OMG!! Water on diesel tank!

[garrobito]

Working today with a customer, I found have water on diesel tank.. NOt the common condensation.. I remove 20 gallons of water.. seems like somebody did a huge mistake..
I loose diesel in port on engine, get a can of clean diesel and pump it until got good diesel on the returning line.
Engine still not fire up, just cranking... I bleed every inyector one by one, filter line, going down until bleeding pump but still not fire up..
Any idea?? seems to me like not have any air on the system... maybe water ruined injectors? I do not know for how long engine got water, I think not too long...
By the way engine is a perkins T-6 (turbo 6 in line)
Any idea would be appreciate it!!

[shakey doug]

If you are 110% sure you have removed all water start at tank end replace/clean primary filter then engine mounted filters, remove lift pump top cover and clean filter screen and internals, then reprime system to expel clear of air fuel at top of engine filters, then open fuel pump bleeds prime until clear fuel appears, crack injector nuts at body end. Engine shut down lever in RUN position and throttle set at 100% crank until fuel appears at injectors then close nuts and start. Assuming you have a 6354T Perkins.

[garrobito]

Thanks you! Yesterday I remove almost 70 gallons fresh water from different tanks (boat have 3 tanks), I managed to operate a rudimentary polish system with a racor separator and 10 microns filter; we ruined 5 filter before start to see good diesel.
Today I gonna change for a another round of polish at 2 microns filter.. then we need to start cleaning engine system. It's gonna take some time to clean everything... maybe another day...

[garrobito]

..Update... after 5 days of polishing diesel and remove all water, finally we were ready to start bleeding the engine..
Unfortunately, the water was reached the injection pumps and injector so need to be rebuilding (CAV pump),
Took me 6 hs today deal with the pump removing and another 4 tried to remove the injectors (VERY hard job..
Finally if everything goes well, TA diesel is gonna send us a rebuild pump and injectors then I gonna need to deal with the pump timing before mount it again..
..To finish this report.. injector pump at generator show same signs... seems like I gonna need to remove the generator and injectors...

[Steve Bean]

What are you doing to try to make sure to keep water out of the diesel tanks in the future?

[garrobito]

Originally Posted by Steve Bean

What are you doing to try to make sure to keep water out of the diesel tanks in the future?

..I'm sure owner learn the lesson.. never leave a grandson 8 years old help you to fill the water tanks... very costly lesson...

[Boatyarddog]

O rings on the fuel filler caps at the deck fills are most certainly the reason for that much water.
They get compressed, replace them and don't over tighten them.


Sent from my iPad SV Cloud Duster

[garrobito]

Another update... yesterday, while remove injector, one become broke... injector are rusted inside, so, certain amount of water went trough injectors (raw water is close) so now injector are very hard to remove... next stop... remove head in order to remove stuck injector and check pistons ring looking for water damage... anyway, I was sure open the head is a good idea so.. not surprised me..
Boatyarddog.. one of the grandson of the owner filled with 100 gallons of fresh water.. unfortunately diesel tanks are not clearly marked, just a red tape.. could be clear for me but not for a 8 years old kid...

[Rhapsody-NS27]

Expensive lesson undead. Hopefully he'll get properly marked fill caps.

[garrobito]

..a very simple solution I installed on every boat I got is put a valve after the fill cap, on the hose... So fill the tank is a two-step operation and avoid any wrong intention.. On this case was an accident but I know cases of bad people filling with water/sugar or worst other people boats tank.. and it's not an urban legend...

[oldtomcat]

A alternatively: they filled the water tanks with diesel?

oldtomcat

[garrobito]

Originally Posted by oldtomcat

A alternatively: they filled the water tanks with diesel?

oldtomcat

..very funny... what could you do if you need to sign a fat, big 10K check for a mistake like that???

[garrobito]

...back today at this boat... We remove whole head, manifold, turbo..
Head have 38 bolts who need to be removed (and mounted) in a very specific sequence...
Here some pictures from start and with the valve cover removed.