Engine getting hot (towards overheat) during idle....

[Daytomann]

Hello everyone,
I have a 2004 216 TE with a 330 Excalibur PCM.
Like always, I changed the impeller at the beginning of this season and have been experiencing randon overheats at idle. It will rise above 175 then I'll throttle up and start moving, then the motor cools back down to 160 or so. It does not get hot while we are moving.....seems to run at around 160. Also it does not get hot at every idle but it still does it often. Its heated up at idle about 5 or 6 times over the last 4 hours of operation.

Its never done this before. Any ideas on what to check?

Also, can anyone tell me what normal operating temp should be?

Thanks!

[DanielC]

RE: Engine getting hot (towards overheat) during idle....

A common cause it the raw water system sucking in air before the raw water pump.
This post is for a flushing adapter I made:
http://www.planetnautique.com/index....light=flushing
This adapter allows you to put pressure on the hoses up to the raw water pump, and find leaks easier.
With my water pressure at home, the 330 Excalibur engine will very slowly drain the bucket in the flushing adapter post, at engine idle.

[WakeSlayer]

RE: Engine getting hot (towards overheat) during idle....

Try tightening all your hose clamps in the cooling system, and make certain your O-ring gasket is still in the strainer.

[Daytomann]

Thanks guys! I think I found the problem, and I like to post up so people who may search problems on the forum can see the results.

I finally got some spare time to dig into the problem. STEP 1: First thing I was going to do is check the strainer cup and make sure the cup and assy was OK.
STEP 2: Then I was going troubleshoot by running my water hose through the raw water hose after the strainer and see if the motor starts to overheat. Its never overheated before when I ran water through it that way so if it did, I knew the problem would be after the strainer and shut off valve. If that was the case on to step 3..which I didnt know what that would be just yet :grin:

Luckily I would not have to go past step 2.

First thing I noticed was that the threaded gray elbow piece that the inbound water hose was connected to was very loose. I took it off and noticed that the sealing tape was basically worn out....so it could have been drawing air at that point. Then I took the strainer cup off. At first glance it looked fine and my O-ring was in place. Then I noticed a CRACK at the bottom of the cup. The crack went all the way through. I think thats my main problem. Between the two problems I think it was drawing just enough air to keep an air bubble at the top of the strainer, causing it to heat up at idle, then as RPMs increased it would draw just enough water to cool down.

Heres a pic of the elbow piece and the strainer cup.

I confirmed the problem by running my water hose into the hose just past the strainer. I let it run at idle for 30 minutes...it never went past 161 degrees on the digital heat gauge. So I retaped the elbow piece and its off to get a new strainer cup.

[Daytomann]

Heres how I run my water through the engine...