Back to the Engine

Okay, enough procrastination, it is time to concentrate on the engine after a couple days of rest and getting other chores done.

What we know so far is that the engine is quitting because air is being ingested into the fuel system. This means there is a hole in a line or a loose connection. This is manifested when I bleed the secondary fuel filter, which is right after the engine’s mechanical lift (low pressure) pump and right before the injection (high pressure) pump which feeds fuel to the cyclinders. Lots of bubbles come out. This is still happening even after I installed an electrical prime (low-pressure) pump in between the primary (Racor) filter and the mechanical lift pump. If there were a hole or a leak after the electrical pump, it would show itself by leaking fuel. Upstream of the electrical lift pump, everything is suction, meaning that any hole, crack, or loose connection wouldn’t leak fuel, but would just suck air in. The only components upstream of the electrical lift pump are the hose from that pump to the primary filter, and the hose from the primary filter to the fuel tank (and associated connections). The latter appears to be original, copper (i.e., inflexible) tubing and is about six feet long. We’re thinking that the problem is being caused by a small crack somewhere in this tubing, the solution being to replace the old copper tubing with new flexible rubber tubing.

So, that was my task for today. To take apart the existing hose and fittings so that I would know what I would need to buy to replace it all with, then go and find everything.

I started tearing things apart around 8:00 am. The important fittings are obviously to two ends of the copper hose: one that attaches it to the fuel tank, and the other which attaches it to the primary filter. I managed to remove those fittings without having to damage the existing copper tubing just in case I am not able to make a replacement. (After all, it’s better to have an engine that can only run at low RPM and 3 knots than an engine that can’t run at all!)

After gathering all the parts, I headed on my bicycle to NAPA auto parts, about two miles away. I was hoping my buddy would be there. So, this is the same NAPA that I came to last Saturday when I was still at anchor, collecting all the parts to install the electrical lift pump. I got chatting with the man there who was helping me, and it turned out he was a very experienced boat captan, and he and his wife had been full-time cruisers and even had a couple of ocean crossings under their belt. He mentioned that they lived aboard a CSY 44, a very nice cruising boat at a local marina.

I didn’t think much more about it until two nights ago, when I was exiting my dock to do laundry, and who should I run into but him, coming home from work to his wife and boat who were on the dock next to mine! I told him what was going on with my engine and that I’d be back to NAPA in a couple of days to gather more parts.

But, he wasn’t there today, so I sought out someone else to help me. This was another elderly man, who also ostensibly had boat repair experience. However, he turned out to be one of these guys that seems like they know what they’re doing and come across very matter-of-factly about how something should be done, but in actuality, just aren’t that good! It took me a lot of wasted time (and, as you’ll see, miles of unnecessary bike riding) before I figured this out!

I started off by diagramming what I was looking for, then he set about looking for the components. It was sort of hard to communicate certain things to him–like he kept going back to things I thought I had already explained–but eventually (after about an hour) we started finally putting something together that seemed like it would work….except for one critical component, the fitting between the hose and the primary filter. He stated it was metric, but that they didn’t carry any metric fittings. He told me that Central Hydraulics, about three miles away might have them. It was now 11:30 pm, and he told me that he got off work at 2:00 pm. I didn’t want to have to start all over again with someone new in the afternoon, so hoped I could round up all the components and get back to NAPA to put it all together and buy the hose before 2:00 pm. There was one other critical component–a shutoff valve that I wanted to add to the system–that we weren’t sure would fit on my fuel tank, so I also needed to test that out before returning. That meant I was going to have to bike three miles to Central Hydraulics, then five miles back to the boat, then two miles back to NAPA!

So, I jumped on my bike, arrived at Central Hydraulics 20 minutes later, and after waiting for a couple of other customers, explained the piece that I needed, and that NAPA had sent me because it was metric and they didn’t have metric.

The two guys behind the desk looked at the part, looked at me, and said, “That isn’t metric. It’s a standard 3/8″ NPT fitting” like I was stupid or something. Having just biked three miles (six round trip) for nothing…this was when I was starting to realized the NAPA guy didn’t really know as much as he thought he did.

Anyway, Central Hydraulics had what I needed, and $6.38 later, I was out the door and back on my bike for a five mile trip to the boat to see if the shutoff valve would fit on my tank. 30 minutes later I was at the boat, determined it didn’t fit, and then huffed it back the two miles to NAPA, arriving by 1:20 pm. I was rather proud of myself, actually, having biked 12 miles already without too big of an issue in almost 90 degree weather when I hadn’t biked at all in the previous month except for the recent trip to Publix. And, I am 60 years old. Not too shabby! (He says as his heart seizes!)

It actually felt good to pump hard and get my heartbeat up. It’s hard to get aerobic exercise on a boat!

So, having what I thought would be all the components necessary for the replacement hose and fittings, I would soon discover another reason this guy wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. He had told me that the fitting I got from Central Hydraulics was going to be the last thing that I would need–that he had all the other components. “But, oh, wait. I don’t have this one part. I thought I did.” I think Ace Hardware will have it. DO YOU MEAN LIKE THE ACE HARDWARE THAT’S THREE MILES AWAY. THE ACE HARDWARE THAT I PASSED GOING FROM CENTRAL HYDRAULICS TO MY BOAT! THAT ONE!?!

So, after ordering the actual flexible hose, I had everything except one NPT fitting, which hopefully Ace had. At this point it was 1:45 pm. The NAPA guy looked at his watch and said, “It’s now 1:45. I get off at 2:00 pm. I’ll gladly give you a ride to Ace. I know how hot it is out there. You can just throw you bike in the back of my truck.” So, I at least have to give him credit for that. I took him up on his offer, and off we went in his truck to Ace.

However, once again this guy let me down! He knew where my boat was (he had worked at that marina), but he took me not to the Ace that was closest to the marina, but one further away, close to where his wife works. I guess it was still better than biking both ways, but it added another mile to my trip back to the marina.

Luckily, Ace had what I needed, so I hopped on my bike for the last 2.6 miles back to the boat, getting there about 3:30 pm, totally exhausted with my legs finally completely dead that last mile. This is what an entire day of shopping, 15 miles of bicycling, and $135.06 gets you:

I was too exhausted to actually start work on the boat today. I’ve learned not to work on the boat when I’m tired; I inevitably end up making costly (in time or money or both) mistakes. So, I will start fresh tomorrow morning and see if I can actually get the engine running again now that I have taken the fuel system completely apart.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, blogging, taking a shower, and making some teriyaki chicken. And drinking lots of water!