Drive temp????????

After running my 45C 6v92 for the first time my oil drive temp alarm went off. When I slowed her down the alarm went away the gauge read about 190 it was not to far off the starboard engine. Any ideas what to look for. Thanks

It could be a loose wire or a bad sender. If the wire is loose or broken and it looses contact, it will default to alarm.

Had a similar problem several years ago in a 40DC w/Cat 3208's. Trans temp alarm went off. When slowed down, alarm stopped. Solution was that the shift lever on the tranny was being partially blocked by a bolt head and the transmission was not fully in gear, allowing slippage and overheating. Removed obstruction and problem solved.

Where's your gear cooler? Is it in the main tank or do you have the newer auxiliary setup on the suction side of the raw water system?

Genesis I have the same boat you had I think 87 45c I think the cooler is the main tank. I also have a slight problem on the same engine with running a slight bit hotter then the starboard.

Mine had separate coolers on the seawater intake lines - NOT in the main tank. I was told they did that because of overheating problems in the main tank; that the cooling capacity was not adequate.

The problem with the "auxiliary cooler" was that it was on the INTAKE side and had a habit of fouling like a madman, which led to the ENGINE overheating. Oh sure, the gear stayed nice and cool.......

Were I redesigning it I'd have that cooler on the OUTLET of the primary H/E. Still cool water by comparison to the H/E coolant (by definition) but you'd avoid the problem of trying to suck water through a restricted path.

If you've got one engine running hot fix that and the problem may go away since you're operating off the H/E tank cooling. The other alternative is to source and install a separate cooler and re-engineer the gear cooling system - which is IMHO the right thing to do, but definitely not the cheap thing!

Thanks Genesis the problem of a H/E being restricted is a problem my mechanic had mentioned just prior to the summer, so this tank which sits forward on the engine the same place I add water ?? This may be causing the engine to run hot only at higher rpms 1800 or better would also cause the drive to heat up also?? So if this is correct then I will direct my attentions to changing the H/E .

Clean the heat exchanger, change the impellor, and clean your strainer. This will insure that your complete raw water path is clean and operating properly. That should fix your problem assuming that the gear is actually getting hot.

Thanks will address this problem this week.

Yep.

See my article in the FAQ area for an on-engine way to do this, or just pull the tank down (requires draining the coolant) and take the core to a radiator shop, plus change the impeller and clean the intake strainers.

If your engine is running hot that will influence drive oil temperature since you're using the "auxiliary core" in the H/E tank. I talked to Covington about changing mine BACK and they warned me that if I did I might run into overheating problems with the drive oil.

Before dismantling anything, I'd check actual transmission temperatures with a handheld infrared thermometer....compare port and starboard and then you'll know for sure. No need to do a lot of work before you first determine the cause.

My Allison M20's run at about 185 degrees....I added in helm temperature gauges to each, as I had a transmisssion overheat many years ago on another boat...it's cheap and provides regular feedback from an expensive component of your drivetrain.