Bukh anode and oil pipe queries

[LittleSister]

Previous threads have explained that many people just knock the old anode into the engine before installing a new one.

1) How much force is likely to be required and how have applied it to achieve this, and
2) if you knock the anode into the engine how can you tell how much it has eroded?

I've managed to remove the nut that holds (or not!) the anode (this is on a DV10), but the anode remains in the body of the engine (I understand this is typical). The whole of the 'external' face of the anode (facing the holding nut and opening) is intact and smooth, and any erosion is out of sight. So I can't tell whether the anode is on its last legs or as new.

In order to try to knock it into the engine I used a brass radiator key as a drift. This fits over the projecting threaded part of the anode, but is externally narrower than the thread for the anode mounting bolt, so the force is applied to the body of the anode. The challenge was how to drive the drift. I was trying to use a largish hammer (could find my smaller one), but have so little room to swing it (because of cables, pipes and the quadrant) and was swinging it 'backwards' from the wrist, so I could only get a very modest 'tap', but assumed this would be all that would be needed.

A supplementary question: Access to the anode nut is already constrained by the quadrant immediately behind. This prevents me getting a socket on the nut. I also have a pipe (I assume oil) which runs immediately under and against the anode nut, preventing me from getting a ring spanner on the nut. I eventually managed to get the nut off using an ordinary spanner, but this is very slow going as I can only move the nut 1/16th of a turn before having to turn the spanner over, because of the obstructing oil(?) pipe and other constraints.

3) Is the pipe sufficiently flexible for me to be able to bend it out of the way without risking fracturing it?

 

[vyv_cox]

All the anodes I changed on a Bukh 20 had surfaces that were soft and sludgy, requiring very little effort to knock inside, or to pull out. Sounds like yours may still be in as-new condition. I think I would try to pull it out to assess.

 

[Poignard]

I made an extractor to pull it out. After that I always put new anodes in a lathe and reduce the diameter by a couple of millimetres. I also run a tap down the hole to clean the threads.

I don't have much space next to the engine so I cut a 22mm ring spanner in half and use that. The pipe is in the way but I don't need to move it. It's all a bit of a fiddle and involves some swearing and bleeding knuckles (bit like Croydon on Saturday nights)

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

do all Bukh engines have an anode?

S.

 

[LittleSister]

Thank you both for the info/suggestions. My technical resources are very limited, so I think I might have to reassemble with the existing anode, and come back to this particular challenge later.

It's all a bit of a fiddle and involves some swearing and bleeding knuckles (bit like Croydon on Saturday nights)

It certainly does! Having spent half of Friday getting the bloody holder nut out (includes trip to town to buy a different spanner), I shall devote another hour or so to putting it back in again.

 

[cliff]

do all Bukh engines have an anode?

S.

They should (unless the owner is a total plonker)

 

[NigelBirch]

I always manage to get mine out. It's hard work but if you keep wiggling and pulling it will eventually become free. I seem to remember that access is improved if you put the throttle in full ahead or astern ( can't remember which)....

 

[micha571]

do all Bukh engines have an anode?
S.

No. The saildrive-version of the DV10 (the DV10 LSME) does not have an internal anode.

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

They should (unless the owner is a total plonker)

I spent ages witth a marine engineer looking for an anode and cannot see one.
Mine is a Bukh 24. Where is it?

S.

 

[Big John]

I used to work on a friends Bukh and the anode always came out easy, location was tricky if you did not know where to look. See link, page 3 item 24.

http://clouds.nl/cyfu/cyber_userfiles/files/bukh-downloads/manual DV24ME Engelsk.pdf

The DV10 is on page 5 item 25.

http://www.bluemoment.com/manuals/DV10-24.pdf

 

[LittleSister]

Scotty, the photo below shows roughlythe location* on DV10, but it's the same location on the DV24 (peripherals are slightly different). I think I originally got this photo from a previous thread on here, so it is thanks to whichever forumite originally posted it.

The bolt holding the anode is big (22mm) brass, and is on the rear face of the engine, at the corner with the starboard side of the engine about a third of the way down. It is immediately ahead of the engine control quadrant.



*ps - Looking at the photo again, I don't think it's quite right. The anode is a little further in towards the centre of the engine (to the right in the photo, to port on board).

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

many thanks, I'll be going to boat Wed's and will report back
S.

 

[chewi]

Scotty, the photo below shows roughlythe location* on DV10, but it's the same location on the DV24 (peripherals are slightly different). I think I originally got this photo from a previous thread on here, so it is thanks to whichever forumite originally posted it.

The bolt holding the anode is big (22mm) brass, and is on the rear face of the engine, at the corner with the starboard side of the engine about a third of the way down. It is immediately ahead of the engine control quadrant.

View attachment 40927

*ps - Looking at the photo again, I don't think it's quite right. The anode is a little further in towards the centre of the engine (to the right in the photo, to port on board).

That pic could be misunderstood.
It would not be visible from above and forward from where the pic is taken.
The 22mm brass bolt is on the vertical aft face of the engine, just above the throttle quadrant and very likely obstructed by the oil pipe, which makes it difficult to undo.

 

[Poignard]

many thanks, I'll be going to boat Wed's and will report back
S.

If you are in Fareham this Saturday/ Sunday, and you haven't found an answer by then, you are welcome to come on board my boat (you know where she is) and inspect my BUKH DV10 engine and see where the anode is . Large cockpit sole hatches mean that you will actually be able to see it!

You could also borrow my cut-down 22mm spanner.

 

[vyv_cox]

The ever-unhelpful Bukh workshop manual does not mention anodes at all as far as I can see. The cylinder head drawing of the DV10 shows no anode mounting at all, the DV20 drawing shows the brass plug that is my recollection of the anode fitting but unlabelled. As chewi says it is on the aft vertical face of the engine on the DV20, on the lower part of the cylinder head.

However, is a DV24 indirectly cooled? In that case there may well not be an anode.

 

[Poignard]

The ever-unhelpful Bukh workshop manual does not mention anodes at all as far as I can see. The cylinder head drawing of the DV10 shows no anode mounting at all, the DV20 drawing shows the brass plug that is my recollection of the anode fitting but unlabelled. .

See page o9 of the DV10/20 workshop manual. They call it 'the zinc rod'. It screws into the crankcase/cylinder block casting not the cylinder head .

 

[vyv_cox]

See page o9 of the DV10/20 workshop manual. They call it 'the zinc rod'. It screws into the crankcase/cylinder block casting not the cylinder head .

Ah, thanks.

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

thanks all......never have understood direct/indirect cooling.

Water is pumped into my engine... has heat exchanger, water pumped out. What type is that?

S.

 

[chewi]

thanks all......never have understood direct/indirect cooling.

Water is pumped into my engine... has heat exchanger, water pumped out. What type is that?

S.

indirect.

Direct takes seawater through engine to cool it (directly).
Indirect takes in seawater but it's used to cool the heat exchanger,which in turn cools the engine using a separately pumped circuit of captive coolant.

The captive coolant in the indirect system can have additives that look after the engine, which the direct seawater system cannot.

 

[soreknees]

I have a freshwater cooled DV36ME and checked with the very helpful guys at Bukh Diesel UK. They confirmed that I do not need an anode. The conversation took place when I called recently to order up spares for the season. I bought the boat last autumn and this is my first "stocking up". Encouragingly, they have tracked the spares they have sold to previous owners of the boat as well as various parts repairs and servicing they have undertaken. They also seem to have a bottomless pit of Bukh engine knowledge.

Contact Albert or Norman on 01202 668840 - goodness knows what will happen when they retire.