Measuring collant on a Perkins MC42

[tehmarks]

I appreciate that this is probably an incredibly dumb question and that I'm probably missing something really obvious, but the manual hasn't helped and having a poke around hasn't yielded any results either! My problem is that, with the the cap unscrewed, I can't see any way of actually checking the coolant level, as there's a 'thing' blocking the hole under the cap. Any ideas?

 

E2A: in addition to being an idiot, I also apparently can't spell, the title should obviously read coolant!

Edited December 15, 2015 by tehmarks

[Keeping Up]

Mine didn't have anything like that, I could just look in and top it up to about an inch below the top. What sort of a thing, could it be that you should top it up until it shows above the thing?

[jake_crew]

Are you sure its the coolant cap and not the oil filler cap.

 

If the cap is on the top of the engine itself - that for oil.

 

The coolant cap may well be away from the egine itself - possibly near the skin cooling tanks.

[tehmarks]

In lieu of a photo of my own, the setup is pretty much identical to the one pictured in this thread:

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=20364&p=335717

 

The only difference is that in my boat there's no calorifier, but a feed to a radiator in the cabin. I presumed that access to check the level and fill up was through the filler cap on the top (the one with the thin orange 'overflow hose coming out of the side). There is no other way that I can see to check the level or fill up away from the engine - but it's quite possible I'm missing something obvious. Engines aren't my forte, electrickery is!

[Iain_S]

I have the same problem as the OP on a generator.

 

I think it is the heat exchanger core that hides the coolant level, until it's almost overfull. (Should have checked when I had the core out!) Not a problem for the genny, as it's indirect raw water cooled, and so there isn't a lot of expansion and contraction in the primary cooling circuit. If it was cooled by a skin tank, I think we'd have to fit a header tank or expansion bottle. Easily done, either the hose running into an expansion bottle, and fill until water visible, ** or replace pressure cap with a flat cap and fit a pressurised tank onto the orange hose.

 

 

** This may not work, as it depends on a good seal between the TOP of the neck on the tank and the cap, which often isn't there without changing the cap for one with a rubber seal under the actual cap. (IYSWIM !)

[Scholar Gypsy]

What I did some years ago (not this make of engine, but never mind) is

 

• gently add a bit to the coolant each morning
• stop when you get some of the coolant expanding out through the pressure cap (I have a bottle that collects such an overflow)
• look inside the hole the following morning, when the engine is cool
• that is the correct coolant level, when it heats up and expands then it exactly fills the entire system

Of course if you then push the engine really hard (eg on a river) you may get a bit more expansion if the temperature rises a bit, and that will give you a slightly lower level when cold the next morning.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Scholar Gypsy