Re-Starting Problems:
I live in
Canada preparing for a 3 week trip to Desolation Sound.
Have a
Bukh DV 20
Diesel in my CS 33 sailboat.
Generally well maintained and reliable. No major issues until completing a day long
training run yesterday.
Ran out of
fuel once before about 5 years ago.- managed to get it running by pumping riser
pump and then bleeding at the injector heads.
Re-started fine.
Ran out of
fuel yesterday as the fuel float and fuel gauge indicator have never worked.
Replaced the tank five years ago- but
mechanic failed to get the new float to
work either. By which time I had paid the bill and he had moved along.
Reliant upon recording hourly usage and then topping up and carrying two six gallon jerry cans on trips.
Just plain forget to top up and ran out of fuel when steaming in yesterday,
Never had starting problems; changed out fan belt and
oil recently, three weeks ago, Was starting fine.Was running fine every day on long inbound passages.
Put in the fuel from both jerry cans.
Have new
batteries so plenty of starting power- keep them charged.
Plan was to change out all
oil filters today.
Visible ones look pretty old- last changed them about 2-3 years ago, Had good intentions but was injured and never got to it.As I said all was/were working fine until I ran out of fuel yesterday.
Attempted to start; assisted by sail partner on
deck manning the ignition switch.
Would not catch,
Don't have a manual- are there any available online please anyone? Saw online that there is a section on this particular issue in the manual.
Thought and still do think it is an air blockage ...then a bleed problem/solution( see later in post).
Fuel in cans was of different ages but was fresh recently. Noticed the feeder
plug on one was loose and may have been open for a while.
Can was full so minimum air gap at top of can.
May have tried to restart with the fuel cap cover off- don't
recall but read this could produce a problem in the re-start process?
Re-Start sequencing I tried:
Started with the re-start and bleed sequence.
Opened bleed screw and pumped the little riser
pump; no fuel coming out. Continued for a while but no fuel visible or to touch.
Cracked and then removed to check the nut(s) on the rubber fuel hose from the tank ( it seems...behind the little riser pump); and the one attached to the metal pipe that appears to go to
fuel filter (?) on the rear of the
engine. Both dry of fuel. No fuel pumping through them when I pumped the riser pump. Reseated and tightened these.
Tried starting
engine again. No result
Pumped the riser with the fuel bleed screw open; has obviously been used before.
After pumping for a couple of minutes....fuel flowed out of the bleed screw hole.
Re-tightened that. Cracked fuel intake valve/injector valve ( forward one). Pumped...fuel came out. re tightened and then same process and result on second one.
Put riser pump in upward lock position.
Cranked engine over and it finally started.
Ran it for 5 minutes then put into
gear and proceeded under
power for 10 minutes.
Engine then faded and died. Repeated above processes several times over a very hot 45 minutes..... no fuel from bleed screw or fuel injectors. Removed both fuel intakes from metal filter pipe and rubber tank hose ...both dry of fuel like before.
Tried to prime it, bleed it several more times...cranked over but no result starting it. Even tried loosening both injector
head nut and cranking it and loosening and tightening both nuts with fingers to try and create suction- no result.
Eventually sailed into the harbour and got towed to the outside
dock ..I can tow to my slip easily this morning where I have
power and pumps to extract fuel etc.
Additional problem
Believe this to be unrelated: Last few weeks I have been seeing oil in the rear bilge/under engine compartment.
Have extracted using shop vac and safely disposed of contaminated sea
water.
Was pretty dark/black contaminated yesterday- going to remove this this morning and de-grease and look for source of
oil leak.
Engine was/is( as far as I know compressing well...and was run for many , many hours successfully) and oil level on dipstick remains the same as when I changed it out three weeks and 20 hours of running ago.
So I can't get the engine to fire up and I have no fuel at the lower points where the two pipe heads are and none on the bleed screw or the fuel injectors.
Am thinking some kind of air block and/or some dirt blocking the pipes and injectors but don't have any knowledge other than above (failed methods) to fix/check this.
Don't fancy removing all the fuel lines/pipes and replccing...unless of course I have to.
Are there any products that may clear these?
Some mention of ' ether ' in
forums ? And some warnings of associated dangers in confined spaces?
Have no idea what that is.
Have no idea at present where the fuel /oil in the
bilge is coming from.
Have new filters to fit but reluctant to do so until all cleared.
One filter on back wall has a complicated looking clear sump full of fuel in a clear glass bowl and a brass tap and pipe arrangement leading into it?
Recall changing this out but don't recall how( maybe just the filter on top of the glass bowl?) and it also has brass pipe arrangement into it with a small brass tap that turns on and off?
If anyone has any idea I would be very grateful.
Engine turns over fine.... just does not catch,,,tried a couple of attempts to straighten the two linked and parallel manual decompressor bars/rods on the top of the engine, colleague cranked engine then I pushed them back into forward position..engine just whirred and then engaged but would not start.