And So It Starts,i Get Intimate With The Boat.

[mikeyboy1966]

I guess most of you have been here!

today was my 1st day onboard without distractions,

number 1 job was to clean the engine bilge as it had a few inches of hhhmmmmm,

the surveyer thought it was ATF, I correctly thought it was red diesel and water.

1/2 pack of cheap nappies and a lot of grovelling had it all soaked up.

once everything was a bit cleaner I ran the engine for a while to see what was what.

1st issue was the raw water pump had a steady drip,so I guess that accounts for most of the water.

I also noticed some weeping from the port side thermostat housing and exhaust gasket.

[mikeyboy1966]

The fuel lift pump was also wet with diesel,a quick spanner check on the unions has hopefully sorted the fuel leak ,I cleaned the area and all seems ok.

[mikeyboy1966]

Now the bilge is clean(ish)

it became apparent that I have an engine oil leak,

 

[mikeyboy1966]

From the photo above,

the pipe you see exiting goes to a catch tank that’s been made from a 5 l oil can,

beneath it are two further holes which appear to have bolts in them but they are not tight,I’ve made no attempt to investigate further until I’ve a better idea of why there is oil there.

rear main perhaps

[mikeyboy1966]

FYI Perkins 4108 ,

that pipe is pushed into what I would call the bell housing

[Vaughan]

The engine is a Perkins 4108 Lowline and I have to tell you that the crankshaft rear oil seal has gone.  That is what the pipe and oil can are for.

Take off the gearbox, bell housing and flywheel and with luck, you can change it without lifting out the engine, as it has its own separate housing on the back of the block.  You should read the manual carefully as it needs trimming when fitting.  I am afraid you also have to think about why the oil seal has gone.  This may have something to do with the crankshaft main bearings.

The raw water pump will need removing and stripping to replace the water seals on the shaft.  If the seals have worn a groove in the shaft this must also be replaced, at which point you probably buy a new water pump complete.  Be very careful when re-fitting, to get the water pump exactly central on its mounting in the timing cover, as it is driven by a key on the injector pump timing gear and bad alignment will wear it.  The pump shaft is best removed and re-fitted on a hydraulic bench press.

 

[Vaughan]

11 hours ago, mikeyboy1966 said:

It is very difficult for me to say this, to a new owner of a boat, but you have posted photos for a forum discussion, so I feel I should voice my concerns from this photo.

The water injection bend is badly rusted and the exhaust manifold gasket is leaking.  The exhaust pipe looks brand new.  I wonder why it was replaced?  I can't see much of the cylinder head but it looks very dark, as though there is no paint left on it.  I fear this engine has been badly overheated in the past and may have seized.  This would explain the blown crank oil seal, which has obviously been there for some time.  I fear you may be looking at new bearing shells and a possible crank re-grind.

The photo is a bit fuzzy but there seems to be no writing on the front plate of the water pump, so it may not be a standard part.  I wonder if this may have been part of an overheating problem?

By the way, the Morse control cable to the injector pump is installed in a very sharp curve and does not look to be in line.  This may break sooner rather than later.

I hesitate to say this, but you may have one or two questions to ask your surveyor.

[Polly]

The surveyor may be liable for some of the work needed then Vaughan??

[mikeyboy1966]

2 hours ago, Vaughan said:

It is very difficult for me to say this, to a new owner of a boat, but you have posted photos for a forum discussion, so I feel I should voice my concerns from this photo.

The water injection bend is badly rusted and the exhaust manifold gasket is leaking.  The exhaust pipe looks brand new.  I wonder why it was replaced?  I can't see much of the cylinder head but it looks very dark, as though there is no paint left on it.  I fear this engine has been badly overheated in the past and may have seized.  This would explain the blown crank oil seal, which has obviously been there for some time.  I fear you may be looking at new bearing shells and a possible crank re-grind.

The photo is a bit fuzzy but there seems to be no writing on the front plate of the water pump, so it may not be a standard part.  I wonder if this may have been part of an overheating problem?

By the way, the Morse control cable to the injector pump is installed in a very sharp curve and does not look to be in line.  This may break sooner rather than later.

I hesitate to say this, but you may have one or two questions to ask your surveyor.

Thanks for the reply and advice,

I’ll  sort the raw water leak first,

regarding the oil leak,the engine isn’t noisy and the oil pressure is fine,

I wouldn’t think I’ve any comeback on the the surveyer as it took me quite a while to spot the leaks and this was once the bilge was clean and dry.

it’ll keep me out of trouble.

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, Polly said:

The surveyor may be liable for some of the work needed then Vaughan??

If I can identify what I have done, from looking at a photo, perhaps the surveyor should have known why the bell housing had been fitted with a temporary drain pipe?

The things I have mentioned are quite typical on a Perkins 4108.

As to liability, I suppose that would depend on what type of survey the surveyor was asked to carry out? Was it an "on the water inspection", or a full survey?

[mikeyboy1966]

As you say,rear main oil seals are a  pretty common thing on this engine,

im not concerned by it,I’ve been working on engines since my school days.

the cylinder head is a different colour to the rest of the engine so I suspect it’s been replaced at some point,

as I said previously the engine runs really nicely with good oil pressure,

there is zero smoke from a cold start and none when it’s up to temperature.

It gives me no reasons to think it’s been seized.

I’ll replace the rear main in the next few weeks,once that’s off I’ll be able to see for scoring etc on the end of the crank  and take a view on things

if it needs rebuilding I’ll do it over the winter.

 

I’ll take the raw water pump off next week ,and service the engine,

the old engine oil and gearbox oil will be an indicator to any problems.

I’ll keep posting photos etc,

 

 

[Smoggy]

That raw water pump looks pretty much the same as the one's on my old bmc 2.5's, count the splines on the shaft to get the right impellor, bearings and seal were standard sizes from a bearing supplier, you can polish out out a fair groove and shorten the spring in the seal to get a few extra years of use.

[mikeyboy1966]

2 hours ago, Smoggy said:

That raw water pump looks pretty much the same as the one's on my old bmc 2.5's, count the splines on the shaft to get the right impellor, bearings and seal were standard sizes from a bearing supplier, you can polish out out a fair groove and shorten the spring in the seal to get a few extra years of use.

I’ll prob order the full kit with a new shaft,Saves messing around waiting for additional parts

[Polly]

Hope it goes well

[Smoggy]

If it doesn't have a replaceable wear plate at the back like my volvo ones I machined the body on one of mine to accept a jabsco wear plate as the back face was a hell of a shape, and fitted a locating dowel behind the cam plate to stop it spinning in the housing, when I replaced the impellor this year it still looked fine.

[mikeyboy1966]

I wasn’t happy with the operation of the eberspacher unit,

It was chucking  out loads of white smoke,and took a few attempts to get it to fire up,

so I removed it for some tlc.

I suspect the fuel was running back from the unit overnight as the fuel pipe clip wasn’t particularly tight.

I should have taken some “before “ pics,

the combustion chamber was full of oily carbon and muck,so a session with my aquablast unit was needed.

nice and clean now

service parts should arrive tomorrow.

I tested the glow plug/pin that’s working fine

[mikeyboy1966]

Yay,the service kit for the heater turned up today

[mikeyboy1966]

I can build it up ready to refit on Saturday 

[mikeyboy1966]

Hopefully there will be no smoke and further investigations unnecessary.

[mikeyboy1966]

I also got a new intake pipe and silencer as there was nothing fitted previously

[mikeyboy1966]

I’ve also got parts for some work on the engine,

raw water pump kit(and shaft)

thermostats and exhaust gasket.

new pressure cap and filters

that should keep me out of trouble this weekend

[Smoggy]

Check the exhaust on the heater has no dips that have water in, some of the smoke may have been steam.

If the fuel has run back they can take quite a few starting cycles before it get's through, they only try so long before timing out, often throwing up an error code that needs clearing before starting again, some controllers can show the codes (and clear), loads of info and manuals at https://www.letonkinoisvarnish.co.uk/eberspacher_intro_1.html

 

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Because the fuel pumps pushes rather than sucks I am thinking fuel is unable to run back past the pump.

[Guest]

I am enjoying reading about the work on your boat mikeyboy1966, thanks for keeping us all updated 

[Smoggy]

While you have the eber apart make sure it doesn't have one of the spot welded silencers in the exhaust line, they leak, I have one on mine but it's in a well vented area and the air is ducted from elsewhere, next time mine is off I'll be seam welding it just in case.