Is there a way to tell if air has gotten in the filter housing? I have a Racor 200FG that has a clear bowl. It leaks a small amount of air and once or twice a season the engine will die because of it. It usually doesn't die on flat water. I've figured out that the bubble of air gets trapped in the top of the racor where it can't be seen in the bowl. Then when the boat heels (particularly to port) the suction ports on the racor become exposed to the bubble and the engine dies. When the boat flattens out, the fuel covers the ports, and we attempt to restart the engine, it takes little effort and seems to be back in working order... Until next time. Or until the bubble grows large enough to uncover the suction ports even when the boat is flat.
I installed a bleed system and nearly always remove some air when it is used. As other's suggested I also installed a vacuum gage so I can tell when the filter is dirty. See them both in the video below. https://youtu.be/H-GI38vE4hQ Josh Muckley S/V Sea Hawk 1989 C&C 37+ Solomons, MD On Wed, Nov 14, 2018, 2:12 PM DON JONSSON via CnC-List < cnc-list@cnc-list.com wrote: > The other day when motoring the engine quit when pulling into the marina. > Got it going again to make the slip but then it quit again. Repeat a few > times. We thought the most likely culprit was the new fuel gauge not being > configured correctly and had run out of diesel. Second culprit may be > dirty fuel as had been sailing with very little fuel in the tank and that > could stir things up. > > So the next day we began the investigation. > > We hadn't run out of diesel and there is about 1/4 of a tank. Checked the > primary filter which is new and it doesn't look too bad. Started the > engine again and it ran and then quit a couple of times. Trying again we > rev'd it hard just before it could die and it kept going even when we put > it back to idle. Now it seems to run fine. But it doesn't instil > confidence. > > In the C&C fuel tank you can take out the gauge and you have a little (2 > inch?) hole you can see into the tank. We put a camera in there and can > see the bottom of the tank is about 50% covered with black. The rest > shines. If you swirl a stick in there the black sediment is definitely > light and moves. > > So perhaps it is the fuel filters. The secondary filter is not one you > can look into so it could be there. Sailing the boat with little fuel in a > following sea would definitely stir things up. But why is the engine > running well now if it is a plugged filter? Why didn't it require bleeding? > > We got a quote to polish the fuel tank and it is decidedly not cheap. In > fact I'd go all the way to damned expensive. > > So the questions: > > 1. Has anyone else had a similar experience and was it the fuel filters? > We never had to bleed the lines and the engine now runs fine. > > 2. Does anyone have another idea as to what it could be? The engine only > has 500 hours on it and starts and runs like a top (if you forgive the two > alternators we have already gone through. Manufacturing fault on both > claimed by alternator repair people.) > > 3. Can someone give advice on how to clean the fuel. We have access in > the front of the tank but not behind the baffle which is about in the > middle (I think). The hole is small to options seem limited. Can you > dissolve the sediment? How did you flush it all out? > > Thanks for any help. > > Don Jonsson > Andante, C&C 34 > Victoria > > > > > Sent from my iPad > _______________________________________________ > > Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each > and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - > use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > >
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