Westerbeak 60

[tinkrman69]

I have a 43-year-old westerbeak 60 and have constantly had cooling problems. I was in the yard recently for 6 months and the whole lower part of the block was clogged with little green particles. I thought it was the antifreeze crystallizing. It turns out the whole inside of the expansion tank is corroding. The engine starts really well runs really well plenty of power doesn't smoke but it's 43 years old with thousands of hours. I can't see buying a new expansion tank. There are a couple 4 154 cooling systems around but that won't do me any good as westerbeak change the head and both intake and exhaust around the same side.
So that brings me to the question does anybody know how I can clean the corrosion out and stop it inside the aluminum expansion tank. Someone told me just to let it go until the end till it blows. But that can't happen because the little hole in the back of the expansion tank that clogs and and makes it overheat in minutes.

[tkeithlu]

Let's start with a reality. Replacing an engine with a different model is a likely nightmare. The hoses, through-hulls, engine mounts, cables, and wires are all in the wrong places, and then it simply doesn't fit in the space allowed. You've got a working engine, so my recommendation is that you focus on correcting its problem.

It sounds as though the entire engine and its cooling system needs a clean out. That's a big and messy job, but insurance for the future. It involves flushing everything, basically water in the top and drain out the bottom for the cooling system and fresh oil through the lubrication system.

An aluminum tank exposed to anti-freeze should not be corroding. I'm suspicious as to what is in your coolant.

You'll have to remove the expansion tank so that you can swirl the contents and flush it out. No big challenge there, just more mess.

So, clean your engine. If it is a comfort, my engine is 65 years old and going just fine.

[gonesail]

i would be looking at the heat exchanger. and also do you think your coolant system should be flushed

[tinkrman69]

I did thoroughly flush the engine ran a bottle brush inside the expansion tank and flushed it many times and ended up getting no particles in there. Then filled it with water and ran it 15 minutes drain the water came out crystal clear. fill it with antifreeze. Ran the engine at idle and she hold around 178. Under load at about 1800 she'll hang right around 180 182 1900 or more RPMs she shoots right up over 190. back to idle and she only holds 180. She should drop down to about 170 at idle. That's where she was before I put her in the yard. Ended up having to fly back to the States for surgery so the boat sat on hard a lot longer than she was supposed to. The section inside the expansion tank that is corroding is around the top around the filler cap in the area that doesn't sit in antifreeze. I had to epoxy the hole around the filler cap and put a new filler tube in there because of the corrosion. 2 weeks after all of that and crank her up she's overheating I drained the fluid looking inside corrosion particles all over inside the expansion tank.
I'm in Guatemala on the Rio dulce. Found one Perkins 4 154 expansion tank but that won't work cuz westerbeak changed the head and both intake and exhaust are on the same side. I can get another heat exchanger remote and thinking maybe just bypass the other heat exchanger completely and just pop a hole in the tank I don't know if there's a way to prevent more corrosion I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks for your replies so far.
☮️❤️😉

[Lepke]

I think Seakamp makes a replacement heat exchanger.
http://www.seakamp.com/