Westerbeke stops running mystery

[DaleM]

Westerbeke engines have some safeties built in and may cause the problem. You have to hold the start button in to run the fuel pump, once the engine is running, the fuel pump continues to run. If the safety fails the fuel pump shuts off. I can't remember if it is oil pressure or alternator output. If you have the wiring diagram you can trace it and figure it out. If the beeping you hear is alternating it is low oil pressure, continuous tone is high temperature. Dale

[charliehows]

when did you last replace your fuel hoses? If the answer is "I haven't", that is most likely your problem. Likewise if the answer is anything more than 5 years ago. Diesel fuel hoses need to be treated as a consumable. Once you start replacing them, you'll most likely discover the air leak that's been causing your problems. If you think I'm being a little pedantic, I have a perfectly good spare diesel lift pump that I replaced several years ago because i thought it was causing the engine to stop - it wasnt and the culprit turned out to be an airleak on the ancient tank taps. But i replaced all the fuel hoses as i went along anyway.

[Dalestr]

On some Westerbeke the solenoid fuel enable is activated by Key in IGN position but the lift pump only kicks on with either PREHEAT or a closed oil pressure switch. If the latter is faulty or has poor wiring it would bring on alarm and causes stumbling of engine, which could be corrected momentarily by PREHEAT activation. Of course oil pressure might also be weak!
That said there is potential for fuel plumbing being gummed up if things aren’t pristine as others indicated.

[pesarsten]

I had a problem with my W27 several years ago. It would occasionally lose power and then ultimately die. Restart was never a problem. After chasing this very occasional problem for 2 1/2 years, new fuel pumps, fuel tank cleaning, ignition switch wiring, and much hair pulling, I found the problem!

Two days into a 30 day trip down the AICW, it crapped again. This time during the morning warm up to pull the anchor. As I sat at the helm listening to the miserable silence, I realized there were no alarms/buzzers going off as they should due to loss of oil pressure. When I looked at my key switch, I saw that the key was in the off position! the weight of the key float and a few little wake actions turned the key off.

I made a duplicate key , got rid of the float and never had the problem again!

[gonesail]

Originally Posted by Dalestr

On some Westerbeke the solenoid fuel enable is activated by Key in IGN position but the lift pump only kicks on with either PREHEAT or a closed oil pressure switch. If the latter is faulty or has poor wiring it would bring on alarm and causes stumbling of engine, which could be corrected momentarily by PREHEAT activation.

makes sense. for a few bucks you could try a new pressure switch. they can go bad. on my westerbeke it is adjacent to the oil pressure sender.