Superstrath
New member
There was a thread on here a couple of months ago about how to seal fuel unions, if I remember right Shipswoofy got quite adamant about the right and wrong way to do it.
This weekend we found the cause of a total engine failure four weeks ago that resulted in an embarrassing tow home on a windless day. After trying to get it going for two hours, while we drifted in the wrong direction, I decided it was a failed fuel pump (Yanmar 3HM) and gave up. Once a new one was fitted and the system bled, the engine ran perfectly again. In the workshop, we dismantled the old pump and found a small ball of ptfe tape holding open the non-return valve on the inlet side. It must have come from the union at the water separator, which was fitted before we bought the boat. A tiny bit, but enough to disable the boat.
We now intend to carry a spare pump along with everything else, and anything other than mechanical sealing is off the menu.
This weekend we found the cause of a total engine failure four weeks ago that resulted in an embarrassing tow home on a windless day. After trying to get it going for two hours, while we drifted in the wrong direction, I decided it was a failed fuel pump (Yanmar 3HM) and gave up. Once a new one was fitted and the system bled, the engine ran perfectly again. In the workshop, we dismantled the old pump and found a small ball of ptfe tape holding open the non-return valve on the inlet side. It must have come from the union at the water separator, which was fitted before we bought the boat. A tiny bit, but enough to disable the boat.
We now intend to carry a spare pump along with everything else, and anything other than mechanical sealing is off the menu.