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Help please. Oil spill and rattling engine


Simon and Pu

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2 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO not another battery charging thread!!!! :lol:

Just stick yer tongue across the terminals. Tingle = flat.

Ouch! = pretty well charged. 

Flat on your back with a swollen tongue = equalising. 

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45 minutes ago, mross said:

Please post a photo showing this 'cap' that came off.  You must start to take this more seriously.

This ^^^^

I get quite surprised at the kind of attitude of some people where something potentially serious and costly can be just shrugged off, especially when they no nothing of the subject in the first place (which may explain the shrugging off bit) :)

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Hi guys will take more photos to show you that cap. Sorry for no reply was cruising. The beeping has stopped.   I Wiped everything that was sprayed with oil.  I spent a good 3 hours cleaning everything before adding in the engine oil.  Lucky my wife baught a mega pack of 30 tee towls, came in handy.    Yes the leak was right next to the alternator.   Now when I run the engine.  I have 13.5 volts on both Gages.  

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OK.  When you video it please start with everything off and then turn on the ignition, then start the engine.  It will probably show the lights better if you shade the panel or do it when it's getting dark ie, not in bright sunshine.

I'm glad you seem sorted - you were a bit lucky, I think.

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As this engine has been run at some speed with insufficient oil pressure I would have thought that it would be a good idea to get the hot oil pressure tested with a mechanical gauge (a decent marina shoudl be able to do this). If the OP gets the engine nice and hot then it should not take much more than 15 minutes if they have the correct kit and adaptors.

That way you will get some indication of how much wear there is in the bearings. I would hope for 50 to 60 psi revving and maybe 15 to 20 psi on idle and accept 35 to 40 revving as being more or less serviceable but indicating bearing or oil pump wear. Any less then as you have been told, new bearings now will be cheaper than a crank regrind and engine rebuild later.

Edited by Tony Brooks
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1 hour ago, Simon and Pu said:

I'm very interested now in getting the oil pressure sorted. All red lights are out. And no beaping.  I will make a video and upload 

So the oil light that has always been on before has now gone off. Please follow the advise and get the pressure checked out.

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1 hour ago, Simon and Pu said:

Hi guys will take more photos to show you that cap. Sorry for no reply was cruising. The beeping has stopped.   I Wiped everything that was sprayed with oil.  I spent a good 3 hours cleaning everything before adding in the engine oil.  Lucky my wife baught a mega pack of 30 tee towls, came in handy.    Yes the leak was right next to the alternator.   Now when I run the engine.  I have 13.5 volts on both Gages.  

Oh No! potentially a dumb thing to do, methinks you should read the other posts about crankshaft / bearings damage.

It's most important for them to realise that if there is damage - indicated by low oil pressure tests as others have pointed out - it's cheaper to have that attended to now as a set of bearings ("shells") are much less expensive than a new crankshaft (for my engine £980 + VAT). I stumble to explain what crankshaft / bearings / shells mean to ordinary folk.

Another point - if a pressure test / mechanic's  test show no real / minimal damage, then given that the oil in the sump was very, very black it makes sense to change ALL the oils (engine and gearbox), oil filter , fuel filter(s) as I suspect that maintenance has been poor / abysmal.

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7 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

If the oil light was on all the time was there sufficient oil in the sump to start with?

Quite possibly not but I'm not sure that OP is taking the situation as seriously as they should. 

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The Isuzu in question has the basic control panel, A" de-lux "panel was available with oil,water temp and voltmeter gauges/warning light for second alternator.(Plus the rev counter)Might be worth an upgrade? Now HMI have gone might have to phone around for a source. This assumes that the O.P.understands what the gauges are telling them.

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7 hours ago, MHS said:

If the leak was near your alternator(s) I would suggest making sure the belts are not covered in oil. If so, your next problem may be that your batteries will struggle to charge. 

I don't think he has any need to worry on that front, from what I can see on the second photo there doesn't seem to be a belt on the alternator pulley anyway:rolleyes:

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51 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I don't think he has any need to worry on that front, from what I can see on the second photo there doesn't seem to be a belt on the alternator pulley anyway:rolleyes:

So in the absence of a belt, they're charging with a 1kW solar array, or the power of prayer alone. 

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There is a belt there but I'm not sure if its on the inner groove of a double pulley or its come off the pulley and just lying behind it. The alternators  belt fine tensioning gear is missing too.

Edited by bizzard
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One of the batteries looks as if it has been over discharged for optimum life but those voltmeters are far from accurate so it can not be certain. In any case ignore the coloured bands.

I could not see the voltmeters clearly enough in the video to be sure but it looked as if one MIGHT be reading a bit lower than expected.

Maybe confirm the readings with a digital multimeter on the battery banks.

I am reluctant to say the engine sounds OK because as the thread has gone on I have got the impression that the OP is likely to take that to mean that it IS OK - get the hot oil pressure tested to be sure.

Edited by Tony Brooks
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Firstly, the awful rattling sound the engine was making is unlikely to have been anything to do with the loose 'pin' you mention. 

Secondly, all the engine oil appears to be in the bilge under the engine instead of being in the engine. This is almost certainly why the red 'Oil Pressure' warning light has been permanently ON. Your engine has no oil ,so no oil pressure, so no lubrication, so all the bearings are shot, hence the horrendous rattling noise. 

NEVER ignore a red engine warning light. EVER. They come on to warn of impending doom and to shut the engine OFF immediately.

The one possible chink of hope is the warning buzzer would normally come ON at the same time as a warning light. Yours appears not to have. So possibly the oil pressure only just failed. A well worn engine with no oil pressure will occasionally go all quiet and carry on as before once oil is restored to the correct level in my experience. Try this, you might possibly be dead lucky!

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It appears that the oil pressure warning light no longer functions. It didn't appear to be lit when the ignition was switched on. So, two things...

  • Get the oil pressure measured by an engineer (possibly at a local marina) 
  • Get the oil pressure light fixed. 

Tony

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