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Diesel issues


Murky

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Gidday DHawkes,

 

Firstly don't be disheartened - it seems to be unavoidable that you will encounter more issues in your first half-dozen outings than in your entire time of ownership.

 

Fridge compressor can be a culprit at low revs if you were running that.

 

The fact that it came right eventually after the stop-starting is interesting - was it a lumpy trip? Sometimes that can stir up sh*t in your fuel.

 

Obviously you got around the issue and got on to the mooring, which is not to be underestimated. :thumbup:

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It is posible it was air. Just a little air bubble. Check your filters that they are clean and no water.

Boat Diesels stalling when droped to idle is quite common. Especially with feathering props. Not starting again i not so common. If you continue to have a stalling issue, you need to increase the idle RPM slightly till that habit stops.

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A bit of an unlikely one, but there is a chance your new bearing is getting a bit hot and tightening up a little so when you dropped revs it caused the stall, then after a while it cooled an ran fine.

If you can access the bearing housing from within the boat just put a hand near it after running for a while to check for heat.

Like i said unlikely but possible and worth checking

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What sort of gland is it?

The old school packing glands should drip occasionally when spinning. This gives the packing some lubrication.

It may be too tight causing the heat mentioned and seizing up.

When were the diesel filters last changed?

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I doubt it is any of those issues as the enigne should have started right up again with a little throttle. If it was tight enough to stall, then it would have been too hard to turn over on the starter motor.

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A slight tangent to the immediate issue but I had another thought while I was working on our boat today. It took me a long time to work out that our engine (Bukh DV10) is happiest starting with no throttle on at all, even when it hasn't been run for a while. It would take a while to start so the next time I would "help" it with a bit more throttle. Eventually the cloud of unburnt fuel was enough of a message for me and I tried giving it less. I don't think it is necessarily characteristic of all Bukhs, there has been more than one engineer who has had to see it before he would believe it. All of these things can only be learned through time on your boat.

 

BTW Len Gilbert wrote a very funny edition of Diesel Diary for Boating NZ about the perils of big powerboats with stalling issues, including one which dropped out as he was switching from ahead to astern coming in to dock.

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There are several different things that can cause the engine to stall. The simplest is just too low a setting of RPM. The other and still related to not enought idle RPM, is actually caused by the prop. Especially Feathering ones as they transistion through flat blade to oppostie pitch.

 

Murky, the wee bukh starting issue could be simple wear. Either not enough compression or a bad injector. In both cases, it is possible to "flood" the engine. Bad injectors can cause flooding when the engine is hot and start just fine when cold. In stead of a correct spray pattern, you end up with a dribble and the dribble can even be squirted into the wrong area of the chamber.

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Somethink strange going on here - DHawkes' original post about his engine stalling and his second one midway through have disappeared, making it look like I started the thread and we are sitting here offering solutions to nothing in particular. :roll:

 

Injector is the one thing that hasn't had a birthday since we have owned the boat, Wheels - might look into that over winter (and do our bit to help an engineer through the recession). :thumbup:

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There is someone selling recoed injectors on TM.

He had a listing for Ford D series ones for $100, but could have them for other engines.

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Thanks all for the replies. It could have been the fridge compressor as that turns on automatically at start up & I forgot to turn it off.

 

I wonder if the start up issues aren't somewhat of an "all-of-the-above" thing? I just had the engine serviced, so the filters are all new. We were motoring back with an 18kt wind right on the nose, so there was a fair amount of chop. Maybe there was debris in the tank that was stirred up. I'll check the filter.

 

It's a good suggestion to increase the idle a little. I just can't afford to have this engine stall as I have to go into the cabin to restart it. This isn't like my trailer sailer where when things get bad I can always jump off in knee deep water & push her away.

 

The bearing may be a little tight as it's new. That probably wouldn't help getting it started. I hadn't considered backing off completely on the throttle. As suggested, I'll have to be ready to try a number of things.

 

I need to get this sussed out as I've also discovered that I can't do a lot of work on the mooring without getting sea sick! I'll have to motor it & tie up to the jetty. I've never had that problem before. My wife & kids were fine in the cabin having lunch, while I was on deck trying not to lose mine.

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DHawkes, thou hast returned under a new identity!

 

Just pick away at things quietly, without your wife and kids on board if possible. I love mine dearly - and without them, the budget allocation is severely curtailed - but I find that their presence takes away a part of my concentration that I need to solve problems.

 

Our first trip out as a family ended up returning with an engine that just wouldn't start. The kids had crawled into every nook and cranny, had come across the outlet from the diesel tank of all things, a few turns and hey presto, a fuel starved engine! I was able to figure that one out for myself but only once silence had returned after their departure.

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I thought you were having a conversation with yourself for a while there Murky. :D

 

My last experience with fuel starvation was at Easter when we ran along A pier from the hole in the fence, turned into the main fairway and the engine stopped.

Something to do with travelling 104 miles ( I checked the track) and sailing 10 of them I guess.

 

that sucked , in so many ways.

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Unfortunately you can't change your name, so I had to open a new account. It's ok to lose my posts as the answers are what people would want to read anyway!

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Think this is something Mothership can do/could have done for you without losing the posts. There have been a few members who have changed their identities as they have traded boats - I think A.W.O.L. is probably the record-holder as his signature shows:

Yosemite, Mr Kamikaze, Faster Coyote!!! about time to settle down
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