Has anyone tried this bleeding method: spraying diesel into the air intake?

fisherman said:
1973 I was in a boat with a Lister SR4, 36hp, air cooled, in the wheelhouse with us, and I still have the tinnitus.
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Yes ..... I still feel rather ashamed that we swapped our sparkling, beautifully maintained, 1963 air cooled Lister for a Yanmar 3GM30, for that very same reason.

We sold the Lister to a real Lister fanatic, who gave us what seemed to us to be a very generous price.

The Yanmar was, by comparison, near silent, but our lovely gaff cutter certainly lost a chunk of her old world charm.
 
Ribtecer said:
I've never done it, but I've heard good results can be had bleeding a diesel engine, by pressurising the fuel tank, nothing crazy, just enough to push it along the fuel pump.

Made sense to me, what do the experts think?
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Used to do this every time, finger on the breather, blow down the filler. Quick, but not for the faint stomached.
 
ghostlymoron said:
I don't think that incorporating a rubber bulb into your fuel line is the best approach, I changed my filter head for one incorporating an integral pump. Much more robust system IMHO.
View attachment 121871
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There are millions of cars on the road with the primer bulb and it's almost unheard of for them to leak. The filter that you have used has a diaphragm in it, which can also leak, so it's not any better than a bulb, no worse though.
 
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Having a header tank is the luxury I never got round to. Holding enough for a day ideally, and could be constantly filling via a filter and overflowing back to the main, so fuel polishing as well, but you have to have a separate electric or hand pump to fill it, and leccy can fail. But when everything has gone bosoms elevated you can fill it from a can. Being gravity fed means leaks are fuel out rather than air in.
I thought I would use the engine lift pump to fill the day tank, and gravity to the injector pump, but in my case, Ford Dover, it needed a 16ft head, about 5psi.
Ex French trawlers I was in had a hand pump in the engine room, main to day tank, so it forced you to go below every few hours, have a look round.
 
fisherman said:
Having a header tank is the luxury I never got round to. Holding enough for a day ideally, and could be constantly filling via a filter and overflowing back to the main, so fuel polishing as well, but you have to have a separate electric or hand pump to fill it, and leccy can fail. But when everything has gone bosoms elevated you can fill it from a can. Being gravity fed means leaks are fuel out rather than air in.
I thought I would use the engine lift pump to fill the day tank, and gravity to the injector pump, but in my case, Ford Dover, it needed a 16ft head, about 5psi.
Ex French trawlers I was in had a hand pump in the engine room, main to day tank, so it forced you to go below every few hours, have a look round.
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Many moons ago, when I was briefly a volunteer with a scout troop, we used an old London Bus (Routemaster, I think) as transport to and from the Isle of Wight for a week's camping. On the way home, the fuel system on the bus developed a fault, and it ended up that the only way we could get home was to keep refilling the tiny header tank at the top of the engine. I was using a camper van, and we ended up carrying a 45 gallon drum of diesel so that we could refill the header tank at intervals - I guess it went 20-30 miles between fills!
 
Ribtecer said:
I've never done it, but I've heard good results can be had bleeding a diesel engine, by pressurising the fuel tank, nothing crazy, just enough to push it along the fuel pump.

Made sense to me, what do the experts think?
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Done that and it does work, fuel cap off, piece of rag and air blower in the neck, no need to be air tight just a light head of air is enough.
Obviously this needs a compressor, or rather that is what I have used.
 
NealB said:
All pretty good here, thanks ...... well, except ..... I don't know if you've heard, but one of Arendala's engines seems to taking a break.
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I will off missed that part, i am not about much now on here or anywhere infact Is it a slow death for it ? just seen this thread by chance.
But the job works as said to spray diesel into the intake, that OMC i had was a real pig to get going, i also fitted a rubber priming bulb to help get the fuel to the injector as the manual was rubbish. I first used the bulb when i fitted a XUD into a Suzuki SJ way back when i built 4x4 off roaders. just makes it that bit easier and saves on battery power to draw the fuel up.
 
Has anyone got a photo of a priming bulb installed on a boat? I'm imagining the bulb flopping about in a flexible line, that's why I think having one integral to the filter is a better plan.
 
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