pete.i

Okay thanks for that everyone. I didn't think there should have been washers on the BMC type glow plugs and there certainly weren't any on the old plugs. But the diesel mechanic mate of mine asked where the washers were and that prompted me to ask the question. Pete

I think you may have misunderstood Tony or I haven't explained it well. The old ones that I took out did not have copper washers and the new ones I bought and fitted didn't have copper washers. A friend of mine, who is a diesel mech but modern stuff, wondered where the copper washers were for my glow plugs. When I checked the pictures of modern glow plugs, i.e. the short ones, they come with copper washers. I was wondering why mine didn't have washers but it would seem that the BMC glow plugs don't need copper washers because they fit against a flat face on the block. I have to admit, though, that I haven't looked at the face on my block to see if that is true. Pete

No I don't think they do now you mention it at least the edge of the glow plug that mates with the block is not tapered I haven't had a good look at the block face to be honest but I would think that that will be square to the glow plug. I would think that that is the answer though. Thanks for that RWLP. Pete

I have noticed that the set of glow plugs that I recently bought for my BMC did not have any copper sealing washers with them. The old ones that I took out also did not have copper washers on them. The shorter glow plugs that go directly into the cylinder, (not for old BMC engines) as opposed to the BMC ones that go into a combustion chamber, do have copper washers with them. My question. Do I need copper washers with my longer BMC glow plugs and if not does anyone know why the shorter ones need copper washers and the longer BMC ones do not. Pete

Hi and welcome to the forum. In a lot of cases there is no air filter fitted on the BMC 1.5s. Mine doesn't have an air filter. To use that filter you will need to obtain the filter housing and then bolt that to the intake manifold. The only place I can think of who might be able to supply a housing would be Calcutt boats. This is their home page and they do everything BMC. I have dealt with them in the past and they are very helpful. http://www.calcuttboats.com/ I am told that the reason most BMC 1.5 air filters are removed is because they can be a bit of a pig to change because of where they are located and most engine bays are very small, as is mine, and because the engine is running in a relatively clean enviroment, ie no dust etc, people just don't replace the filters. I'm not entirely happy with that idea and at some point I might look for a filter case for my engine. Pete

Hi Regarding the curtain. When I bought my boat there was a decorated window shaped piece of wood in the window behind my stove. That had, at some point before I got the boat, fallen on to the stove flue and there was a burn mark on it. It also made the boat quite dark. I removed the wood and put a piece of net in that window as, without anything there at all, all and sundry could see in. The piece of netting did get warm but a few people said that it looked a bit dangerous even though it was fixed at the top and the bottom with curtain wire. Anyway I removed that and got some of that sticky backed plastic stuff which has a frosted effect and stuck that on the outside of the window. That works quite well, it doesn't get hot and it is still there a couple of years later. I do have a cratch cover on my boat and the sticky backed plastic would, perhaps, not fare so well if it were exposed to the elements. Pete

Done but Q5 "Do I pay council tax" well yes but not for my boat. I suppose it is obvious but it needs to be specified IMO. I couldn't see any reference to length which really renders the cost of mooring irrelevant in the context of the survey IMO. Pete

Is this any good? Pete What is the matter with this forum today thats the second time it hasn't posted a link for me. http://www.olearymotorhomes.co.uk/labcraft-12v-20w-halogen-ceiling-light-single-switch-white-1695-p.asp

Hi I am no expert on this but I don't have to prime my filter when I change it. Mine is on a BMC 1.5 and all I do is change the filter when I do an oil change. I then make sure the oil is up to the relevant mark on my dip stick and run the engine for a few minutes. I then let the oil settle for a half hour or so whilst I have a cup of tea and then recheck the levels and top up if necessary. The filter will be empty at first so when the engine starts pumping the oil around some will go to fill the filter, around a pint or so I would think, so after running the engine the oil levels would be a little low. Pete See differences of opinion already.

Yes the longevity of Hurth boxes is, apparently, not good. having said that my original one was replaced back in the nineties I think and has been okay until my second year of owning the boat. Things like not wanging it back and forth between forward and reverse, and no I am not suggesting that is what you did, and changing the ATF on a more than recomended basis are things that people say will prolong the life of these boxes. They do like to run cool and some ATFs are not recomended for these boxes. In fact Hurth, or whoevefr owns the company now, only recomend one automatic transmission fluid for that particular box. Of course that is the most expensive and the most difficult to obtain. I did manage to get some for my box of EBay. There are some useful maintenance tips here:- also the name of the ATF that is, in their opinion, the best to use and why. Hope that helps. Pete Had to edit that because it lost the copy and pasted link when I posted so I hope that link, which now isn't a live link, works. http://www.foleyengines.com/resources/tech-tips/zfhurth-marine-transmissions-six-step-program HHMM okay must be me LOL. further edit to add the correct working link.

Hi it could be cable stretch or the cable out of adjustment. Both of those adjustments should be faily simple to carry out. http://www.bukh-bremen.de/files/346/upload/Hersteller/ZF/Reparaturanleitung%20u%20Ersatzteilliste%20ZF3M%20bis%20ZF30M%20mechanisch.pdf That is a link to the manual for that (and other) Hurth gearboxes. I haven't looked all through it but I'm sure the measurements you need are in there. I had a similar problem with my Hurth ZF 10 gearbox although mine was in forward. I did all the settings from that manual to no avail. My problem was the clutches. These are replaceable and the bits and pieces are available from ASAP supplies. My problem was that when I got the gearbox apart the bearings needed replacing as well and it. apparently, needed new shims. Also that sort of work was way beyond my capabilities and also the cost of the bits was nearing £300 so I eventually bought a recon unit off Ebay for £350 and fitted that. One day when I can be bothered I might resurrect my old box and have another go. Hope that helps. Pete Forgot to mention that your symptoms sound almost the same as mine. My gearbox would sometimes not engage immediately and would drop in and out of gear for the first 15 minutes or so of cruising. After that it was fine untill the following day, presumably, after it had cooled down.

Thirded. In fact it is the only way I can get mine off. The pipes for the oil cooler go undernerneath my filter and therefore I do not have enough space beneath the filter to unscrew it all the way off. It's much easier to take the whole fitting off from the side of the engine. Very little spillage that way as well. Pete

EERRRMMMM keep your hair on. I thought I was being polite and I do not need nor do I appreciate you talking to me like that even if this is on a forum. Don't worry I will sort it out myself thank you very much. Thank you for your replies prior to that little outburst Pete

Hi Tony Thanks for your very promt replies on this. I don't know how the feed pipe has gone on if that is an adapter. Well i do know how it has gone on as the thread is still there. But if that nut holds the adapter in place then that would explain how air is getting into the system. Certainly bleeding that feed pipe union makes the engine work. I do not bleed any of the other bleed points and it was from this feed pipe union that I saw a spurt of diesel coming out whilst turning the engine over. I shall have a look in the morning and endeavour to find the original nut. If not I do have another very similar nut that should fit. Many thanks for your help with this. I will keep you posted as to the outcome. Pete

EERR okay trying this from my wife's Photobucket. Why the hell can't we just copy and paste the damn piccys Dan??? Anyway here goes hopefully. Okay Tony those are the nuts that I am on about. One of them is missing from the feed pipe that I removed. I assume that it unscrewed when I unscrewed the feed pipe retaining nut and has dropped down under my engine somewhere. As I said I do have a replacement providing there is nothing special about the original nut. Cheers Pete

HHMM okay Tony. It is an air leak from that feed pipe or at least it was. There was a little spurt of diesel as the engine turned over from that pipe. That stopped when I nipped the feed pipe retaining nut up and the engine then stayed running for an hour or so until I shut it down. The nut that I am talking about is visible on the diagram in the engine manual that I have although the diagram is a line drawing so it isn't that clear. I will take a photograph tomorrow and do a scan of the diagram in the engine manual and then see if I can post it up here. Posting pictures up here might just be more difficult than fixing my engine LOL. Anyway thanks for the reply. I'll see what I can do. Pete

Hi again all. resurrecting this thread for a quick question. I replaced the glow plugs on my engine and everything went excellently, or so I thought. After replacing the plugs the engine started first time and I ran it for an hour. I then shut it down and went home. I didn't go down to the boat yesterday (Sat) so it didn't get started. I went down today started the engine and it started fine. It ran for about ten seconds and then cut out. I have had this once before and it was because the engine needed bleeding. I had had to remove one of the injector pipes to remove and replace one of the glow plugs so that, kind of, confirmed my bleeding theory. Anyway I bled the engine and it fired up first time again ran for ten seconds then cut out. Whilst I was turning the engine over I noticed that there was a tiny spurt of diesel from the pipe that I, earlier, had removed so I nipped the nut down tighter. Whilst doing that I noticed that, what appears to be a lock nut was missing. The other injectors each have a lock ? nut as well as the nut that holds the delivery pipe on. The injector pipe that I removed has lost this nut. Anyway after I nipped the pipe nut up again again I restarted the engine and this time it ran fine for about an hour. So my question is, what is this nut for? I cannot find the other one although if it has dropped off the pipe when I removed it it could rolled under the engine so I will have a good look tomorrow. Is it just a lock nut or is it part of the "sealing system" for the delivery pipe? I can find another nut that will fit on if I can't find the original one as long as there is nothing special about the original one. Any help would be appreciated. Pete

I think it's a good idea and in fact I have used similar laminated boards myself. The only thing I would say is that if everywhere is covered in them I think it would look a bit too much. When I bought my boat the walls below the gunnels were covered in a wood style covered hardboard. I do not know what the wood effect was it certainly wasn't a veneer. Anyway this stuff had started to look very tatty in places so I ripped it all off and bought some light coloured laminated floor boards and recovered the lower walls with that. It was much lighter in colour so it lifted the interior and they were dead easy to put up. The walls above the gunnels are toungue and groove and I like that for now so they were left alone. I used silicon sealer to fix mine. Someone will say that was wrong but they are still there nearly 3 years later. I would say go for it but be careful of doing much. I think the lighter coloured boards are better as they lighten the cabin up but that is a matter of taste. The only other thing I would say is that the cheap boards do not come together very well and the gaps between the boards can vary so that they are very visible in places. I used cheap ones in our kitchen at home that is how I know that.

LOL thanks for the offer Mike but I have absolutely no intention of putting the old prop back on. My gearbox coupling is okay. The only core plug that is going to go would be the one that I would not be able to get at without taking the engine out so I fervently hope that a core plug wont go and I have a newish thermostat in. Worn out drive plate ??? LOL. I think the skip is probably the place for that lot but thanks anyway. Pete

Hi Mike Thanks for that but the old ones came out like a dream. Nothing snapped off. I reamed out the galleries with a 4 mil drill bit got a load of muck out using the grease on the bit trick. 2 of the threaded portions on the old plugs were loose and just twisting (yes they were like that before I tried to undo the wire connecting nuts) that is why I wanted to change them. I dont think those two, at least, were actually doing anything and one of the threaded portions just came away. Anyway they are out and I have 4 new ones on order that should be here tomorrow. Thanks for the offer but everything should be okay and you wont have to go digging in those dusty ole ex Keb corners LOL.