Water in engine room

[madhatter1]

Took a little trip and along the way my starboard tach acted up and was dropping down. No change in actual rpm’s. Stop to check for any issues and everything was fine and dry. Continue on and it dropped down a little but not way down like first time. This was on plane 1800 rpm.

Get to marina and go to check and uh-oh. Water everywhere. Was even on the battery boxes which are up by fuel filters. Water all on top of all 4 racors at the rear of the engines. More water on port side. Was even on top of generator. Can the coupling if under water throw that much water all around?

No for the mystery. Where did it come from. Definitely salt. So before I rinse everything down I start each engine to see where it’s coming from. Nothing. Not even a drip. The only thing I can think of is the seawater bypass discharge line which I believe only gets flow when needed.

Luckily I already have my new mechanic scheduled to come soon as we are going to spend a couple days to go over every service item on the engines. I’ll run home slow tomorrow and keep an eye on things while the wife drives. Maybe I’ll see what it is. But any ideas anyone has would be helpful.

Engines are 8-92 650 HP.

[oscarvan]

Can the coupling if under water throw that much water all around?

Oh yes. It's like taking the lid off the blender.

[Pascal]

When you started the engines at the dock, did you bring the RPMs up to increase water flow?

I doubt it s coming from the coupling splashing bulge water... that would take a lot of water.

Could it be a leak from the Air con ? Are they nearby ?

[madhatter1]

Tomorrow when I start up I’ll get the rpm’s up. Did not think of that at the time. Definitely not AC’s. They are starboard and easy to see. I believe I had enough water that the couplind was under. Each engine bed has its own bay and bilge pump which is forward so it would not have pumped out until I dropped off plane and I guess I didn’t notice the pump came on. Shame on me, I usually watch those along with gauges very often.

[madhatter1]

So I ran the engines at the dock. No visible leak at idle. Bump them up to 1000 rpms and before I even get down into the I can see sprinkles of water. Get in and it’s coming from overhead. A raw water crossover hose about 2 inches long lost a clamp. The clamp broke because it makes contact with the housing directly under it. Will address that this week with mechanic and well as check the one on the other engine. Also need to rinse everything down but will do so under guidance of the mechanic.

[Pascal]

So it only showed up at higher RPM. Makes sense.

If the fittings are long enough, use double clamp preferably solid band clamps. It takes very little rust on a perforated clamp for one to fail