Too much cooling!!

[JJ]

I also have a cooling problem, but to the other extreme. My new 196 with an excalibur will not warm up all the way. It seems to have a stuck thermostat that is open. The engine temp will not go over 111 degrees. I have only put 1 hour on it. Since the break-in says to hammer the throtle to set the rings, in doing so I hopfully freed up the thermostat. I am wondering if somehow they forgot to install one. I will run it tonight, if the same problems arrises, I will open up the housing and see what is going on.

Does anyone else have any ideas?

[skinautique]

It is possible. Does it get really smokey. Your best bet is to pop the housing off of the thermostat and check it out.

[tryan]

111 degrees you should be able to put your hand on the manifold. swap out the stat asap. it's just as hard on the motor to run with the oil too cool.

[JJ]

It ran a little over 145 last night. That does not make sense. Unless the thermastat is slowly closing. Since the oil in the engine is 15w-40 I am not as worried about the low temp like I would be with straight 40 that is needed for the GT-40s. Anyway I hammered it to set the rings. No signs of any trouble other than the low temp. Since I only have 3.5 hours on it, I am having my dealer deal with it. I want the boat to be perfect for the next owner.

Check out the new colors.

[MarkP]

What is the degree of water going into it colder water temperatures this time of year the motor has to run longer to warm up!

[JJ]

Our lake temp is 62. I talked to Correct Craft, It seems that once in a while pcm will put the wrong thermastat in the engine. This boat apparently has the one for closed cooling. It has holes in it and can not completely seal for warmup. My dealer is bringing me a new one with a gasket tomarrow. When I ran it last night it ran at 140, so I don't feel bad, since that is the stock heat range without heaters. When you install heaters I guess they bump it up to 160.

If anyone else is having this problem, they need to correct it right away. Midwest said they had one that used alot of oil because the rings never seated. Thank goodness this engine only ran for 2hrs at low temp. They did not think any harm had been done since it was over 140 last night. I will wait until I get the correct thermastat in before I run it again.

[skinautique]

Those colors look very interesting. Haven't seen that combo yet. I like your house too! Glad to hear you are getting the TStat issue worked out.

[tlb]

I have an '03 SAN and my buddy has an '03 206, both of us had bad thermostats in our excalibur engines. Mine wouldn't heat up above 120. When the thermostat was pulled out it was stuck wide open. I think PCM got a bad batch of them or something.

[JJ]

I heard the same thing from PCM. I have a new one coming. I will boil it and cool it first to make sure it will open and close all the way before I install it.

[Onthewater]

Love the color combo. I'd do a grey hull, white main stripe, and a red secondary. Lets see some more pics when you can.

[JJ]

Got the thermastat a week ago, wrong gasket. I received the correct gasket yesterday and everthing is great. She runs between 159 to 161 degrees. runs fantastic. I am taking it through the breakin steps again to make sure the rings are set properly.

Now the rest is just about having fun!

[SprintCar39]

We have had several new 2004 boats with this problem. It can run fine on the hose but take it to the lake and it wont get over 110. It has been very fustrating to this point. We are changing out every thermostat on the new boats right now. Our customers with their new boats were very disapointed. This problem is bigger than anyone knows right now. Correct Craft has sent back over a dozen bad ones.

[ag4ever]

I have a 2002 SANTE with the excalibur, and the last time I was out I noticed the temp stayed at about 125 most of the time. If I ran wide open it would go to about 140-145, but never above that. When sitting idle it would run about 130.

Do you think mine might also be defective, or just went bad. The water temp was cool like about 55 -60 degrees, but I can't think that would make that big of a difference.

BTW, I am adding the heater to my boat, so should I put in a 160 degree thermostat anyway?

[NautiqueJeff]

You won't get much heat out of your boat unless you change to the 160* thermostat. That's what I have in mine, and the heat is great. Sounds like you're running too cool anyway. Replace it with a 160 and see how it does.

[nms1991]

NautiqueJeff all of the efi freshwater cooled engines from pcm come with a 160 degree thermostat from the factory not only to help with rings setting in also to make them passs emission standards. so if you are going to install a heater in a newer boat with efi tou do not have to change out unless you have a problem with it.

[SilverSpraySports]

JJ,
That boat looks sharp! Do you have any pictures of it in the water?

-Doug

[lcap]

I have the same problem with an 04. Took out the thermostat and warmed it up in a pan of water and it opened. Put it back in the boat and took it out for a test. Engine still does not go over 106 F. Manifolds cool, heater cool, oil cool, tranny fluid cool.

I understand with cooler water temperatures it will take longer for it to warm up but they do warm up to the setpoint on the thermostat unless I am missing something?

[JJ]

Get it replaced asap. Contact your local dealer because several Excaliburs were sent out with bad thermostats. Your engine will not break in properly with a cool thermostat and you may end up with an oil burner.

[jjswierd]

I have a old '85 2001 sn and it is running about 125 to 150, is that warm enough or should i have it checked out. the water temp is between 70 and 75. It seems to be burning a little bit of oil and i wonder if this is why, also is there a website were you can get aftermarket seal kits for the 351 in these older boats.

[JJ]

The reason that a new engine may use oil because of low temps is that the rings will not set properly. Most of the boats came with a 140 thermostat. When they put in heaters and showers, they will bump the temp to 160. If you are running around 140-150 when it is warmed up you should be fine.

BTW, points out that you know me, except for the spelling? jj's weird. How did you come up with it?

[jjswierd]

^^^^^all my screen names are that, if been using it for about the past 6 years on all web sites. Just a cowinki dink i guess.

[lcap]

Talk about the fickled finger of fate!

My new thermostats arrived from Skidim today. Put both the new ones and the original new one in some cold water, warmed it up and all three began to open and were completely opened at the same time.

I learned to not question the reason why so I dropped a new one in, took the boat for a test run and presto! 158 to 161 F. with a water temp of 49 F.

So much for the engineer in me.

[skinautique]

The issue is not a failed thermostat. The thermostat has a collection of junk in it. To fix this, take the thermostat out of the housing and get it heated up so that it opens and then clean the junk out of it from around the edges. Put it back into place with a new gasket and test it. Everything should work just fine. Thermostats rarely ever "fail".