Oil and coolant for generator

[paulga]

There is a westerbeke bcd6.0 on my boat and a Ford Lehman sp 135.

I found only one type of engine oil and one type of coolant stored onboard. How to make sure the FL and the genny both are using the same oil and coolant?

 

[Cigatoo]

The 30 weight is fine for both in warm weather. If you are starting in the winter / Boston I would recommend the Rotella 15/40 for both. 15/40 is fine year round.

 

[paulga]

The 30 weight is fine for both in warm weather. If you are starting in the winter / Boston I would recommend the Rotella 15/40 for both. 15/40 is fine year round.

Thanks. I would heat the engine room up before starting either one in winter. If so the oil weight 30 works also in winter, right?

Is it safe to top off the plastic recovery tank on the genny using the onboard coolant?

 

[SteveK]

Unless you are going on a trip don't start the engines. If you do want to use or get the GEN ready to use, then change the oil to 15/40. Heating the ER air may be easy, heating that iron block and thus the oil would take days to make the 30w usable.
Oh, you will not notice anything if you started it cold, it will just wear out stuff like bearings unnecessarily resulting in less total hours before overhaul.

 

[Cigatoo]

Like Steve said, it will take a long time to get the block (s) up to temp. Maybe days. A cold diesel with 30 weight may not turn over fast enough to start.

 

[paulga]

15/40 for both Lehman sp 135 and westerbeke?

The westerbeke manual recommended 10/30 as all season oil. Is this interchangeable with 15/40?

 

[Cigatoo]

15/40 for both Lehman sp 135 and westerbeke?

The westerbeke manual recommended 10/30 as all season oil. Is this interchangeable with 15/40?

View attachment 160775

I would use the 15/40 without reservation unless you are going to be starting well below freezing.

 

[paulga]

I would use the 15/40 without reservation unless you are going to be starting well below freezing.

And this is Lehman's oil recommendation.

It says sae 30 working temp is 32-90, right?

Sp135 sump capacity is 14 qt and half, while westerbeke capacity is 3.3 qt

 

[SteveK]

I do believe that Brian the garage for Lehman has endorsed 15/40.
Maybe it was not available 50 years ago in the current formulation

Now let us know when the oil is. Changed

 

[paulga]

I do believe that Brian the garage for Lehman has endorsed 15/40.
Maybe it was not available 50 years ago in the current formulation

Now let us know when the oil is. Changed

Changing oil requires running the engine first, for that I need to top off the coolant. How to decide if the the final charge is correct coolant to use?

 

[BruceK]

Check the Manual for coolant specs. The wrong one may not play well with the existing. Color is relevant, green is common. Are the recovery bottle and the "Final Charge" similar in appearance?
The coolant recovery bottle level can be low when engine is cold and high when engine is at temp. If there is coolant present you may not need to top up. Some recovery bottles have high and low marks.

 

[SteveK]

Jay you found coolant on the boat, not new bottle, so the chances are very good it is the same as in the engines. But if in doubt recycle it and top up with distilled water until a planned coolant change.
As for oil change, unless you want to go out on a trip, wait for the spring thaw. As I said before, if you want the Genny ready for a power outage put a heater under it and then tent it with a tarp to contain the heat around the engine as much as possible.

 

[paulga]

Jay you found coolant on the boat, not new bottle, so the chances are very good it is the same as in the engines. But if in doubt recycle it and top up with distilled water until a planned coolant change.
As for oil change, unless you want to go out on a trip, wait for the spring thaw. As I said before, if you want the Genny ready for a power outage put a heater under it and then tent it with a tarp to contain the heat around the engine as much as possible.

This is the outlines from the manual for filling the coolant system
Does "recycle and top up" follow the same steps?

 

[slymeso44]

There is a westerbeke bcd6.0 on my boat and a Ford Lehman sp 135.

I found only one type of engine oil and one type of coolant stored onboard. How to make sure the FL and the genny both are using the same oil and coolant?

View attachment 160771
View attachment 160770

Hi I would try to make sure to minimize the amount of oil and coolant that you use, we use 10w40 for all 3 of our diesel, including the transmission ( velvet drive) and cat ELC for coolant, boat is almost 40 years old and we’ve been running her for 10 years this way, makes it easy for maintenance . All the fishing boats here that use to have velvet drives did the same and they ran all out all the time