Generator shuts off and trips breakers

[Rays53hatt]

I have a westerbeke 8.0BTDA. Seems to run great, BUT in the last week it has;
Tripped the 30 amp breaker on the generator.
Tripped the 20 amp red button breaker on the side of the control box.
Both after hours of running under load.

The second time I checked the temp 1 hour after the auto shut down and the temp was 205. I’m not sure if it was at that temp when it shut down, but it was an hour later.

I found very very small leak from the fuel filter, 1 drip every 12 seconds—-fixed by tightening the bowl ring.

Found a slight leak from the back of the heat exchanger. 1 drip every 2 seconds. Prior to starting I added 8 fluid oz of coolant and that filled the coolant tank. No coolant has been sucked in from the coolant reservoir.

It’s been running for 30min under full load, no temp or pressure issues. Stays between 170-185. It runs at 175 for 30 seconds then moves fast enough I can see it move, up to 185, then drops back to 170 in about 10 seconds and stays there for 30 seconds then runs up again.

As I’ve been slowly typing this in to my phone with my thumbs, the up and down cycle has moved up slightly and the low end is now 178 but high end stays at 185

I’m going to replace the heat exchanger, any other ideas?

 

[luna]

Sounds like the thermostat may be slow to react or sticking. Should be a simple, cheap and easy replacement.
I would consider doing this prior to changing the heatx.

 

[Rays53hatt]

Ok, that sounds like a great idea! Even if it isn’t the culprit, its cheap and it will be good to know it’s new.

 

[Mac2]

Check the wires exiting the sound box if you have one. On my previous boat, the wires from the control box, inside the sound box to the external control panel, got chaffed (exiting sound shield) due to the vibrations. This caused the breakers to trip. An easy thing to check before you go nuts replacing parts.