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Oil in engine bilge?


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More info please.

Is it a cruiser stern? If so possibly water has got in from the heavy rain we have had in the last 4 weeks.

How new is new? How many hours on the engine? On new engines the recommendations are to change the oil and oil filter after 50 hours. If that has been done and care not taken on catching the oil from the filter then the oil spilt from the filter will go a long way in the water that is there due to the rain.

Give us a bit more info and we may be able to help.

Edited by Dr Bob
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4 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

More info please.

Is it a cruisers stern? If so possibly water has got in from the heavy rain we have had in the last 4 weeks.

How new is new? How many hours on the engine? On new engines the recommendations are to change the oil and oil filter after 50 hours. If that has been done and care not taken on catching the oil from the filter then the oil spilt from the filter will go a long way in the water that is there due to the rain.

Give us a bit more info and we may be able to help.

Just changed the gearbox oil after 25 hrs but the oily water was there at that time. It’s a semi cruiser stern.

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You have two issues here. Water and oil. They will have got into the bilge in different ways.

If you are not loosing water from the engine - or that the engine header has been overfilled and that is what you are seeing in the bottom, there is a good chance water is getting in from rain. You say semi cruiser. What is that? Is the design of the deck drain holes ok and are they blocked? Make sure you keep these open and free flowing. We put a pram cover up when moored to stop rain getting into the bilge but on our new boat the design of the drains is very good. When it rains heavily next time, look at where the water is going. Who made the boat? Some designs of water drainage on crusier sterns are better than others!

A small amount of oil goes a long way on the surface of water .....so we need to know if this is a lot of oil or a little. I would report this to the builder in case this is a warranty issue then take photos and clean it all out. Once dry, lay kitchen roll (or better some adsobent blotting paper type stuff that RCR use when they do engine services) down on the bilge floor to see if any other water or oil appears - and where from. Keep an eye on water and oil levels and dont overfill.

As Bengo says, show us the photos. Pictures speak much louder that words and you need them if you are getting it sorted under warranty.

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OIl, old black or new brown?  Fuel, just a rainbow effect (topical)  or antifreeze similarly?  Soak a sample into tissue. It could be a teaspoon of oil floating on a cupful of water. 

 

Mop it up, old newspapers work well free or Puppy pads from pet shop, supermarket. Nappies work but come apart if you leave them too long.

 

Rain water is favourite, through deck boards. Do you have a green house on the stern?

TD'

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I was once asked to look at a boat that had "gallons of oil in the bilge".  Turned out to be several litres of water (cruiser stern) with a couple of spoonfuls of oil on top.

 

Can the OP clarify what sort of quantities he is referring to?

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5 minutes ago, umpire111 said:

Wow loads of issues, I’ll take some photos later, checked both oils again and correct levels. It’s made by Colecraft and has an acoustic cage around it, currently have a pet pad soaking it up

Please bear in mind, a canal boat is not a Lexus, there will be oil drips occasionally, water will seep in through gaps, condensation will form from your breath in the cold areas under the engine.

Is this your first boat?

TD'

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5 minutes ago, umpire111 said:

Wow loads of issues, I’ll take some photos later, checked both oils again and correct levels. It’s made by Colecraft and has an acoustic cage around it, currently have a pet pad soaking it up

 

Colecraft do not make engines, they make hulls and also fit some boat out. I don't think that you are aware that boats are very much one offs with many variations in equipment so totally unlike cars. This means that if you want help we need to know much more about what you have. engine make & model, gearbox make and model and so on.

 

Also much equipment used on inland boats is sourced from the automotive industry and sometimes it "not quite right" for the job. For instance I mentioned overfilling the cooling system. Now narrowboats are typically skin tank cooled and therefore hold much more liquid that the cooling system on a vehicle with the same base engine. This means you get far more expansion as the engine heats up so if you top up to any marks on the header tank or if you fill directly into the     manifold cum heat exchanger and stick to automotive practice of 1" below the filler neck you are very likely to overfill it so excess coolant is expelled each time the engine heats up.

 

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1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Colecraft do not make engines, they make hulls and also fit some boat out. I don't think that you are aware that boats are very much one offs with many variations in equipment so totally unlike cars. This means that if you want help we need to know much more about what you have. engine make & model, gearbox make and model and so on.

 

Also much equipment used on inland boats is sourced from the automotive industry and sometimes it "not quite right" for the job. For instance I mentioned overfilling the cooling system. Now narrowboats are typically skin tank cooled and therefore hold much more liquid that the cooling system on a vehicle with the same base engine. This means you get far more expansion as the engine heats up so if you top up to any marks on the header tank or if you fill directly into the     manifold cum heat exchanger and stick to automotive practice of 1" below the filler neck you are very likely to overfill it so excess coolant is expelled each time the engine heats up.

 

V interesting, it’s a beta 43 with a perm 150 gearbox

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2 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Colecraft do not make engines,

 

Tony, I asked the OP who the builder was as he also had the issue with the toilet/changing water pump.

 

As it is a Colecraft then the rain water drain away on the cruiser deck should be designed well and not admit water to the engine bay (they are one of the better builders) but we have had some very heavy rain so it is possible that has flooded the drain system. You did say in your other thread that the cauliflower PRV had opened - where did that water go? Is it in the main bildge? - I hope its not draining through to the engine bay.

 

If you can, try and answer some of the questions others have asked...it will be a lot easier to suss out the problem.

viz

- Is it your first boat -TD

- Do you have a green house on the stern TD

- OIl, old black or new brown?  Fuel, just a rainbow effect (topical)  or antifreeze similarly? TD

- Can the OP clarify what sort of quantities he is referring to   DOR

- WHich waterway are you on - Bengo (someone moored near you might be reading this and can assist)

- Have you been filling your header tank?  TB

 

Taking photos before you soaked it up would have been useful.

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1 hour ago, umpire111 said:

V interesting, it’s a beta 43 with a perm 150 gearbox

Ok,so a Beta 43 is not an engine I would associate with oil frequent leaks but that is not to say that yours is not leaking but its less likely. The PRM gearboxes have a habit of leaking oil from the gear change shaft but that would be clean golden oil, not black oil.

 

It is difficult to do things like servicing, topping up etc without spilling a little oil and a little oil looks like far more when its floating on water so as advised above its time to clean out the drip tray and bilge (the drip tray is the contained area under the engine) and dry it. Lay newspapers under the engine and run for a while. The drips should be ways to spot on the paper if you do have a leak and the colour will help you identify if its fuel (red), engine oil (dark), or gearbox oil (amber).

 

(all explained by other people above)

 

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Can you also confirm that it's definitely in the drip tray (only directly under the engine/gearbox) and not the separate bilge that is all the rest of the area under your deck.

 

It could be a little bit of stern gland grease and stern gland dribble water if it's not directly under the engine.

  • Greenie 1
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As you have changed the oil, have you turned off the valve on the sump pump? Mine can pass some oil if it's not turned off. And has the little cap on the pump outlet been replaced?

 

Richard 

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2 minutes ago, Ryeland said:

As you have changed the oil, have you turned off the valve on the sump pump? Mine can pass some oil if it's not turned off. And has the little cap on the pump outlet been replaced?

 

Richard 

The OP says brand new, in which case there shouldn't be any oil or water leaks, that doesn't mean on a new engine and installation there isn't one

 

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1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

The OP says brand new, in which case there shouldn't be any oil or water leaks, that doesn't mean on a new engine and installation there isn't one

 

....er no, its not brand new. We asked that in the first few posts. The OP said after 25 hours he changed the gear box oil (as required) but I guess he hasnt done the 50hr oil change yet. He said the water was there when he did the gear box oil but didnt say when the water wasnt there (ie when they did the hand over on the boat). As it was Colecraft then I would assume there was no water at the time of handover and it appeared in the period up to the gear box oil change....but then the OP seems reluctant to answer many of the list of questions being asked.

It could easily be water from rain or overfilling the header tank with a bit of gear box oil (easy to spill some when filling the gear box) or a bit of diesel making it look like oily water.

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11 hours ago, umpire111 said:

Just changed the gearbox oil after 25 hrs but the oily water was there at that time. It’s a semi cruiser stern.

What is the service schedule recommended hours?

Edited by PD1964
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Wow, try and answer questions pose,:

1. The oily water is in the bilge under the engine

2. Still mopping up with pet pads but it appears to be clean not black but

3. Only done 30 hours so all oil clean

4. Have changed gearbox oil  after 25 hr

5. Have topped up header reservoir but the water from there has a blue tinge due to antifreeze so don’t thinks it’s that

6. All overflows go into bilge under stern gland not the engine one where oily water is

7. Now in Hebden Bridge on Rochdale heading west

8. Have had rain whilst out but that doesn’t seem to be the cause 

 

does that cover everything?

 

tx again

Also, not my first boat and there’s no greenhouse on the stern

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30 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

What is the service schedule recommended hours?

On our new Barrus shire 45 it 25 hrs for the first gear box oil and 50 hours for engine oil and oil filter, then 250 hrs. Likely the Beta 43 is the same.

 

2 minutes ago, umpire111 said:

Wow, try and answer questions pose,:

1. The oily water is in the bilge under the engine

2. Still mopping up with pet pads but it appears to be clean not black but

3. Only done 30 hours so all oil clean

4. Have changed gearbox oil  after 25 hr

5. Have topped up header reservoir but the water from there has a blue tinge due to antifreeze so don’t thinks it’s that

6. All overflows go into bilge under stern gland not the engine one where oily water is

7. Now in Hebden Bridge on Rochdale heading west

8. Have had rain whilst out but that doesn’t seem to be the cause 

 

does that cover everything?

 

tx again

Let's rule out water from the cauliflower PRV. Is there a hole for water to flow from the main bilge into the engine bilge and did the water appear under the engine before or after the PRV event?

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4 minutes ago, umpire111 said:

7. Now in Hebden Bridge on Rochdale heading west

 

Ask @dmr to have a look when you pass him ...

 

RE: list of questions.  We have learned not to assume any level of knowledge when questions are asked on here.  Yours seems fine, so we don't need to cover all the basics now!

 

Is your oil filter tight enough?

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