[This is a long post, but hopefully of interest to anyone with a
diesel engine and a sailboat.]
I always appreciate reading the accounts of successes and failures of fellow cruisers facing the unexpected. Now it’s my turn.
I keep my
Cheoy Lee Offshore 32 (Richards) in Pender Harbour, BC. It’s a lovely spot, but has only a
fuel dock and no boatyard or other
marine services. I have a lengthy list of projects I want done this
winter, including a complete re-wiring of the
boat, a new suit of
sails, and new ground tackle arrangements. There are excellent facilities in Sidney, BC, and I know the people there from some
work I had done last year. My plan, therefore, was to bring the
boat to Sidney in two stages. I would leave Pender Harbour early on Tuesday morning, then
motor to Silva Bay (about 35 nm), stay overnight, then continue to Sidney (about 37 nm) the next morning, arriving sometime in the afternoon. I had arranged to meet with the boatyard manager on the following day, Thursday.
The
weather forecast was for very light winds in the Strait of
Georgia on Tuesday until about 13:00 when winds would increase to about SE 20 kts by about 16:00, then gradually decrease to light winds by midnight or so. The currents were favorable. If I left by 06:00 and motored at 6 kts, I could be in Silva Bay by about noon. Winds for Wednesday in the Gulf Islands were
forecast to be 2 – 3 kts.
My boat has a low-hour Beta 25 that runs like a top. I left Pender Harbour at 06:00 in calm winds and a flat sea. At about mile 3, the
engine began to lose
power. The
RPM decreased from 2200 down to about 1500 regardless of throttle setting. My immediate diagnosis was a clogged
fuel filter. I decided to continue on to Secret Cove, about 6 nm further on. There I could change my
fuel filters and decide whether to continue to Silva Bay.
As I motored to Secret Cove, the engine would periodically slow even further, and then pick up again. I tied up at the marina and changed out both filters (the first is a
Racor and the second is the final filter on the engine. The
Racor uses the cannister type filter with the
water separator bowl that screws onto the bottom. This is significant, because it makes it impossible to see the filter elements. Had I been able to do so, I would have made a different diagnosis.
I changed both filters, then bled the air. This is a bit easier on my boat, because there is an
electric fuel pump between the Racor and the engine. After bleeding, the engine started immediately. I could run it at wide open with no problem. I let the engine run at about 1200
rpm for 5 or 10 minutes, and then proceeded towards Silva Bay. I realized I might catch the increasing
wind before reaching Silva, so I headed more directly across the straight so that I could put into Nanaimo instead should the
weather decline.
The engine ran fine at first. I motored down Welcome
Passage (about 2 nm away), then headed across the Strait. The
wind started to pick up, to about 5 – 8 kts. About a mile into the Strait, the engine repeated its earlier behavior. The RPM dropped to 1000, surged a bit now and then, then dropped down to 800. Finally, it quit altogether. Good time to be in a sailboat. I hoisted sail on a close reach and continued. I tried starting the engine, and it sprang to life instantly. In neutral, the engine ran perfectly smoothly. I could increase the RPM with no problem. Under load, however, the engine would soon slow down and die.
I’ll pause here for a moment and let the
diesel experts chew this over. Could it be horrible sludge in the
fuel tank clogging the filters again? If so, why would it run fine in neutral, even at higher RPM, but not under load. Hmmm. I continued sailing, and every now and then I tried the engine again. Same story: instant start, but immediate failure under load. After a few more attempts like this, the engine would start instantly and then just stop instantly.
Here is where I made my first mistake. I should have turned and run with the rising SE winds back to Secret Cove. But I had that Thursday appointment I wanted to keep. Never sail to a schedule, they say.
As I continued across the Strait, the winds freshened, and soon reached 20 kts with 4 – 5 foot seas. The
Cheoy Lee has a very sea-kindly motion, and with its heavy, concrete-filled
keel could handle the heavier seas. Unfortunately, the wind veered such that I had to beat to windward to make Nanaimo. At about 21:00, I was still 9 nm from Nanaimo, and the engine would now not run at all. Start, then stop instantly. I realized I would have to
anchor somewhere, which rules out Nanaimo (there is a very busy
ferry terminal at the north end of the harbor, which makes
anchoring impossible. Fortunately, Hammond Bay is about 2 nm north of Nanaimo, and provides good protection from a SE wind and a nice mud bottom.
It took a couple more tacks, but I sailed into Hammond Bay at about 01:00. I furled my
genoa and executed a pretty good anchorage under sail (I have done it before, fortunately). In the morning, I continued my troubleshooting. My next theory was that the fuel pick-up tube was clogged. My boat has a fuel dipstick tube right under the
cabin sole, and I had about 6 feet of spare fuel line onboard. I put the fuel line down the dipstick tube and connected it to the Racor filter. This nicely bypassed the pick-up tube. At first it seemed to have
solved the problem, so I resumed my voyage. After about a mile, the symptoms returned. I could coax the engine into running at very low RPM – barely above an idle, but good enough to get to Nanaimo and the excellent Stones Boatyard in calm winds.
My diagnosis at this point was that the
electric fuel pump had failed. The
fuel tank is way down in the
keel, and the
electric pump is needed to
lift the fuel up to the engine. At idle, the engine could survive on tiny sips of whatever the failing
pump delivered, but under load it would be starved of fuel and would die. I went ashore, grabbed an Uber, and went to the nearest auto
parts store where I bought a fairly decent electric diesel fuel
pump. I put it in, bled the system, and the engine ran perfectly. Before leaving the
dock, I put it in
gear and slowly increased
power. It continued to run smoothly even under load. I congratulated myself for my ingenuity, and proceeded out of the harbor.
The engine died before I was 100 yards from the dock. The wind was blowing about 1 kt, and although I did not deserve such good fortune, it took me very slowly right back to the dock at Stones. Time to bring in the experts.
Note to diesel experts: any other thoughts on what the problem was?
The techs at Stones were simply magnificent. The boatyard techs were all fully engaged on other
boats, but the manager called off one of his diesel mechanics to help me out. He suspected inadequate bleeding. He checked all the hose clamps (and replaced a couple of old ones). He made sure the filters were full of fuel, then bled the system in stages. First to the bleed nut on the
injector pump, next to the
injector pump outlets, and finally to the injectors themselves. Engine started instantly, but he let it run. After about 5 or 10 minutes, the symptoms returned.
The tech then called in two senior diesel techs. Again, I must praise Stones: these guys dropped tools on their other jobs to help me. If you are ever near Nanaimo and need anything done on your boat, go to Stones.
The senior diesel tech agreed with the air diagnosis. He then pointed at something that had been sitting there all along, but we had completely ignored. The PO had installed a vacuum gauge on the Racor (it has a dual outlet
ports for this purpose). This helps you know when it’s time to change the filter, because the electric fuel pump creates a vacuum that registers on the gauge. If the vacuum goes too high, it means the filter should be changed. The gauge glass is normally oil-filled, but it had been cracked for years and half the
oil had leaked out. The senior guy wiggled the gauge and could unscrew it by hand with little effort. Off with the gauge, in with a blanking
plug, bleed the system, and the problem was finally
solved. We ran the engine under load for 15 minutes or so, and all was well. I took the boat out into the harbor for a sea trial, and it ran at full power absolutely perfectly. I motored to Montague Harbour, arriving at around midnight, then left at 06:00 and made it to Sidney in time for my Thursday appointment.
Side note: the reason the engine would run perfectly after each
repair attempt was that the engine was using the fuel in the final filter. During bleeding, the
fuel filter gets filled with diesel. The Beta 25 uses very little fuel, and there is enough in that filter to go for 5 or 10 minutes. The engine uses that until the air entering from that vacuum gauge makes its way up to the engine and kills it.
My main lesson learned was this. At the first sign of trouble, get to the nearest place where assistance can be had and stay there until the problem is truly solved. That means running under load for at least 15 minutes – or long enough to be sure that fuel is actually making it from the tank to the engine. Forget the fantasy schedule and appointments. I should NOT have left Secret Cove. Next, remember that 20-25 kt SE winds in the Strait of
Georgia is a place a 32 foot sailboat does not want to be. Turn around and try later.
I think my diesel troubleshooting approach made sense – at first. On my previous boat, I had experienced clogged filters (due to sludge stirred up in heavy seas). The symptoms are the same. My problem was that having changed the filters and bypassed the pick-up tube, the problem came back, and I simply overlooked the possibility of air getting into the system. That ancient vacuum gauge was staring me in the face the whole time, but I didn’t think it could have anything to do with the problem. As Sherlock Holmes said, when you have eliminated every other possibility, then whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the case.
I welcome your comments and criticisms. I think we can all learn from the experience and insight of others.