Engine woes

If it is water in the engine, any vaguely competent engineer could sort it. You don't necessarily need a Nanni specialist. I think speed is of the essence, so anyone who can get there quickly!

But it is a bugger, especially on a Sunday afternoon!
 
Nowt much wrong with French Marine, they did the warranty jobs on my Yanmar. Got them fixed and serviceable in good order in quick time.
They also helped me put together my Emergency spares kit for the engine and did not try to sell me anything daft.
 
Champagne Murphy said:
Do you want to do it yourself with help? Or pay someone else?
Click to expand...

My expertise in the 'messing with the engine' field is extremely limited.
Can change oil, an impeller, anodes and filters and that's about it.

If some-one were to offer to 'help', he or she should realise that my contribution to the effort would be limited to handing tools. :o

On our return trip from Ostend we sailed with water at the gunwhales for a large part of the trip.
Could water have entered the engine through the exhaust system (located on the stbd side)?
 
OR4751 said:
On our return trip from Ostend we sailed with water at the gunwhales for a large part of the trip.
Could water have entered the engine through the exhaust system (located on the stbd side)?
Click to expand...

Highly unlikely. If there had been water in the engine, it wouldn't have turned over at all when you tried initially to start it.
 
OR4751 said:
My expertise in the 'messing with the engine' field is extremely limited.
Can change oil, an impeller, anodes and filters and that's about it.

If some-one were to offer to 'help', he or she should realise that my contribution to the effort would be limited to handing tools. :o

On our return trip from Ostend we sailed with water at the gunwhales for a large part of the trip.
Could water have entered the engine through the exhaust system (located on the stbd side)?
Click to expand...

When i rebuilt our Bukh i did it with the help ( ha ha) of an engineer who was fully conversant with the differences between elbows and harses. I paid him slightly over the odds to teach me and compensate for getting in the way but the net result was I became pretty confident to work on the lump when i needed to on my own.
Pm if you want more info
Karl
 
UPDATE:

Been trying to sort this all morning.
Biggest problem so far: the boat's on a mooring and the yard won't be able to bring her in till Wednesday. (busy launching for Classic Regatta).
They might be able to squeeze us in today, but won't know till later this afternoon.
Talked to marine engineers (went with the ones who could be on the case soonest) - described the situation to them.
Glimmer of hope: they seem to think water on the cylinder(s) is unlikely.

Fingers - and everything else - crossed.
 
Hi Will
We've actually had water in our engine before - twice !! A dodgy anti -syphon was finally identified as the culprit. Fortunately, we hand't tried to start it (which can cause things to go bang) as it became apparent that there was a problem when I removed the dipstick and water poured out of the hole!!!
It was a long process to sort but not terminal. Involved draining all the oil and water from the sump, taking out the injectors, turning the engine by hand (not much fun with a six cylinder engine) with cloths to catch what came out of the injector holes until it was pretty clear. Replace injectors, refill with flushing oil and change filters, start (with additional battery power). Much smoke and then OK. Warm up. Replace oil/filters again. Restart.
If you are stuck for a hand, I could help out one evening or next weekend.
I'm not an engineer but it may just be that someone can tell you what needs doing and you can sort it yourself with some assistance - in which case, I'm not that far away and also have a decent array of tools.
 
wingdiver said:
Hi Will
We've actually had water in our engine before - twice !! A dodgy anti -syphon was finally identified as the culprit. Fortunately, we hand't tried to start it (which can cause things to go bang) as it became apparent that there was a problem when I removed the dipstick and water poured out of the hole!!!
It was a long process to sort but not terminal. Involved draining all the oil and water from the sump, taking out the injectors, turning the engine by hand (not much fun with a six cylinder engine) with cloths to catch what came out of the injector holes until it was pretty clear. Replace injectors, refill with flushing oil and change filters, start (with additional battery power). Much smoke and then OK. Warm up. Replace oil/filters again. Restart.
If you are stuck for a hand, I could help out one evening or next weekend.
I'm not an engineer but it may just be that someone can tell you what needs doing and you can sort it yourself with some assistance - in which case, I'm not that far away and also have a decent array of tools.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer, Duncan.

Just had word from the boatyard - they managed to bring her in today. She's alongside now.
Have an engineer coming round first thing in the morning to asses the damage.
Will take it from there.
 
Last edited:
Stand down panic stations.

It seems that my statement of water in the cylinders was somewhat premature.

Engineer worked through the system backwards.
Disconnected water hose that goes from engine to waterlock. Full of water - all the way up to the mixing elbow.
Inside of the mixing elbow very humid and somewhat corroded.
Next step: check injectors: all were dry.
Manually cranked the engine. No water appearing anywhere.
Engine put back together again and started whit raw water seacock shut.
Started at second attempt. Running smoothly now.

Faultfinding.
In a nutshell: water working its way into the engine through the exhaust system. Inappropriate waterlock - badly set up. Breath of the ship instead of the length.
When she was hard on her ear starboard side water flowed into the exhaust/waterlock. When we tacked, water all the way up to/in the mixing elbow.

We're up and running for the moment. Shouldn't really sail her flat on her ear in the very near future.
Different waterlock and replacement mixing elbow on order. To be fitted at the earliest possible opportunity.

Bit of a bugger, but it could have been (a lot) worse.
I am somewhat insecure about my limited diesel engines skills, and therefore relieved that our predicament wasn't caused by anything I did wrong.
Talked the engineer through everything I had done prior to his arrival, and turns out I did the right thing at every step.
Diesel itself is still quite clear too. So, that's another immense relief.

And now: lunch!

French Marine at SYH have been absolutely brilliant. And I said that even AFTER I got the bill.
 
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