Hi All,
A question or two about my engine just stopped with no warning and dipstick blow back. Last week I ran the engine for approx 2 hours at 2-2500 rpm and all of a sudden it stooped with no warning. On inspecting the engine bay the dipstick had blown out and oil was sprayed over the engine, creating a lot of smoke. The coolant started boiling about one minute later too. I anchored and waited for an hour for things to cool down, checked the oil level which was fine, replaced the coolant and started the engine again without a problem. Ran it at 1500 RPM for an hour and had no issues. On return a couple of days later there appeared to be no issue but I did not run above 1500rpm, nor for longer than one hour. I have previously ran the engine at 2000rpm for 2-3 hours and never had a problem. Last service was 12 months ago and I have racked up 120 hours since then. No alarms went off, no oil light or overheat light either, engine just stopped..... any tips on what could have caused this would be greatly appreciated. I know the overheat alarm works due to a clogged heat exchange I discovered a few months back too. Could the pressure have built up over the hours from running the engine at too high RPMs or is it a piston ring problem (hoping not) that blew out the dipstick. Has anyone with a Volvo Penta engine had similar issues before. Is there anything I can check/do myself before calling in the Pros...

Regards,

Steve