Westerbeke 12.5 BTDA generator shut down issue

[rszarka]

Hi Everyone

Just recently i had an issue starting my port engine. The great people on this site very quickly thought of what the problem was so i thought maybe it will be the same for my generator issue.
My boat has a Westerbeke 12.5 BTDA generator. It starts fine and runs just fine with no problems until it reaches operating temperature ..approx 16 mins under low load... then it suddenly shuts down and will not restart until it cools off for 5 or 10 minutes at which point it restarts no problem but shuts down again once it warms back up a bit.
Any one have any idea what could be the cause of this? It has a brand new raw water impeller, water flow through the cooling system is fine and it is not over heating when it shuts down ...Im figuring some sensor may be bad... would be very grateful if anyone has an idea what the problem may be.. Or has an idea where is should start looking?

Thanks everyone!
Cheers
Robert

 

[fwebster]

Westerbeke's start/run electrical circuit is controlled by a series of sensors all wired in series so that when one gets out of normal range, the circuit opens and shuts down the motor. There should be sensors for high temperature, low oil pressure and perhaps water flow (if the 12.5KW genset has one). My guess is that your temperature sender is bad or its wiring is loose or faulty.

 

[rszarka]

Fwebster: Thanks so much for your input, you have always been one of the most knowledgeable on club sea ray! I talked to Westerbek since i made this post and they pretty much said what you did exactly. Its likely a faulty heat sensor or lose wire given that its not overheating at the time of shut down. I did some repairs recently and changed out the impeller, i probably knocked something loose digging around in there. They told me to bypass the sensors one by one until i figure out which one is the culprit....tomorrow is going to be a fun day haha i hate working on the generator its in a torturesome spot! Many thansk for your input fwebster ! Very much appreciated!

 

[ttmott]

Keep in mind the raw water does not cool the engine. These are a closed loop cooling system and the raw water removes heat from the glycol / fresh water loop. So, it's quite possible it is over heating if the belt driven water pump, thermostat, or other things on the fresh water side are not operating correctly or it's low on coolant.

 

[Boater420]

My Westerbeke would shut down after running a while because the governor would cause an over-speed condition. Check the oil in the governor to rule this out.