I think it's due to a blockage in my oil cooler. Is there a way I can clear this safely myself? I've read a lot of conflicting advice about various descalers, acids, or steam and I just want to make sure I don't inadvertantly damage anything in in my efforts to get it clear. Thanks

Hi- I'm currently moored in Victoria Park in Hackney. I appreciate this is probably a nightmare to get to for most, but if anyone local is happy to have a look then that would be amazing!

Hi, in response to some of the points raised- the bottom of the coolant tank appears to just be flat inside. The water pump does have 2 little grease pots that lubricate the shaft- one of the grease pots was recently replaced, but there's still a pretty consistent drip from the shaft. I had an engineer come and look at the issue in July- at which point there was no water at all coming from the exhaust. He said the impeller blades were fine and diagnosed the issue as being caused by a blockage in my oil cooler which he cleared. After this the exhaust started spurting water again and everything seemed fine initially. But after a few hours cruising the overheating issue came back although water still came from the exhaust. I'm guessing the next step is going to be to check under the end cap of the heat exchanger as suggested....

I've checked all the filters and inlets several times and there's nothing obviously causing a blockage- plus there's still water coming out of the exhaust. Someone suggested that I should have a look at the stack in the heat exchanger, so that might be my next port of call as I can do that without removing the whole heat exchanger... I'll need to drain off the coolant to have a look. Will get on that in the morning.. Thanks

That's as I feared.... I'm a bit concerned about trying to remove the whole heat exchanger/ header tank due to my relatively basic mechanical skills and the fact that those bolts have been thoroughly bodged (it actually looks like someone's put metal putty around the join at some point). Can anyone give any advice as to how I would go about safetly removing the heat exchanger without permanently bodging it? What's the best sealant to use, and how can I find out the specific gasket I'd need?

Hi, can anyone help me work out where the thermostat is housed on my BMC 1. 5? My engine has been intermittently overheating- I've checked the filters on the raw water inlets and bled the system and it hasn't resolved the issue- and there's still water coming out of the exhaust. The boat runs fine for about half an hour (until the calorifier has heated the hot water tank?), then the temp gauge invariably starts to creep up accompanied by an increasing amount of steam from the exhaust. Running the hot water tap sometimes brings the temperature back down temporarily. Occasionally the engine will run for hours without the temperature gauge moving above normal, and a couple of times, stopping the engine and restarting has cured it. I'm thinking it might be an issue with the thermostat, and wanted to take it out and test it.. But having spent hours trawling the internet, I've found plenty of pictures of the thermostat itself, and diagrams of where it's located on other engines that look nothing like mine, but nothing showing where mine would be housed. I've had completely different advice from various other boaters which has left me more confused than I was before (there's a difference of opinion as to whether what I thought was my heat exchanger is actually just a header tank...). I would be extremely grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction...