Cleaning your fuel system

[Island Time 1,230]

Its been a while since I cleaned out my diesel tank. Recently I noticed that the water trap was filling faster than I'd expect. So, today I bit the bullet and removed the top of the tank. As you can see, Island Time has built in glass tanks, with great access. Here is the tank before opening;

as you can see in the pic, the lid is basically the size of the tank. Once all 40 odd screws were removed, here is the inside;

There is about 20 litres left in the tank. There is some thick sludge, some of that is the bodies of dead diesel bug,  and the diesel itself is dirty.

I pumped out the remaining diesel, cleaned up the sludge with a few rags and a container, then cleaned the whole tank with petrol. The lid of this tank contains a clear bit of resin that is the "gauge". It was getting hard to read the levels when low, due to the crap in the tank. It cleaned up pretty well with petrol!

OK, once clean and dry, the gasket went back on. I held it in place with a few areas of contact glue - the gasket is a round piece of rubber. It has stretched a bit, and when cleaning it, it broke at the join, so I shortened it by the required length and re-glued the join.

Here is is with the tank clean and the gasket on ready to put the top back on.

 

Now the lid (also cleaned first of course) back on, and the screws replaced. Then changed both the fuel filters, and put in clean fuel. Here is the water separator - this is the clean one, and is what yours should look like!!

If it does not, then it may be contaminated. It can be grey, brown, or red. It should be clear like this with most NZ diesel!

If it is contaminated with water, when that reaches the injectors, it will ruin them, which is expensive. How often do you check your water trap??

 

Oh, and here is a trick for bleeding your fuel system. If you have one of the vacuum suction oil changers, you can use that to bleed the fuel. Just remove the bleed screw, and put the vacuum hose over the opening, let it suck until fuel comes up the hose. Easy and fast, with no mess!

[Steve Pope 243]

I have an outboard hand squeeze bulb in the fuel line that allows priming of the filter whenever needed.

[Black Panther 1,581]

I have a self bleeding fuel system - awesome- didn't even know they existed.

[Island Time 1,230]

Yep, there are many different systems out there. Some simple, some from the factory, some people fit an electric fuel pump as an accessory to be a spare if the lift pump fails, and to help bleeding. To many to cover in a short post!

[rossd 16]

Like the clear window

[smithy09 50]

Nice easy tank. Great! The Marshall's is built into the keel with no access at all. Thankfully the site glass has always been clear!!

[Black Panther 1,581]

Mine's in the keel but has a drain  (as long as you are out of the water).

[harrytom 642]

how often would you suggest to change water trap and main fuel filters?150hrs average yearly motoring

[wheels 543]

It is good practice to change all Filters every 12mths. Unless you have a problem with them clogging regulary of course, in which you really need to adress the source of the problem. I also dose my tanks with biocide at the end of the season so the Fuel sitting over Winter is kept  clean.

Pick a time of year that best suits you. Maybe end of Sailing season or perhaps pre new season. Our Club opening is Labor Weekend each year and so I usually chose the Weekend before hand, to go right over the entire Engine room.
So good practice for a yearly Maintainance schedule is the following.

Change Oil, Oil Filters, Fuel Filters, empty water traps if you have them. Check the Gearbox oil and if you have the slightest discolouration, change the oil. If the Oil is red, it will likely be ATF. ATF lubricates Friction plates and these plates wear leaving brown particles in the oil. So if the Red looks slightly more Brown, change it. If it has a burn't smell, you may have a problem, but changing the Oil can sometime save a gearbox.

Check all Hose clamps (you would be surprised at how much you can tighten them each year. Replace any looking tired. Check engine coolant and it is good [ractice to replace the coolant every 12mths, unless you are using a good coolant that says you can go much longer. Check all cooling hoses and raw water intake strainer. Some say replace the raw water pump impellor yearly. Personally I don't, but it depends on engine hrs you clock up each year, how dirty the water you motor in usually is, etc etc. Always carry a spare and if you do not have a water flow alarm, it may pay to change the thing. Check the anode in the cooling system if you have one. Not all have them. Check Battery water level. Check both the Throttle and the Gear linkage. You would be surprised the number of people that have one of those fail.
I may have missed out something, so it is good practice to just start one end of the engine bay and work right through it. I have often picked up problems doing that. I have a large engine space under the Pilto house floor and I useually sit on the edge of the hatch and just take a leasurely 5 minute gander over everything, thinking about what I would like to alter, improve, paint etc etc. I have often then seen something that has not been quite right to my thinking and picked up on a problem before it ever became one.
I won't get into it in this Topic, but this kind of maintainance should be extended to every sapect of the boat. Like checking Anchor chain shackles, pins and what have you on the rig and so on.

[Island Time 1,230]

I pretty much agree with Wheels. The only thing I'd add is to check your water trap/s regularly. Not good to let if fill and overflow! A visual every month is normally good, more often if the trap is small and the fuel flow large!

[Steve Pope 243]

I have a visual tell tale in the cockpit that taps into the water feed to the prop shaft seal and shows the water flow from the pump at engine revs  from just above idle, it runs onto the cockpit floor and runs out either the aft centreboard slot or the cockpit drains. Also I have noticed that the exhaust note changes significantly if the water supply to the exhaust is cut off or seriously restricted.

[John B 106]

I have a window for the raw water filter down below , listen to or look at the exhaust when upstairs.