Brown water in coolant tank?

[Mac of Cygnet]

Interesting, not seen a Vetus skin tank cooled without a plastic header of some sort before.

Just for future reference what Vetus is this, and is it on a skin tank? Cheers.

If it has a header tank (but see Mac of Cygnets post!) I tend to keep the water very low. in this. Maybe about 1 inch.

 

No, mine is raw water cooled with a heat exchanger and wet exhaust. I can see that an expansion tank would me more necessary with a skin tank as the greater volume of coolant would expand more when hot.

[Guest]

 

No, mine is raw water cooled with a heat exchanger and wet exhaust. I can see that an expansion tank would me more necessary with a skin tank as the greater volume of coolant would expand more when hot.

Cheers. Judging by yours and WotEver's setup, Looks like only the 415/417 on skin tanks likely to have header tanks then. These are the ones i am more familiar with

Next time when answering a Vetus cooling question, I must remember to ask which model it is!

Edited February 3, 2017 by Guest

[Bazza954]

Hi,

this is a vetus 4.14 as in my old boat, it had skin tank cooling and it also had an expansion/header tank on the bulkhead, you can see the pipe coming off the engine where the water filler cap is.

The cap on the engine was just that, a cap, the expansion /header tank had the sprung loaded pressure cap.

When the engine was cold there was no water showing in this tank and I seem to remember that the water level in the engine was just below the filler neck. When hot, there was water in the expansion /header tank.

 

Hope this helps

 

Bazza

 

[Guest]

Hi,

this is a vetus 4.14 as in my old boat, it had skin tank cooling and it also had an expansion/header tank on the bulkhead, you can see the pipe coming off the engine where the water filler cap is.

The cap on the engine was just that, a cap, the expansion /header tank had the sprung loaded pressure cap.

When the engine was cold there was no water showing in this tank and I seem to remember that the water level in the engine was just below the filler neck. When hot, there was water in the expansion /header tank.

 

Hope this helps

 

Bazza

 

 

Obviously SOME 414 engines had a plastic header then Suppose it depends who fitted the engine.

Your description of an empty header at cold, and the level a little below the blanking cap on the engine sounds exactly as my 415.

[silverlode]

...you can see the pipe coming off the engine where the water filler cap is.

 

Looks identical except for the pipe - mine has none! How odd.

 

If there hasn't been any antifreeze put in the engine for a year or two it's almost certainly rust from the engine block.

 

I would drain the engine, flush it and put fresh antifreeze and water in.

Definitely going to do this! Just need to work out how to drain it.... :/

 

 

The problem seems to have sorted itself out... I still think it was the high winds that caused water to get where it shouldn't. Possibly through the exhaust?? I followed all the pipes and hoses in an effort to understand the engine a bit more, and that's all I could come up with.

Edited February 3, 2017 by silverlode

[Guest]

Looks identical except for the pipe - mine has none! How odd.

 

Definitely going to do this! Just need to work out how to drain it.... :/

 

 

The problem seems to have sorted itself out... I still think it was the high winds that caused water to get where it shouldn't. Possibly through the exhaust?? I followed all the pipes and hoses in an effort to understand the engine a bit more, and that's all I could come up with.

Most people seem to disconnect the bottom hose from the skin tank and let it go into the bilge, then pump/mop out. An 'orrible job (going to fit a valve next time i drain ours.) On reconnecting and refilling, I ran it at tickover with the cap removed from the engine and it released lots of air. Then ran again up to temp with cap refitted. It needed topping up again a couple of times after various airlocks came out. If airlocks are stubborn, the main pipes can be "pumped" using a hand on them and this helps get air out. I used 50/50 standard blue antifreeze. Better stuff is available (often red) that has a longer life, but all traces of previous blue stuff must be flushed out.

 

Doubt if mystery water came in the exhaust, most likely overfilling.

Is there a short metal pipe maybe about 1 inch long sticking out under the water filler cap? It must vent somewhere. If so you could put a pipe on this flowing into an empty plastic bottle below.

 

Edited February 3, 2017 by Guest

[silverlode]

Most people seem to disconnect the bottom hose from the skin tank and let it go into the bilge, then pump/mop out. An 'orrible job (going to fit a valve next time i drain ours.) On reconnecting and refilling, I ran it at tickover with the cap removed from the engine and it released lots of air. Then ran again up to temp with cap refitted. It needed topping up again a couple of times after various airlocks came out. If airlocks are stubborn, the main pipes can be "pumped" using a hand on them and this helps get air out. I used 50/50 standard blue antifreeze. Better stuff is available (often red) that has a longer life, but all traces of previous blue stuff must be flushed out.

 

Doubt if mystery water came in the exhaust, most likely overfilling.

Is there a short metal pipe maybe about 1 inch long sticking out under the water filler cap? It must vent somewhere.

Hmm, maybe I did just overfill it then?? But it was on the recommendation of a couple of different boat builders to keep it topped up!

 

Can't see any pipe, but will have another look and take a photo when I'm next able to do so in daylight, and see what everyone thinks.

 

Thanks for the advice, will attempt to drain it next week... will try and find an aquavac to borrow.

[Guest]

Hmm, maybe I did just overfill it then?? But it was on the recommendation of a couple of different boat builders to keep it topped up!

 

Can't see any pipe, but will have another look and take a photo when I'm next able to do so in daylight, and see what everyone thinks.

 

Thanks for the advice, will attempt to drain it next week... will try and find an aquavac to borrow.

Photo with cap removed would be good. Also Aquavac will make the job that bit easier.

[silverlode]

Photo with cap removed would be good.

Will do ?

[ditchcrawler]

My Vetus (M3.10) didn't have an expansion bottle either, just the plastic tube on the spigot which used to spit its water out if I overfilled it. Eventually I stopped over filling it

Like many

Looks identical except for the pipe - mine has none! How odd.

 

 

You have a small pipe coming out of the top a few inches from the filler, where does that go to?

[Guest]

Like many

You have a small pipe coming out of the top a few inches from the filler, where does that go to?

I think that might be the pic of my engine that you saw? If so that is a modification I did to stop coolant problems.