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Old 02-02-2014, 04:33 PM   #1
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Coolant loss

We have a 1974 G.B. with a John Deer Ammera 404. After running the engine the coolant go down after awhile. No coolant in the hull, or the oil. Put food color in the coolant system to see if was going into the sea water, but none in sight. Put a pressure tester on the system and the pressure goes down after awhile. Next we will put dye in the cooling system and check with a ultra violent light to see if there is any trace in the seawater. Then pull the side cover from the heat exchanger and check for traces of dye in there. Any ideas? Thanks, Ed.
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Old 02-02-2014, 05:39 PM   #2
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Make sure the coolant fill cap is sealing properly. Be sure the rim on the fill is clean. Be sure the cap is the correct one/pressure rating. Good luck.
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Old 02-02-2014, 05:44 PM   #3
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We have a 1974 G.B. with a John Deer Ammera 404. After running the engine the coolant go down after awhile. No coolant in the hull, or the oil. Put food color in the coolant system to see if was going into the sea water, but none in sight. Put a pressure tester on the system and the pressure goes down after awhile. Next we will put dye in the cooling system and check with a ultra violent light to see if there is any trace in the seawater. Then pull the side cover from the heat exchanger and check for traces of dye in there. Any ideas? Thanks, Ed.
Sorry to say it sounds like your head gasket. That's the only place it could go (being combusted) so that you see no trace.

Do a compression check.
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Old 02-02-2014, 05:51 PM   #4
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Check your exhaust. If you have a heat exchanger, it could be bad.
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Old 02-02-2014, 05:52 PM   #5
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It's not always a head gasket or cracked head problem. Start easy and work up.
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Old 02-03-2014, 06:36 AM   #6
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Does it have a turbo? On some of the bigger Deeres the turbo flange gasket tends to develop leaks resulting in symptoms like you describe.
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Old 02-03-2014, 09:09 AM   #7
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The cap is a new 13 pound cap. It should have between 6.5 to7.5, but no one has one. I don't think it's a head gasket because it isn't building up pressure infact it's loseing pressure. I'm going with the test for the heat exchanger and hope for the best. Thanks
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Old 02-03-2014, 10:10 AM   #8
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I hope it is just your heat exchanger and not head gasket. I don't think you would ever see dye color in exhaust water, there's just too much volume. Please get the correct pressure cap, 4 or 7 lbs, you can get them online, and do your system a favor. If you dont have an overflow reservoir, coolant will be forced out to a certain level the first time you run after filling and then stay there. this is fine and the way older engines were made to operate. Back in the day, when you checked your coolant in your car/boat, if you could touch it w/ your finger, it was fine. If you added more, it just came out the overflow and repeated addings just diluted your AF . So if you don't have an overflow tank, don't expect the coolant to remain tip top.
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Old 02-03-2014, 10:21 AM   #9
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I hope it is just your heat exchanger and not head gasket. I don't think you would ever see dye color in exhaust water, there's just too much volume.
If you use a flourescein dye, mixed well with the coolant, then pressurized for several minutes while the enigne is warm but not running, a sample drained from the raw water side of the heat exchanger should indicate a leak if one is present.
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Old 02-03-2014, 10:41 AM   #10
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If you use a flourescein dye, mixed well with the coolant, then pressurized for several minutes while the enigne is warm but not running, a sample drained from the raw water side of the heat exchanger should indicate a leak if one is present.
Good idea. That reminds me, there is a test kit for combustion products in the coolant also.
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Old 02-03-2014, 10:58 AM   #11
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Yes we have an recovery bottle and I have access to the dye for checking carbon in the coolent system but pressure would build up in the coolent system if a head gasket was bad. Thanks guys. Ed
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Old 02-07-2014, 07:23 PM   #12
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Have you noticed any brown smoke in the exhaust when running close to WOT? Coolant in combustion can often show up as brown smoke. Just another thing to check
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Old 02-08-2014, 05:40 AM   #13
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Yes we have an recovery bottle...
I was losing coolant as evidenced by the need to add more to my recovery bottle. Turns out the hose from the bottle to the engine had dry rotted and the coolant was dripping on the hot engine and evaporating. . Simple fix once it was discovered.

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Old 05-28-2014, 09:41 AM   #14
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I'm getting coolent out the overflow on manicooler on Perkins 6.354m .The books shows two differnt size caps a 7lb and 14lb . Which cap should I get ?
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Old 05-28-2014, 09:50 AM   #15
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We have a 1974 G.B. with a John Deer Ammera 404. After running the engine the coolant go down after awhile. No coolant in the hull, or the oil. Put food color in the coolant system to see if was going into the sea water, but none in sight. Put a pressure tester on the system and the pressure goes down after awhile. Next we will put dye in the cooling system and check with a ultra violent light to see if there is any trace in the seawater. Then pull the side cover from the heat exchanger and check for traces of dye in there. Any ideas? Thanks, Ed.
Check your heatexchanger ( intercooler ) and the waterheater ( when the engine heat this Waterheater and the hotwater smells ) for leaks.
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Old 05-28-2014, 10:14 AM   #16
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Coolent loss.

after all the testing we replaced the cap with a propper size 6# cap and after extensive boating the cap seems to have fixed the problem. Thanks one and all for all your idea's. Speced
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Old 05-29-2014, 01:51 PM   #17
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after all the testing we replaced the cap with a propper size 6# cap and after extensive boating the cap seems to have fixed the problem. Thanks one and all for all your idea's. Speced
Yep, if it worked fine and then you used the wrong cap and it started losing coolant, installing the correct cap would be the first step in troubleshooting.

Trouble shooting is simply a process of logical thinking.
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Old 05-29-2014, 02:17 PM   #18
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I positive I've got a bad cap also . I'm getting a new one today .
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Old 05-29-2014, 06:18 PM   #19
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I'm getting coolent out the overflow on manicooler on Perkins 6.354m .The books shows two differnt size caps a 7lb and 14lb . Which cap should I get ?
Different engines but my Perkins 4.154M call for 7lb caps. I have no coolant recovery bottles. The coolers have no provision for them.
I called TAD Inc to verify.
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Old 05-29-2014, 06:19 PM   #20
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Yep, if it worked fine and then you used the wrong cap and it started losing coolant, installing the correct cap would be the first step in troubleshooting.

Trouble shooting is simply a process of logical thinking.
Ron you don't suggest the shotgun method of troubleshooting?
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