Engine Power lost

[seagums]

Hi

I have one engine that the temp is high, oil pressure is low and power is down. Water pump is new and the temp rises very slowly! Can anyone help?

[stonebreaker]

How many hours on the engine? The high temps combined with the low oil pressure suggest it's not getting enough oil. Possibly your oil pickup has fallen off the pump?

[seagums]

The engines have about 250hr and the oil is full. The engine that is giving me trouble is using up more fuel then the other. The engine will start getting hot and losses power after 45 min for running at crusing speed.

[stonebreaker]

I suppose it could be a fueling or spark advance issue, but I wouldn't ignore the low oil pressure if I were you. Low oil pressure is NEVER good, and the fact that your engine is slowly heating up as well as using more gas just confirms in my mind that it's not getting enough oil. It could be something as simple as the oil pickup falling off the oil pump, or even accidently putting too light a weight of oil in there; but whatever the reason, ignoring the problem will only make it worse. You could go from having to pull the motor to replace the oil pickup to having to pull the motor to replace the motor. Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

[seagums]

Thanks,
I only get a low oil presure when the engine gets hot. When I say low oil pressure, I mean its a mark down on the gauge form the other engine. Not close to critical zone, and I was thinking it was the result of the hot engine (more liquidy). I was also thinking is could be related to the mixture and timing. I will check in to that some more. What about cooling, the engines cool off from the fresh water not coolant? Maybe the intake could be limited by something?

[stonebreaker]

Well, you could check the coolant/water pressure by putting a pressure gauge on the head that doesn't have the temp gauge sensor (both heads have a port, only one is being used) and see if it's different from the cool running engine - that would tell you if you had a coolant flow issue. Checking the spark plugs and using a timing light would let you know if there is a fueling or spark advance problem. I'm glad the oil pressure problem isn't as severe as you initially indicated; but you're still going to have to do some diagnostics on the engine to even figure out where you're having problems. I'm mostly a car guy, so anything specific to a boat I can't help you with. There may be a problem area that a boat mechanic would know to check first; but all I can suggest is check the condition of the plugs, check the timing, and check the water pressure to narrow down the problem.

[seagums]

Thanks, I'm going to start with that to narrow down the options.