Originally posted on July 6th 2007.
I had a very small fuel leak on my primary fuel filter. The bleeder nut had over 30 years stripped the aluminum head’s threading and it was leaking a small amount of diesel into the bilge. Mixed with ice run off from the cooler I had a smelly mess that I had to sponge out of the bilge and dispose of in a responsible method on a regular basis. After consulting mechanics and the internet I decided to use thread sealant to temporarily fix the problem. This went off without a hitch. Well sort of.The next day with crew turning up to go racing I discovered the engine was running rough. Turns out I got air in the fuel line. Stupidly I tried to bleed it at the engine while the engine was running merely letting in more air. I should have just turned on the fuel pump until all the bubbles went away and a solid stream of fuel came out. After about 2 hours a lot of swearing and half a liter of diesel spraying all over the boat and myself we uncovered the problem. The fuel pump was not pumping fuel through the system. It only shot a quick pulse of fuel when it was switched on (I am not sure if this is how it is supposed to work). We were able to pump water through the system by repeatedly turning the ignition to the pre-start position. Then in turn we bled the filters all the way to the engine itself. The engine turned over and ran for 20 minutes. We stopped it and restarted it in the usual fashion several times. I mopped up all of the spilled diesel and wiped down the bilge with cleaner. I didn’t have a container for the diesel so I put it in a temporary container to dump into the proper receptacle after later on. The only thing at had was an empty beer can. As the night progressed my crew availed themselves of some of the ships stores. At one point one of the crew looked at me with a strange sad look of their face. Seconds later the spat all over the cock pit a spray of diesel fuel and bilge drippings. Having grabbed the wrong beer can they had taken a swig of the slurry of unsavory chemicals in my bilge. Filled with concern we proceeded to laugh at him as he cleaned out his mouth with toothpaste and water. When asked what it tasted like he replied “It was kind of buttery.” This morning he still tasted the fuel. I am not sure how bad this is but if he loses his hair and dies of cancer in 3 weeks I think we will have an idea of what caused it.
I had a very small fuel leak on my primary fuel filter. The bleeder nut had over 30 years stripped the aluminum head’s threading and it was leaking a small amount of diesel into the bilge. Mixed with ice run off from the cooler I had a smelly mess that I had to sponge out of the bilge and dispose of in a responsible method on a regular basis. After consulting mechanics and the internet I decided to use thread sealant to temporarily fix the problem. This went off without a hitch. Well sort of.The next day with crew turning up to go racing I discovered the engine was running rough. Turns out I got air in the fuel line. Stupidly I tried to bleed it at the engine while the engine was running merely letting in more air. I should have just turned on the fuel pump until all the bubbles went away and a solid stream of fuel came out. After about 2 hours a lot of swearing and half a liter of diesel spraying all over the boat and myself we uncovered the problem. The fuel pump was not pumping fuel through the system. It only shot a quick pulse of fuel when it was switched on (I am not sure if this is how it is supposed to work). We were able to pump water through the system by repeatedly turning the ignition to the pre-start position. Then in turn we bled the filters all the way to the engine itself. The engine turned over and ran for 20 minutes. We stopped it and restarted it in the usual fashion several times. I mopped up all of the spilled diesel and wiped down the bilge with cleaner. I didn’t have a container for the diesel so I put it in a temporary container to dump into the proper receptacle after later on. The only thing at had was an empty beer can. As the night progressed my crew availed themselves of some of the ships stores. At one point one of the crew looked at me with a strange sad look of their face. Seconds later the spat all over the cock pit a spray of diesel fuel and bilge drippings. Having grabbed the wrong beer can they had taken a swig of the slurry of unsavory chemicals in my bilge. Filled with concern we proceeded to laugh at him as he cleaned out his mouth with toothpaste and water. When asked what it tasted like he replied “It was kind of buttery.” This morning he still tasted the fuel. I am not sure how bad this is but if he loses his hair and dies of cancer in 3 weeks I think we will have an idea of what caused it.
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