!987 Westerbeke 10-2 diesel air filter?????

[Chuck Powell]

My 1987 O'Day 272LE has a Westerbeke 10-2 diesel like many of us . As we all know, a diesel needs clean fuel, compression and clean air. In the info provided in the Westerbeke manual, it shows a air pump on one of the diagrams. What is this referring to and is there is a air filter to be replaced ?
Thank you O'Day owners on this site. You have been very helpful over the years.

 

[SG]

The air filter on most marine engines for "normal" sailboat diesels is more of a screen to keep things and hands from getting sucked into the engine. (Don't test it with your hand!!! There is a lot of air being sucked-into a very small orifice with hard egdes, hot metal, sometimes belts, and other things that you really don't want to dealing with.)

P.S. - One method of stopping an diesel engine is to cutoff the air (in a runaway engine, for example) -- you should use a board or piece of metal, and NOT our hand, cardboard, or a cloth to get sucked-up against the intake. I saw someone almost get his hand pinned onto an intake on a bigger diesel than you 2 cylinder Westerbeke. :^)))

 

[cbourne200]

I can vouch for things getting sucked into the air intake. $700 later the mechanic found a paper towel between the intake valve and the piston of a Westerbeke 10 2. Required the removal of the head and various other attempts trying to determine why it wouldn't fire.