Noam Chomsky

@Richard, I did have a look at the manual, and did in fact see that tye engine is capable of monitoring all sorts, but unfortunately the dash is third party and there's no other display panel. So it's still a mystery what the light means. I changed the oil filter and took the air filter out and gave it a quick dust off. The air filter was pretty sooty. After that, the engine was working again, no warning light, everything good. Until I next turned the engine on and the light was back! I had no way of telling whether it was the oil or air filter fiddling that caused the temporary fix, but decided to take the air filter out and give it a proper wash in the sink. During the wash the rubber seal crumbled away. I took that as a pretty clear sign I wasn't going to get any more life out of it, so I've ordered a new one off eBay. Should be here tomorrow, I'll keep you all updated. @Neskatxa, that's looking pretty plausible at the minute.

Thanks Trento. I didn't change the filter. If I need to make one more journey before I change the oil filter, am I risking my engine's life?

Trying to figure out if there's coolant in the engine, I see an "oil cooler" on this diagram that seems a long way from the air filter: Any clues here? I think the air filter might need to be cleaned. I'll follow the warning light's wire to see if it looks like a likely suspect. Thanks everyone.

Thanks for the quick responses, guys. @Starcoaster: Here's a picture of the dash, although I think this will only add to the mystery (my apologies for the shoddy camera work): @BlueStringPudding: Don't think it's diesel, as I've run out of diesel twice, and it would have been very useful both of those times if a light had come on to warn me. Temperature seems unlikely to me given that it happened literally the moment I turned the engine on, but maybe it's indicating a problem with the airflow, this being an air-cooled engine? @Mike, you're right, that's a sure-fire way of finding a Big Clue. I can't open the dashboard right now, but I can this weekend. If this is because of a liquid level sensor, and my oil is at max, could this just be a case of leaving the engine on until the light goes away? That would be heaven. As the Hatz is air-cooled I don't think there's any liquid coolant in there - the manual didn't mention any. The other thing I could do is check the oil level again - there could be a leak? @Sir Nibble - just put the key in, but didn't turn on the engine. The light didn't come on. It has a very eccentric way of starting up though, I'm not entirely sure the key does that much - this engine doesn't need any kind of warming, you literally turn the key, pull a knob and it jumps into life. Thanks again for the help everyone.

Hi everyone, I hope some engine-clever people can help me figure this one out. A few weeks ago I was cruising on my boat, when for the first time ever a red warning light on my dashboard came on. Unhelpfully, this light has no label - and as it's remained off for the two and a half years I've owned this boat, I have no idea what it means. I knew it couldn't be good, but there was no chance of mooring for another hour, so I plunged on, then had to leave straight away. I did check the battery voltage on my electronic display, and everything seemed fine in that department, so I assumed it must be an oil problem. Yesterday I checked my oil - it was black, so I changed it, and for good measure I filled it all the way to the maximum level. I then started the engine with some high rev in neutral, and the warning light came back on! I idled the engine, and the light disappeared. I slowly added to the rev until the light started blinking, then added more 'til the light came on solid. At this point I wondered if it was just a case of leaving the new oil to circulate for a while, so I left the engine on idle for half an hour - to my dismay, when I came to look at the dashboard again, that light was a solid red, even on idle! All the while, the batteries seem to be charging fine. So unless the fuel filter needs changing, I've run out of ideas. The engine in question is an air-cooled Hatz (link: http://www.hatz-diesel.com/en/products/diesel-engines/l-series/product/details/name/2l41c/) and it's always been incredibly quiet. It's between 5 and 7 years old, and it's a beaut. The last thing I want to do is kill it through ignorance - can anyone suggest what this warning light might be saying? If it's practical, I'll buy a beer for whoever helps me get to the bottom of this. If it isn't practical, I buy you one as soon as it is. Thanks a lot, Noam

Thanks Mike - appreciate the fast response! 1) I thought so too, but I can't find anyone specifically heating a tank! I might not know the right terminology here. 2) I am planning on ripping the Heatmaster stove out, and replacing it with a solid fuel, but keeping the heatmaster's old water tank. Didn't make it clear in the original post, sorry about that. 3) No official link for the heatmaster, as they're out of production, but here's a link that might help: http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=30416 4) The Morso is what I would go for if I had the cash, but it's going to have to boatman at the moment. Thanks a bunch! PS - looked up "calorifier", seems it's what I've been calling a "boiler tank", which would explain why my search terms weren't working - will have another look now that I know what I should be looking for. Thanks!

Hi everyone! This will be my second winter living aboard my boat, and the last winter was pretty rough - all I had by way of heating was an old Ellis Heatmaster boiler, which given its age is a pretty good little thing, but still left me feeling the cold a bit! To make matters worse, the boiler actually managed to melt itself last Spring - the piezo ignition won't press down because of the heat damage, and the plastic sheet over the flame-view hole melted clean off! Obviously this is a pretty dangerous condition for a boiler to be in, and the colour the flame was burning before the melting incident suggests bad things (a bright roaring yellow!) So, background info out the way, in the coming weeks I'd like to get some heating set up! I'm on a tight budget, so I can't afford both a replacement boiler and a solid fuel stove, but I'd like to install a boatman stove with back boiler and have it heating the old Ellis Heatmaster's tank. In theory I think this should be possible, but none of my internet searching has turned up anyone ever having tried to heat a boiler tank with a solid fuel stove before! So I thought I'd ask the experts - have you ever come across a set up like this? Do you personally think it's worth trying? And does anyone know how many KW of heat I'll need to heat both a 20 Gallon water tank and a 50ft narrow boat? Even the equation to work this out would be much appreciated! Any other information you need from me, please just ask! I'll be grateful for any advice given. Thanks a lot, Wilf

Hi there - I just bought a boat about a week ago. She's beautiful, I'm over the moon. But one problem I've found is that my 1800W Sterling Quasi Inverter tends to start whistling after 20mins or so of use while the engine's off. Is this normal? I know that the cables used to install the inverter weren't as heavy as they should be, and the three leisure batteries (and one starter battery) were fitted in 2008. I'm running a laptop only through the inverter. Any ideas on how to get more life out of it?