Hey Dennis, Had the electric fuel booster pump quit on me in East River, NY. We learned we could run the engine up to about half throttle to get to a marina where we could work on it. Universal M4-30. We motored to Atlantic Highlands and took a mooring to work on the engine. We didn't know we had an electric pump having just bought the boat and the thing was all black and looked like a manifold. Went to town and bought new filters and belts. We spent half a day, changed all the filters and belt and bled the injectors before realizing a little black wire had a green coroded terminal going that manifold. Cleaned the terminal with some WD40 and 400 grit sand paper and when we turned on the key, heard what we thought was a manifold going "tic-tic-tic". Engine started right up. We didn't need the engine much after we fixed it, as a front blowing 25 to 30 off the land, blew us all the way down the Jersey coast on flat water with main and small jib to Atlantic City. I replaced the pump with one from NAPA after we got the boat home, and she's run fine since. Chuck Scheaffer, 1989 C&C 34R, boat is presently near Annapolis
> On 05/27/2023 9:47 PM EDT Dennis C. via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > wrote: > > > I brought Touche' back from Pensacola to its home slip on Lake Pontchartrain > this week. Overall a nice sail with fair winds and weather. > > Had one glitch. Here's an excerpt from the trip report I sent some of my > sailing buddies. > > Thursday we were motor sailing past Petit Bois Island, Mississippi. We'd > just crossed the Pascagoula Ship Channel. Touche's engine quit. Just quit. > No slowing down or whatever. Just died. WTF? The engine is a Universal > 25XPB with about 2000 hours on it. > > First thing I did was open the cockpit locker and look at the vacuum gauge on > the Racor 500MA fuel filter. It was still in the yellow where it normally > runs. I pulled the top and checked the filter element anyway. I looked > fairly clean. Next I investigated if the filter might have an air leak and > the level had dropped below the discharge. The filter was only about half > full. I keep a small jug of diesel for topping off the filter if need be. I > topped it off and put the filter element back in. I inspected the filter lid > o-ring and gasket. The gasket is square and can get twisted. Both looked > normal. Buttoned up the filter and tried to start the engine. It would > barely idle and died. > > The engine has an electric fuel pump. Okay, next we checked the pump. I put > my finger on the pump. My buddy turned on the ignition and pressed the > preheat button. Normally an electric fuel pump goes "click, click, > click....". Only one click. Aha! Dead fuel pump. > > The wind was good and we were still carrying 5 knots or so. Fortunately, I > had a spare fuel pump on board. I spent about 1.5-2 hours changing it. > Before I installed it, I checked it for operation by powering it up. Yep. > It went "click, click, click....". > > Got the new pump installed and we're ready to fire it up. My buddy turns on > the ignition and hits the preheat button. Nothing, zip, nada. Even the > audible alarm was silent. Big WTF?? He notices that even the engine gauges > aren't moving. Hmmm. No power to the panel?? He says his Yanmar has a fuse > on the engine and he thinks Westerbeke/Universals may have a circuit breaker. > I grab the engine manual, pull up the wiring diagram. It shows a 20 amp > breaker. Who knew? But...where the heck is it? After a bit of searching, I > found it on the bracket where the fuel pump and some miscellaneous engine > electrical components are. I reach behind the panel, find the reset button > and hear a click when I press it. Okay. We try the engine again and it > fires right up. Yay! Good to go. > > That lasts about a minute. It immediately dies again. Crap! I start the > investigation again. Open the cockpit locker to look at the vacuum gauge. > Oh, what a dumbass! I'd shut off the fuel valve to change the pump. I > opened the valve. The engine fired up and away we went. > > All told, we only lost about an hour on our arrival time and avoided a large > tow bill. > > A bit of internet research later revealed that the $256 Westerbeke 39275 fuel > pump is really a Facet 40185N. I found one on eBay for $76. Same pump. > > This mimics the tachometer/hourmeter replacement from a couple weeks ago. > The Westerbeke part was $350. I found the identical part made by Datcon from > a hot rod shop for $150. When I looked at the old one, it had the Datcon > name and part number on it. > > -- > Dennis C. > Touche' 35-1 #83 > Mandeville, LA > Please show your appreciation for this list and the Photo Album site and help > me pay the associated bills. Make a contribution at: > https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > Thanks for your help. > Stu >
Please show your appreciation for this list and the Photo Album site and help me pay the associated bills. Make a contribution at: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks for your help. Stu
