Hello to all;
I need some advice on the mighty Westerbeke 4-107. Up until this year, i have had no issues with my trusty Westerbeke other than ground issues on the atarter. This year I have had some repair carried out on my boat; and one of the items that was noted was a leaking Injector Pump. I had the Injector pump rebuilt, along with rebuilt injectors. All other work was electrical.
After the Injector pump and injectors were reinstalled; the mechanic said he ran it to get it up to temp to check for any issues. He claims that after it ran for an hour; it stalled. Supposedly, there was coolant in one of the cylinders; and he told me that I blew my head gasket.
I have already made an appointment with another mechanic; as my trust in this individual was already wavering.
My questions are as follows. for an engine that had good compression(per the mechanic), and had no running issues, no smoke issues, no low coolant, and other than the leaking injector pump; had not shown any mechanical issues: What would make the head gasket fail? (If it did indeed fail; as I am not certain that this mechanic wasn't just trying to get additional work). If the head gasket did in fact fail; how can I prove to myself without doing additional harm to the engine? And, if the head gasket did fail; how big of a job is in my future? If the head gasket did fail; what else should I be concerned about and have checked?
I appreciate any feedback you can provide.
Thank you,
Jeff
While it's not impossible, I question his analysis at best. Was the engine blowing white smoke? It seems highly unlikely that it would leak enough to stall without smoking for a while first. Will the engine crank and start? I assume he pulled the injectors and blew the water out. Hopefully your second mechanic can do a compression test.
Check your dipstick. Is the oil milky? Check your coolant ovefill tank. Is it lower on coolant? If no white smoke and no antifreeze loss, I doubt it's a head gasket? Right guys?
Although head gaskets are available for sale for 4-107's, I personally have never heard or read of someone having to replace one. I would agree... something smells here and it is not fish or white smoke.
Dale
I agree with Randy. I have had experience with 3 engines with blown head gaskets, all gasoline powered though. (I drive cheap cars so I can afford a boat ;) All three were blowing white smoke out the exhaust that smelled sweet like antifreeze. They were loosing coolant as well and were really hard to start. All three showed water in the oil and the cylinders were really clean, too clean. Of course, I tried torquing the head bolts, but that didn't work, although in one case I snapped a bolt doing it. Detecting water in the oil could be hard, given how hard it is to get all the oil out. Some could be sitting in the bottom of the pan and at least I wouldn't be able to drain it through the dipstick.
A compression check showed poor compression on two of the three, but the other one wasn't that bad and when it was cold, it still had compression.
Now days a bore scope is pretty cheap, although I have always gotten it in through a spark plug hole, and we don't have those. Maybe someone who knows these motors better knows if they can get one in by going in through the injector.
Jeff,
When you said you had a Westebeke 4-107 and there was coolant leaking into a combustion chamber, I am going to have to agree with your mechanics diagnosis. But his cause and remedy are both incorrect.
You guys should all know the major difference between the Westerbeke 4-107 and the 4-108 since I suspect the Pearson 365 was built with both engine models. The Westerbeke 4-108 has dry cylinder liners, while the 4-107 was built with wet cylinder liners. So what does that mean?
In the 4-108 the cylinder liners are interference fit and are pressed into a block with a contiguous water jacket. While the Westerbeke 4-107 cylinder liners are slip fit into the block and are held in place by a flange at the top. Coolant comes into contact with the liner and to keep it from leaking into the crankcase and combustion chamber there are a pair of O-rings top and bottom. If the engine is over heated these O-rings can fail and begin to leak. Westerbeke says these O-rings can be replaced without removing the crankshaft. But I can't image how one would remove the liner to get at the O-rings without removing the piston and connecting rod.
Westerbeke knew that the seals could leak and to keep coolant from entering the crankcase they drilled holes in the liner near the bottom and above the lower O-ring to allow water to drain (guess where) into the combustion chamber.
Westerbeke recognizes that this is a flaw with the 4-107 design which was corrected in the 4-108. The manual actually recommends using Barseal to correct the leaking O-ring in the 4-107.
Long story short, It's not the head gasket its the O-rings in the cylinder liner. Which makes this a very complicated repair if its more than just seepage that clears up as soon as you start the engine. I'd give the Barsleak a try first. The lesson here is avoid boats that have the 4-107 in favor of the 4-108.
Question: Was it cylinder #4 that has the problem? That would make sense.
Pete
Pete,
That's good to know. Thanks mate.
Now does this mean that I have add Barsleak as yet another spare for my cruising kit? *Sheesh!*
Wayne