how to drain water out of engine sump?

[GrahamHO]

Originally Posted by Sailorman Ed

Thanks all -
TrentePieds - exactly what I need, I had not thought of this.
The PO had installed a vent directly over the engine ( stupid location), I had temporarily closed it off with duct tape but has been stepped on too many times. It is on the schedule to be epoxied over this coming WE. I should be done with the rotten decks this weekend - I am getting good at it now.

Looks to me as though your decks are balsa sandwich. If they are, wherever you want to drill a hole for a fitting, firstly drill a pilot hole right through. Next from underneath use a 1" (usually) hole saw and drill back up through the pilot hole into the balsa but not through the top skin. Pop the plug of balsa out with a screwdriver and scrape clean the undersurface of the top skin. Then back fill with a thick epoxy filler until it ooses out of the top pilot hole. Stick a bit of gaffer tape over to stop it drooping until it sets. To make the job tidy from underneath; before you use the hole saw put a few strips of masking tape over the general area and drill through it. That will protect the surrounds from being marked with filler. Then drill the 6mm or 8mm or whatever size hole for the fitting. It will be surrounded by solid epoxy. You only need a bead of Sikaflex around the top of the bolt under the fitting before you tighten down and it will never leak.


Underneath use a penny washer under the nut and that will overlap the filled hole by 1/4". Doing all that prevents compressing the balsa and if any water does get in the hole it won't get in the balsa and rot again. It may sound a lot of work and it does take an extra day waiting for the filler to set but it is worth doing properly. If there is no access underneath you can do the same from above.


My boat is mainly foam sandwich above the waterline and I have done EVERY through hole that way. Some with the same design haven't bothered and they have squishy decks.


I hope you have time to sort your oil leak. It's likely the crank handle / camshaft end seal as I suggested. If you clean the front area before an engine run you will see where the leak is. It does risk getting on the water pump belt from there.

[colemj]

Can't you just drill a hole through the molded engine support pan so that it drains to the bilge?

Our Volvo engine pans came this way.

Mark

[TrentePieds]

Originally Posted by colemj

Can't you just drill a hole through the molded engine support pan so that it drains to the bilge?

Our Volvo engine pans came this way.

Mark

The question is not whether you can - the question is whether you should :-)

I recommend against it cos the "sump" is specifically intended to contain oil spills so you don't get the nast in your bilge.

As I said, if the water you sponge out is just rainwater, just wring it out into the bilge. But remember that once you put limbers in the containment dam, it'll no longer be a containment dam. The sump will communicate permanently with the bilge, and the nast, whether oil or coolant, will go in the bilge when your engine springs a leak - as it will.

And bilges are a pain to clean.

TrentePieds

[Cap Erict3]

Originally Posted by colemj

Can't you just drill a hole through the molded engine support pan so that it drains to the bilge?

Our Volvo engine pans came this way.

Mark

Pollution pans are meant to contain oil until it can be transferred to a container. Having holes drilled in them defeats the purpose.


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Looking for another pretty place to work on the boat.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Cap Erict3

Pollution pans are meant to contain oil until it can be transferred to a container. Having holes drilled in them defeats the purpose.

Well, I didn't go into the details because I thought they were obvious and the OP was looking to drain water.

The details are that the sump pan contains two oil absorption sheets and the drain hole is bunged with a rubber stopper. If water and oil should happen to fill the pan, pulling the stopper would only allow pure water out, while the absorption pads contain the oil.

And this engine mount/pan assembly comes this way from Volvo - I didn't make it.

Mark

[Cap Erict3]

Sounds like a future project for me.


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Looking for another pretty place to work on the boat.

[Sailorman Ed]

Thanks to all for the suggestions.
Colemj - I like your idea and if I can figure out how to drill the hole, I may go that way with the pads. But first I need to stop the rain water getting in.

GrahamHO - I just finished drilling out ALL the cabintop mounting holes and filling them like MaineSail shows. The pulpits will be next but I will need a second person for those. I will then drill and CS for butyl caulk once I paint the surface. Thanks for the idea for the oil leak source, but what is a crank handle shaft? A place for a hand crank? I will have to look closely and with my service manual. I am taking some degreaser down this trip to clean it up and then will put a couple pads under the front and rear of the engine and see if I can pinpoint the source.
thanks again - lots of smart people out there...
Ed

[GrahamHO]

Ed, you're obviously doing the decks properly. I've just removed my pulpit for modification. It was a single handed job. I use vice grips clamped on nuts inside and they stop against the cabin side or something while I tighten or loosen from above. Sometimes I use Allen headed bolts or screws from above. I put the short end of the Allen key in the bolt head where it stays and the long end of the key stops against something while I put the nut on and tighten from below. You can use vice grips on the Allen key if you want. If I have lots of bolts I use as many vice grips as I can find. I've never found a job I can't do on my own apart from climbing the mast. I pulled my 2GM20 out by myself on the marina.

The crank handle hole is on the exposed end of the camshaft in the front of the motor looking at it normally from the cabin. It has a small housing around it secured by 2 set screws.

The crankshaft end is different and has the alternator drive pulley and smaller concentric water pump on it. That is not a likely source of a leak.

The crank handle hole (camshaft end) is approx North East of the water pump and North West of the crankshaft pulleys.

You can see the end of the camshaft turning when the motor is running. It has a rod or pin through the end to engage in the circular toothed crank handle if you want to turn the engine by hand for example to adjust the valve clearance. Think a very old car hand crank to start. But a Yanmar is very hard to hand start. Your crank handle is likely in the bottom of a locker and is black painted steel looking like an ugly winch handle.

To change the seal, first remove the 2 set screws and then the housing. You will see the presumably leaking seal in behind where the housing was. You can easily slide it off the end of the camshaft. But first you need to remove the 1/4" dia or so pin the handle would engage in. It is held through the end of the camshaft by a set screw threaded into the camshaft. The screw presses on a flat in the middle of the pin inside the camshaft end.

Take the set screw out, slide the pin out, prise the old seal out with 2 screwdrivers. Put a new seal in; important, the same way around as the old seal. Reassemble. If you don't have a Yanmar parts dealer handy take the old seal to a general motor parts supply shop such as mechanics would go to. They will likely have the same part cheaper than Yanmar. Take a cellphone photo on disassembly to make sure the new seal goes in the correct way around. The old seal won't look worn so just change it. It's harder to write than do. If in doubt ask the dealer which way around the seal goes.

A very easy job. No gaskets, no pullers needed, just a couple of screwdrivers and 15 minutes.

I don't like the idea of drilling a hole to let the leaking oil into the bilges. Unless there are mosquitos breeding in the bilges and you want to get rid of them.

If you're still not sure about the seal change get back to me. These instructions are better than the first ones I wrote as I've since remembered details. My boat is resting 12 km away as it's still winter here in Auckland NZ with 40 knots blowing yesterday. Changing that seal instantly fixed my oil leak. G.O.