Kohler Generator Question
#1
Registered
Thread Starter
Kohler Generator Question
My boat has Kolher 5ecd generator and it keeps overheating. Things I have done to this point:
Cleaned the sea strainer
Changed the impeller (old one looked just fine)
Back flushed the heat exchange
Flushed the coolant and put new coolant in
It was still over heating. There is plenty of raw water running through the system and the heat exchanger stays cool but the manifold is getting very hot.
Finally I pulled out the thermostat and tried to run it without the thermostat and it's still over heating.
At this point I'm thinking it might be the coolant pump but I can't find anything in the manual on replacing this. Has anyone been through this? Is there something that I missed? I know for sure it is overheating and it is not just a sensor. I have a call into the Kohler Mechanic in Destin but I figured it was worth a shot to ask on here.
Thanks,
Aaron
Cleaned the sea strainer
Changed the impeller (old one looked just fine)
Back flushed the heat exchange
Flushed the coolant and put new coolant in
It was still over heating. There is plenty of raw water running through the system and the heat exchanger stays cool but the manifold is getting very hot.
Finally I pulled out the thermostat and tried to run it without the thermostat and it's still over heating.
At this point I'm thinking it might be the coolant pump but I can't find anything in the manual on replacing this. Has anyone been through this? Is there something that I missed? I know for sure it is overheating and it is not just a sensor. I have a call into the Kohler Mechanic in Destin but I figured it was worth a shot to ask on here.
Thanks,
Aaron
#3
Registered
Thread Starter
Starts and runs fine... Takes maybe 5 minutes from the time it is cold to get hot.. It then shuts down and give me a "HE" code (over heat). I know the fluid is getting hot because it starts to steam and boil over into the overflow. I'm told there is a way to bleed the system so I'm going to try that next. I'm also told that getting to the Coolant pump is a major pain in the ass.
#5
Gold Member
Gold Member
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Las Vegas Nevada
Posts: 337
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Definitely have air in the coolant system. I had a 7.3 that I ran around for a couple yrs trying to figure it out. I had small screw/plug on the top of the heat exchanger that was the bleeder or air escape for the coolant system. I would take a syringe and put coolant into this hole until the coolant flowed over the top. Then put the plug back in. I would still have problems time to time. Then I realized one more thing. When the boat sat in the water, it would sit nose up higher than the back. This would essentially make the generator sit in the boat higher in the front than in the back. My generator sat behind my bench seat cross ways in the engine compartment. I realized that if you grab the back side of the generator and pull on it toward the front, the rubber mounts would allow the generator to be more level. I would repeat the filling process over again. This fixed my problem. There cant be any air bubble in there or it will over heat.
#8
Registered
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: bluffton sc
Posts: 1,517
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Air bound . There is a service bulletin. Remove 1/8 pipe plug and purge keep filling w antifreeze . For some reason tiny air bubbles get trapped at the heat exchanger and mine did the same thing . 5.0 kohler. Boat was 2001 w 200 hrs gen only had under 20 hrs since new and then we figured out why after changing everything.
Frustrating.
Frustrating.
#9
Registered
Thread Starter
Final got back to boat yesterday and topped off the coolant through the vent like was suggested and the generator ran great all day, no overheating issues.
Thanks guys!
Aaron
Thanks guys!
Aaron