Engine clean out

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Aeverett

What do you use to clean salt water side of the diesel, how do you do it?

It would help if you stated whether this was a raw water cooled engine or had a closed cooling system and a heat exchanger.

My engine has a closed cooling system and I replace the coolant every two years as per the manufacturer's maintenance schedule.

The heat exchanger and other raw water cooled components are designed for salt water and no special treatment is called for by the manufacturer.

When I had a raw water cooled engine in a previous boat, I used Salt Away as some others have suggested. I wouldn't consider acid from the home center unless I had a problem.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by rwidman

It would help if you stated whether this was a raw water cooled engine or had a closed cooling system and a heat exchanger.

My engine has a closed cooling system and I replace the coolant every two years as per the manufacturer's maintenance schedule.

The heat exchanger and other raw water cooled components are designed for salt water and no special treatment is called for by the manufacturer.

When I had a raw water cooled engine in a previous boat, I used Salt Away as some others have suggested. I wouldn't consider acid from the home center unless I had a problem.

Originally Posted by Aeverett

Renault Coauch, 1982' salt water cooled through engine , no heat exchanger.

They did...post#3

[CHM]

I bought a cheap bilge pump on EBay and the correct size hoses and couplers for my boat. Setup recirculation from the heat exchanger inlet to the hose going into the exhaust riser. I let this circulate for a couple of hours. Lots of foaming in my case. I also was able to clear from the engine through hull to the strainer by disconnecting the hose to the strainer (close seacock first). I held the hose above the water line , opened the seacock and displaced the sea water with the phosphoric acid solution. I held the hosebthis way until it stopped bubbling. Then I closed the seacock and let it sit overnight. Reconnected everything and flushed the fresh water side with water and Prestone flush. No more overheating issues so far. By the way, the phosphoric acid solution I used from Home Depot is the same as Barnacle Buster - just half the price. It dissolves the deposits from barnacles and mussels but doesn't hurt the bronze.

[ggray]

Thanks!