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Question re engine oil and coolant


DannyC

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Hi - really stupid question here, but I am being paranoid!

 

I have checked the oil with the dipstick this morning and it is very low. Also, I took the water cap off the area where the coolant should be and their doesn't appear to be any. I need to top up.

 

Can I use any engine all/ coolant, or are their particular brands you need to use

 

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2 minutes ago, DannyC said:

Hi - really stupid question here, but I am being paranoid!

 

I have checked the oil with the dipstick this morning and it is very low. Also, I took the water cap off the area where the coolant should be and their doesn't appear to be any. I need to top up.

 

Can I use any engine all/ coolant, or are their particular brands you need to use

 

What engine have you got?   Is it keel cooled ?

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2 minutes ago, Flyboy said:

What engine have you got?   Is it keel cooled ?

Yup, keel cooled, Barrus Shire . Just that it need good quality oil with no higher API class than CC - according to the manual. Do you know if you can get this oil from a road garage or is it specialist?

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Remove the dipstick , wipe it , put it back in fully then take  it out and check the oil again.

On some engines the oil may then appear a little higher on the dipstick. Maybe not on yours but worth a try.

 

There is no such thing as boat engine oil. But you do need the correct grade . However, if you wish, you can get oil for your engine with the engine makers name on it 

https://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/store/product/~/dbfile.axd?name=AO-027.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

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37 minutes ago, DannyC said:

Can we use any category C oil when the manual says we can't use higher than  CC.

You probably have an older Barrus Shire engine which specified CC grade oil.  The later models specified 15/40 api CD oil so would be ok in your engine. Regarding your coolant level, I suggest you top it up to the minimum mark when cold. The Barrus expansion tank is quite small and may overflow when the engine is hot.

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1 hour ago, blackrose said:

Yes, are you checking these levels with the engine after it's been run or cold?

That shouldn't make any difference, other than the water level would normally be slightly higher when hot.

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4 minutes ago, BWM said:

That shouldn't make any difference, other than the water level would normally be slightly higher when hot.

Oil level would normally be 'low' during (or straight after) running as the oil is spread all around the engine - wait 5 minutes to allow it to drain back down into the sump before using the dipstick, or, you will get false (low) readings.

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16 minutes ago, BWM said:

That shouldn't make any difference, other than the water level would normally be slightly higher when hot.

Water levels will be a lot higher with the small expansion tank that Barrus supply.  I run mine at the minimum mark because it goes well over the max mark when hot.

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And if you top up the coolant don't just tip neat antifreeze into it, mix it first with water to your chosen ratio. Mix up a gallon or so so you have the correct mixture to top up with in future. I'd mix it with distilled or rain water rather than tap water.

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3 hours ago, luggsy said:

Whilst I am not saying by any means this is the wrong oil!! Please check quantities before you buy. For years and years we bought oil in 1 gallon cans then for years it became 5 litres which was great. Now crafty suppliers quite often supply it in similar sized cans but with 4 litres in or as this one 4.5 litres in. Of course they are doing nowt illegal but its a bit crafty. For instance my boat takes precisely 5 litres per change so one can does me every time wheras I would need to open more than one of the slightly smaller types.

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21 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

 and years we bought oil in 1 gallon cans then for years it became 5 litres which was great. Now crafty suppliers quite often supply it in similar sized cans but with 4 litres in or as this one 4.5 litres in.

Known as shrinkflation

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28 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Whilst I am not saying by any means this is the wrong oil!! Please check quantities before you buy. For years and years we bought oil in 1 gallon cans then for years it became 5 litres which was great. Now crafty suppliers quite often supply it in similar sized cans but with 4 litres in or as this one 4.5 litres in. Of course they are doing nowt illegal but its a bit crafty. For instance my boat takes precisely 5 litres per change so one can does me every time wheras I would need to open more than one of the slightly smaller types.

As it happens I particularly like the 4.5 litre containers because our Beta 43 takes 9 litres per change. If I can only get 5 litre containers then I change the gearbox oil too!

 

Pretty sure the OP will be ok with API CD oil which is available in some chandlers. Our old Barrus Shire (2006) ran on CD ok. Car spares shops don't normally stock it but can get you some in if you ask. You could also ring Barrus to check if CD is ok.

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4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Oil level would normally be 'low' during (or straight after) running as the oil is spread all around the engine - wait 5 minutes to allow it to drain back down into the sump before using the dipstick, or, you will get false (low) readings.

It would of course be a mistake to check the level immediately after running any engine. 

 

4 hours ago, Flyboy said:

Water levels will be a lot higher with the small expansion tank that Barrus supply.  I run mine at the minimum mark because it goes well over the max mark when hot.

If he has no visible coolant it would be best topped up before running, it may be useful if you could suggest a suitable coolant if you have the same engine.

 

1 hour ago, Chewbacka said:

Do you regularly check levels and suddenly both have dropped or is it more a case of ‘not checked for ages, better have a look’?   If the fist one, I think you need to think about leaks etc.

If it is the first there may be a bigger problem behind it, not usually a good omen losing oil and coolant at the same time. 

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42 minutes ago, BWM said:

 

If he has no visible coolant it would be best topped up before running, it may be useful if you could suggest a suitable coolant if you have the same engine.

 

I didn't suggest what type of anti freeze to use because I would only be guessing whether he has pink, blue or none in his engine.  All I can say for sure is that Barrus specify  40% by volume.  The op should at least know what colour it was and use that colour, any make would be suitable.

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These people do the oil you require https://www.rockoil.co.uk/cm/  and coolant.

9 hours ago, DannyC said:

Hi - really stupid question here, but I am being paranoid!

 

I have checked the oil with the dipstick this morning and it is very low. Also, I took the water cap off the area where the coolant should be and their doesn't appear to be any. I need to top up.

 

Can I use any engine all/ coolant, or are their particular brands you need to use

 

 

Edited by F DRAYKE
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3 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Whilst I am not saying by any means this is the wrong oil!! Please check quantities before you buy. For years and years we bought oil in 1 gallon cans then for years it became 5 litres which was great. Now crafty suppliers quite often supply it in similar sized cans but with 4 litres in or as this one 4.5 litres in. Of course they are doing nowt illegal but its a bit crafty. For instance my boat takes precisely 5 litres per change so one can does me every time wheras I would need to open more than one of the slightly smaller types.

Bought some at Christmas and they now come in 5 ltrs ?

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10 hours ago, DannyC said:

Can we use any category C oil when the manual says we can't use higher than  CC.

Not really. The First C of the code means its for Diesel engines (C = Compression ignition). The important bit is the second letter. If your engine is supposed to have CC, then that is a fairly old fashioned oil and modern oils will be unsuitable (and more unsuitable the further you move from CC). See the following for the specs, but note this does not provide guidance on using modern oils in old engines, its written from the perspective of explaining what modern oils do. Consequently you will see that they classify the grades that many boat owners are looking for (like CC) as obsolete. This does not mean that it cannot be bought but should not be specified for new designs.

https://www.api.org/products-and-services/engine-oil/eolcs-categories-and-classifications/oil-categories#tab-diesel-c-categories

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7 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

For years and years we bought oil in 1 gallon cans ...

Now crafty suppliers quite often supply it in similar sized cans ... or as this one 4.5 litres in. 

....4.5 litres being almost exactly one gallon!

Edited by David Mack
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8 hours ago, David Mack said:

....4.5 litres being almost exactly one gallon!

4,546 correct without resorting to google? Thing was years ago when foreign measurements came in we got a tad more which was good whereas today we get less. A downgrade as it were rather like every other aspect of life.

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Hey - thanks for you replies. 

 

I got to a chandlery and picked up some oil. That is all sorted.

 

So - as one posted mentioned, this is a case of I thought "oh crap, I need to check water/ oil etc" this isn't something I haven't been doing regularly (woops). So when I looked there was no water in the manifold tank. I asked at the boat yard where I bought the oil and the guy suggested I fill it up with roughly a pint of water and check the level after my hour long journey to my next destination. The guy at the boat yard noted that the temperature on the gauge seemed ok, but he said that if I very quickly run out of water then I have a leak somewhere.

 

Today we ran the engine for a couple of hours in neutral to recharge the batteries. My girlfriend noticed that the temperature gauge was at 100 C. We turned off the engine and checked the manifold tank again - no water.

 

Also, we are not getting any hot water from the calorifier after running the engine. At first we thought this was because we had tampered with the anti scold dial on the calorifier tank, but we are wondering if this is all related.

 

Any ideas on what the problem might be or what steps I can take to check things.

 

Thanks

 

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