- This topic has 2 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 3 weeks ago by
.
-
Topic
-
Both motors (2003 6CTA’s) Ser#46309849 have similar oil pressures at startup. Both motors have similar pressures at cruise speed – 50ish PSI.
Hot idle port side pressure dropped to the point of alarm. Tends to run very low at idle but never alarmed before. Starboard side seems to stay in the 20psi range.
Reading that it could be the oil pressure relief valve but doesn’t make much sense. I was under the impression that was for high pressures – and that a failure wouldn’t cause a hot idle issue. Also read an oil pump failure is very unlikely. Admittedly – I don’t know the location of the pressure relief valve either.
First things I’ll do is a oil change – I’m at the 100 hour mark now with filters. But any other thoughts?
-
Food for Thought
DL,
I am a big fan of methodically working through things to isolate root cause. I tend to start simple and work my way up the level of difficulty scale. Looks like you are doing one of the easy items and that is Oil. Verifying proper oil level by changing the oil. I would also look at the on engine gauges(we have coolant temp and oil press) and see if they agree with the gauges on the dash. Wondering if you have a wiring issue?
We have 2004 vintage 480CE’s prop’d like 450’s and our numbers look similar to yours. Once warmed up we run in the low 50’s oil PSI at 2250rpm but they do run a little higher than yours at idle up to hull speed. We also have a remote oil filter so the one side runs a little higher but that is expected. A quirk we have noticed is that when we run in rough conditions, not by choice, our Strbd engine consumes oil. We have been caught out in some nasty weather that was not forecast and ended up seeking shelter after a couple hours of rockin’ and rollin’ in steep waves(5+ feet) on the Great Lakes. We are fine on oil level in calm to nominal conditions but tend to burn oil on one side in rough stuff. I noticed this on our last trip when we encountered some weather on the stretch of Lake Huron from Alpena MI to Lexington MI. Multiple days and in both northbound and southbound directions. Engine oil checks each morning and I noticed that difference in oil level on strbd.
I would make sure that you are checking oil level each time out and see if you have other cause. I am not sure why we have oil consumption on the one engine in those conditions but I have noticed it and top off as needed in those situations.
Not sure if this is helpful but figured I would share our experience as we have similar engines.
1 user thanked author for this post.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.