L345 - V1501

[Ku-boat-a]

Hey all,

I own one of those ocean tractors. The V1501 - 56498 block with the Universal conversion 5432 on a boat.

I’m a novice but I’ve done a a fair amount of work on the engine myself over the years. I’m starting to tread water with this situation.

Appears there is oil in my coolant reservoir tank. Yet to see any coolant in oil. but loss of 30% on dipstick after 4 hours of running. No “milkshake”.

Ran a compression test. 380/390 across all. Tested cold and not WOT(my mistake).

My first cold leak down test (ever), believe I was at TDC, @80psi showed:

Cylinder 1 - air intake lite, exhaust lite, dipstick no, crank case slight,
Cylinder 2 - air intake good amount of loss, exhaust lite, dipstick lite, crank case lite
Cylinder 3 - air intake good amount of loss, exhaust lite, dipstick ever so slight, crank case lite
Cylinder 4 - air intake good amount of loss, exhaust lite, dipstick no?, crank case slight

Did not see any coolant bubbles from leak down test.

Thanks in advance for any help diagnosing this!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Oil in coolant is almost always a head gasket issue.
It's like a 90% chance that's where your problem will be.
The other issues almost always require major parts replacement.
Your better off replacing the engine at that point.

 

[Ku-boat-a]

Oil in coolant is almost always a head gasket issue.
It's like a 90% chance that's where your problem will be.
The other issues almost always require major parts replacement.
Your better off replacing the engine at that point.

Thanks for the reply. Ive read a number of your posts on here and appreciate your approach and knowledge of these.

Im unfamiliar with the passageways for the coolant and oil. Assuming it was a crack in the head / gasket and good compression…do you know where it could be that only oil is entering the coolant?

Am I correct that there is no oil cooler in my setup? Its my understanding those are external, which i don‘t have.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Thanks for the reply. Ive read a number of your posts on here and appreciate your approach and knowledge of these.

Im unfamiliar with the passageways for the coolant and oil. Assuming it was a crack in the head / gasket and good compression…do you know where it could be that only oil is entering the coolant?

Am I correct that there is no oil cooler in my setup? Its my understanding those are external, which i don‘t have.

There is a feed pipe that goes from the block to the head and that has a sealing O'ring and if that seal goes bad it can cause pressurized oil to be forced into the collant, without coolant getting into the oil.

Another way would be a front gear case issue, that one normally will do coolant into the oil, and not oil in the collant.

Are you sure there is not an oil feed and return into the coolant exchanger?
Some marine systems have that.

The other option is a head crack or a block crack, they are harder to find.

 

[Ku-boat-a]

There is a feed pipe that goes from the block to the head and that has a sealing O'ring and if that seal goes bad it can cause pressurized oil to be forced into the collant, without coolant getting into the oil.

Another way would be a front gear case issue, that one normally will do coolant into the oil, and not oil in the collant.

Are you sure there is not an oil feed and return into the coolant exchanger?
Some marine systems have that.

The other option is a head crack or a block crack, they are harder to find.

I‘ve attached a couple, fairly accurate, drawings of how the cooling is configured on this.

 

[Ku-boat-a]

Have an update:

I erred in my diagnosis…. or at least i think i have. The "oil" I found in the coolant reservoir does not float. So im moving forward…deciding to trust physics on this…unless someone has different thoughts on that. Grime in the coolant system i suppose.

After getting the engine back together and bleeding the lines I had trouble getting fuel to the injectors. Eventually it started flowing but when #3 fuel came out it was a brown/copper color but then was clear. I did start the engine up and it sounded good but rpm output was low. I checked the fuel tank for grow and found black pockets of growth clinging to bottom of tank. I drained the tank and did my best to clean and treat it. Due to tank access and location I will need to change the filters to get the majority out.

Thinking the brown fuel was growth. But since the original issue was oil and performance loss, I was curious if its possible for oil to enter the injection pump?

Additionally, through the process of trying to do the compression test I had removed the high pressure injection lines, disturbing the delivery valve holder causing a leak in #4. I wrenched it a wee bit more to cure the leak. Didnt work and now im concerned I've created a fuel knock...not sure if im hearing things. My wife thinks it sounds the same. Is it okay to test-run the engine in a scenario like this?

Ive ordered the gasket and o-ring I think i need. I've read several forums now, including this one about this issue and am kicking myself about touching the pump. Unfortunately the engine compartment is incredibly difficult place to work/maneuver.

If I fix the leak with the oring/gasket but am left with a fuel knock/incorrect timing is that something I could fix reasonably fix?

If I bought a refurbished injection pump would it be “pre-timed” for this engine?

Also, for this future procedure I would need to pull the valve cover off to determine TDC since the timing window is covered by the motor mount on this boat.

Thanks if you made it to the end!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Thinking the brown fuel was growth. But since the original issue was oil and performance loss, I was curious if its possible for oil to enter the injection pump?

Additionally, through the process of trying to do the compression test I had removed the high pressure injection lines, disturbing the delivery valve holder causing a leak in #4. I wrenched it a wee bit more to cure the leak. Didnt work and now im concerned I've created a fuel knock...not sure if im hearing things. My wife thinks it sounds the same. Is it okay to test-run the engine in a scenario like this?

Ive ordered the gasket and o-ring I think i need. I've read several forums now, including this one about this issue and am kicking myself about touching the pump. Unfortunately the engine compartment is incredibly difficult place to work/maneuver.

If I fix the leak with the oring/gasket but am left with a fuel knock/incorrect timing is that something I could fix reasonably fix?

If I bought a refurbished injection pump would it be “pre-timed” for this engine?

Also, for this future procedure I would need to pull the valve cover off to determine TDC since the timing window is covered by the motor mount on this boat.

Thanks if you made it to the end!

Oil can not get into the fuel injection pump.

Sounds like you had water in the injection pump reservoir and it started to rust up the pump.

Your "fuel knock" would be only happening if your losing enough fuel to not pop the injector or if it's sucking air.
both are rather hard to do, you would be more likely to have a cylinder fire issues if you had bad injectors.

The timing on these engines are done via shims under the pump, it has nothing to do with the top end of the pump, unless you allowed the delivery valve to come completely out of place, and in that case it wouldn't fire that cylinder at all.

If you get a new / rebuilt pump you just use the shims you have and it will be in time.

Removing the valve cover wouldn't do a thing for you for setting the timing if it was wrong, you would have to see the marks on the flywheel.

 

[Ku-boat-a]

Apprecitae the reply!

I see, unless the timing is off I would not need to find TDC or make any adjustment if a new pump was installed.

The TDC marks/window is covered by the engine mount on the vessel. suppose ts feasible to brace/wedge the bottom and remove the mount. Messing with the alignment is something I’m hoping to avoid. It was my understanding TDC could be found by watching the valves, that’s what i was getting at with taking off the cover.

If i somehow figure out if it is rust in the pump…the only solution is a rebuild/new pump? This is the best injection pump # I could track down: 094500-0622

Found rebuilds on: BK Diesel, Spencer diesel and GrainFarmer.

Sounds like I need new injectors too!

Have big life changes and this boat is not part of the plan, unfortunately. Trying to make it run fair and not break the bank on the repair.