Yanmar 3gm30f - Help!

[pressuredrop]

well guys the year unknown yanmar 3gm30f in my seawind look hideous but was running well until i ran out of gas on the madien voyage, (never trust previous owners stated fuel burn, lesson learned). i have refueled and bled the lines but i cant get it to start.

it has an electric fuel pump wired to the ignition.
i get fuel at the fuel filter on the engine, the base of the injector pump, and at each of the injectors when i crack the nuts.

when i turn the engine over with the injectors cracked, the #1 cylinder (closest to the bow) gets a steady stream of fuel and #'s 2 and 3 shoot it in spurts and not because of air bubbles (which i think is how it should be?)

anyone got any pointers, fuel tank was relatively clean when this happened. love any advice on getting this old brute running again

thanks
Ben

[Chief Engineer]

Open the throttle to full with the injector nuts cracked...and bleed again.

Open Throttle to 1/2 with nuts cracked crank engine.....

Not to be funny, but make sure the engine stop is NOT pulled out.

[Badsanta]

Great point Chief, I tried that once, OK twice!

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Ben,
You mentioned you ran out of gas. It is a diesel engine isn't it? I know its a stupid question but a diesel does need diesel fuel.
Does the #1 cylinder pop when you close the nut after it spurts steadily? When bleeding I close the nuts after a steady (no bubbles) stream while the engine is still spinning.
Kind regards

[pressuredrop]

chief - i did not bleed it with the throttle w/o so i will try that, and i want to do that till i get a steady stream out of all injectors, correct? now when i crank the engine with the nuts cracked, what should it look like (steady stream of fuel or spurts like it is being fired by a cam?) and yes engine stop is not out.

john - for the sake of my post gas = diesel, i know im dealing with a diesel...

thanks for the help guys ill let you know how it goes, will be tinkering with it tommorrow

[Chief Engineer]

Spurts.

Also...if you have cranked the engine a lot....drain the muffler......a water filled exhaust system will keep you engine from starting.

[SkiprJohn]

As Chief says, spurts, no bubbles (not even little ones)

[pressuredrop]

thanks chief - will try all of that tommorrow, as you can tell i am a complete newbie to diesels but i like getting my hands dirty and am looking foward to learning... with that said, how does one drain the muffler? physically remove it and dump the water out?

[Ziggy]

I think most waterlift mufflers have a drain fitting near the bottom.

[Chief Engineer]

A lot of them have a small machine screw about 1/4 inch

Vetus' have a cap.

They are all INACCESIBLE WHEN YOU NEED TO DRAIN THEM.....Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

[Stillraining]

OK you say you have have all of them cracked?... and your No#1 you say is squirting a clear flow of fuel ( No air ) now close it tight then move to the next one do the same... by the time you get N0#3 clear and closed she will fire.

FWIW when Im doing work like this I keep my sea cock closed till it does fire then immediately open it..you will not harm your impeller doing it this way and no risk of flooding your engine.

If your getting fuel squirting you dont have the fuel shut off engaged..the only thing keeping it from firing is air..monkey with it long enough it will fire.

Hope this helps

OH PS: If you have a hand prime pump use it throughout this operation and as well as soon at the engine fires to help work air out of the system...the engine may want to stumble and want to or even will die a couple times.. just keep pumping and it will help a lot and eventually work itself all out.

[Badsanta]

After all that cranking you may want to charge your battery up so you get a good fast solid crank. I have found I have trouble starting if it is a little low.