Hi Ron,
I've never heard of this problem on a newer 270, so this maybe a wild goose chase, but I and a few other owners have run into a strikingly similar problem. There is a vacuum breaker at the top of the loop between the heat exchanger and the water injection port on the exhaust elbow. On the older C270s this was on the port side wall of the engine compartment as high as it could go and still put the rear engine cover in place. On the new boats the hoses punched through the wall so the vacuum breaker could be installed several inches higher under the galley sink. Here's why: When the engine is shut off the raw water in the heat exchanger is cool to cold as it was just pumped in there. As soon as the pump stops two things happen: a) the vacuum breaker opens and b) the cool to cold water warms and expands as it comes up to engine running temperature. The result when the loop is low enough is that the volume of water created by expansion slowly burbles out the expansion breaker. It seems to me it was about a cup. Clean it up after the engine cools and it would stay gone until the engine was warmed up and cut off again. On Wing Tip this water followed the hose until it contacted the wiring harness that swung back around towards the terminal block over transmission and then fell off the low point before the harness went back up to the terminal block. I have a really cool SS carbon fiber shaft seal installed because I wrongly concluded that the wet spot by the transmission tail had to come from the packing gland. It wasn't until I employed a grid drawn with a water soluble marker that it was clear the water dropped in right here and ran forward. My cure was to exchange the cap to the Forespar vacuum breaker from a plain opening to one with a hose fitting. I connected a hose which I ran through the bulkhead into the galley cabinet space so when it burbles it heads for the bilge not down wiring and into the engine pan. One of the other owners paid a boat yard to move the vacuum loop to a high location. I was just happy to have a dry engine pan so it wouldn't mask any new leaks. Phil Agur <http://www.catalina27.org/public_pages/profile270.htm> s/v Wing Tip C270 LE #184 MMSI 366901790 From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ron Ginter Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 8:13 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [IC27A] water under engine Hi All, We finally got some decent breeze, and after sailing heeled over, I noticed water on the floor at the galley. We had been heeling to port. I pulled the front engine cover and found water standing in the little tray under the engine. It had been fine until the boat tipped enough to spill some out onto the floor. Can I safely assume that this is from the packing gland leaking when first put into the water? And that it will stop now that it's good and wet again? I dried out the tray to keep an eye on it, and also the bilge. Should the water have drained into the bilge? There are 3 little holes at the front of the tray under the engine, maybe they are plugged? Also, I'm uncertain about the bilge pump wiring. When I bought the boat I was told that if I left the bilge pump rocker switch on auto, then it would run as needed regardless of any other setting. Then someone else told me that I had to have the bilge pump toggle switch turned on in order for the pump to work automatically. After drying out the bilge last night, I tried lifting the switch in the bilge, and found that it wouldn't turn on when I lifted it unless the toggle switch was on, and that the auto setting on the black rocker switch seemed to do nothing. This don't seem right! It's a C270, 2004 vintage.
