Thank you and Help

[WJA302]

I have an 1988 27' Catalina with a Universal 18. I've been in the water for 3 weeks now and I motored a few miles to have some work done on my furling gear. The boat has started & ran fine every time go down to work on her. Yesterday I went down to return to our home marine (we are on the Middle River off the Chesapeake Bay). The boat started fine but then the engine died after a few minutes. (Thankfully I was still tied up as it was blowing around 20kn)
Anyway, I find I have a considerable amount of water in my lines & filter. I had no idea where the water came from but last week I did give the deck a good scrubbing. From searching post's here I suspect the O ring on my filll cap may be cracked & I introducted the water while rinsing the deck. My buddy will help me with the engine but can anyone tell me the size of the O ring? I tried a search here but could not locate anything. I'd love to get a new one during the week. Thanks & have a safe season.

 

[Stu Jackson]

It all depends on what deck fitting you have. The plastic ones are available on www.catalinadirect.com. You may be able to find the size there. If not, go into your hardware store, buy a bunch in the range you think you need, and return what you don't use. You also might need a new cap if yours is the plastic one, 'cuz the caps can freeze and crack over the winter - it may be more than your O ring.

 

[mortyd]

no, buy the caps from catalina yachts, the ones catalina diredt sell are garbage; they are very brittle and guarnanteed to fade color almost instantly.

 

[WJA302]

Thanks Stu. It is plastic and I never thought about the cap itself. I'm going to get a whole new one.

 

[jrowan]

Repairing/replacing your cap & fill is an obvious fix U have to do. Next make sure that you drain / pump out all of thr fuel in your tank if it is supectedly fouled with water. Nothing will kill a diesel engine, fuel pump & injectors faster. If any significant water gets into the combustion chamber it will blow the piston rings out & destroy the motor's compression, then it will impossible to start without a complete rebuild. Water expands differently under compression. I would completely drain & clean out your fuel tank & lines. Also install a fuel / water seperator as this will absorb some water in the fuel (only about 1/2 pint) before it fills up. This can help avoid this problem again in the future. Another way that U can take on water into the engine is by overcranking the engine when starting with the water intake thru hull fitting open. The impeller will keep pumping water when cranking until the water muffler fills up. Then it backflows into & through the exhaust valve and into the cylinder. (Its engine exhaust compression that forces the raw water out through the transom). Again, this is another way to ruin an engine. That's why U should never crank more then 10 - 15 seconds at a time max. If an engine is hard to start, cut off the water cock until it runs to avoid the problem. But remember to open it back up quickly when she's running or you'll burn up the impeller! Most newby sailors learn this one the hard way.

 

[shipwreck66]

It only takes a teaspoon of water to foul the line. When I replaced the sending unit in tank I pumped out a couple gallons off the bottom to check for water, and found none. Found none in the lines or the usual culprits until I unscrewed a big screw just beneath and on the side of the injectors, which I had never seen on another 18, and out blopped a teaspoon of milky crap. Never had another problem since.

 

[WJA302]

Here was the culprit. You could not see the cracks until you held up to the sun. I did as suggested, pumped out fuel tank, replaced my F/W separator,fuel filter, (also replaced pump & rubber hoses), blew out hard lines. Bled air from lines and she fired off fine! (Just bummed I missed a beatiful day out on the bay)
Lesson learned - put duct tape over cap during winter storage to keep water out of winch key hole and inspect/ replace cap regularly. Thanks again for help & suggestions

 

[shipwreck66]

yeah, I'da missed that one too. my cap has the slot with recessed holes at each end. that design just looks like it's waiting for the sun to crack the weak spot, which, it did.

 

[WJA302]

The story did not end here. We (thought) we cleaned all the lines and we did pump out the old fuel through the sending unit hole and then we filled the tank through the sending unit hole. The boat ran perfect for two weeks. THEN I put in fuel through the fill hose and it died a short time later - water in the fuel and me ready to jump off a bridge!
What we found was that there was an area of fuel filll line below the tank level that we never realized was below grade and was still filled with water. When I added fuel it pushed this water into the tank. All clean now and running well. This is just being posted FYI. Have a safe season all.

 

[jrowan]

WJ,
Another place to look for potential engine failure culprits is to check the fuel pickup tube inside your fuel tank. Many have a small piece of wire mesh screening installed to act as a pre-filter. In reality this is a clog in the making waiting to happen. When the mesh gets blocked by 30 years of gunk swashing around in your tank from wave action it will stop the engine cold. Check for this one & remove the mesh. It is the job of the primary fuel filter to catch debris anyway. There is also a very fine mesh screening inside many fuel pumps which can also clog. Keep these in mind if you have further stalling problems. You may have to repeat all of your fuel line cleaning to remove any possible water deposits. If your fuel is contaminated with water, then pump it out now before if causes more problems. The tiniest bit a water will wreak havoc with a diesel.

 

[shipwreck66]

Coincidentally, I replaced my fuel filter Sat. Had to bleed the air after, had forgotten what a pain that is. Definitely looking at installing a remote starter switch as jumping back and forth to the cockpit is wearing on an old man in hot weather.