Christianonthecut

Back at work now, so won't get to do anymore until sometime next week . I was chatting with the chap moored a few boats down and he recommended that I start using fuel set to treat the tank and prevent the issue of bug. Sounds like a good idea? Also are there any other areas of maintenance on the BMC which are often overlooked and need checking? I've already flushed and refilled the coolant and of course it has oil and filters, and the gearbox gets a drain and refil at the same time, but anything else specific to the BMC which should be part of the maintenance schedule? Thanks

Yes, no cross threading or zealous over tightening today. The pressure of the break down and tiredness from a long days cruising was the only outcome possible for that nasty little 8mm bleed screw. Besides, the JB weld blob on the top of the pump matches the bilge paint now.

The sealing washer is still in place, I will try tightening the screws around the body. Thanks Bizzard. Any thoughts on these sheared bolts? Ever heard of then going like that before?

Just managed to free the fuel tap and tested the lift pump. It passed both the pump and vacuum tests outlined earlier without problem, but does still seem to be leaking from somewhere. Although again, not from the unions.

I took the lift pump dome top off and found the strainer more or less completely blocked with crud. It wasn't slimey, just standard dirt and believe it or not dog hairs!! So I cleaned it out, but noticed that the lift pump is leaking really badly and not from either of the pipe unions. Next, I took the banjo bolt off the filter housing and blasted the small hole on the side out with some carb cleaner, but it was already pretty clean. Last of all I took the big nut on the filter fuel inlet of and took the gauze filter, spring etc out and gave all of that a good clean out. It was also full of dog hairs...no idea how they made it through both filters to that point. There was some dirt, but a blast out with carb cleaner had the whole lot is like new again. Reasembled and it's ready to prime and start although I haven't done so yet because I haven't tested the lift pump as the fuel shut off valve is stuck fast and I can't turn the fuel off. I made a mess everywhere opening the top of the lift pump. I also found another problem albeit not fuel related. Whilst scratching around by the lift pump I found a sheared bolt underneath the engine and realised that it was from the engine mount. A bit of investigation has revealed that the bolt holding the mount to the side of the block is the only one still in place, and the 2 on the front plate are both missing. On the alternator side, the bolt in the block has sheared off(although has been like it for some time as the engine repaint a few years ago confirms that the bolt was not present at that time) and the 2 bolts holding the mount to the front plate are the only ones in place.

Thanks Tony, I will check everything you listed tomorrow. I just emptied some of the remnants from the old filter and it seems to have lots of dirt and muck in it. It just looks like plain old dirt to me. Not sure what a bug looks like.

Hi Tony, I just wanted to say that the engine does rev up just before it cuts out. By the end I could anticipate when it was going to die because of the flare in revs. I even managed to avert the engine stopping on the final stretch by lowering the engine speed when I heard the revs start to increase. Backing off the throttle a touch was enough to keep it running. There is no water trap or filter before the lift pump and the return line to the tank is there and the banjo on top of the filter housing is clear. Thanks

Sorry about the delay. managed to get it running with more fuel and a good bleed off. It was running better than ever, my bodge and faff about with the top bleed screw has ever so slightly increased the idle speed and the boat runs at a better speed now at idle. It was either too slow or too fast before, but perfect now. We moored up last night about 3 miles from where we broke down. No internet or phone signal though . I checked everything over and then an early start this morning. Got about 1/2 a mile this morning and it stopped once again. Another bleed off ensued using the 8mm on the side of the pump and cracked 2 injectors and off it went again. Got a further 2 miles and the same thing again. This time I just bled the 2 injectors at full throttle on the starter and away she went. Same again 2 miles after this and we managed to limp into Norbury Junction to get some more diesel.So the tank is over 1/2 full now. This time we left Norbury and kept going for nearly 7 miles all at just a touch over tick over. Less than walking pace, but it kept running and would have done all the way back, but in order to see if the extra fuel had fixed the problem I gave it some throttle on the home straight and it immediately died. Got it back to the home mooring at tickover after a quick bleed on the 2 injectors...Thanks God!! Thoughts and opinions appreciated. I'm thinking lift pump maybe. There is always fuel at the injectors when I bleed at full throttle, there is never a delay in delivery after it has stopped. Thanks again everybody for all of your help.

So many differing opinions on effectively bleeding this 1500 engine. Some say it self bleeds, the manual says to unscrew the top screw, still others say not to touch it. Fuel is on its way, I will report back shortly.

Thanks for the link to the manual. There seems to be fuel at the injectors. I haven't tried to start it yet as I haven't been able to get anymore fuel. Seems crazy when there's about 80 litres in the tank. We had just filled the water tank before it conked and the angle the boat sits in the water had changed, so this may have caused a starvation issue if the tank pick up is not very close to the bottom for whatever reason. There's a garage that sells red over the road, but not open until tomorrow!! The bleed screw is sealed although won't be bleeding anything off again, hope I can work around it. I've connected the starter battery to the domestics and solar is giving it a good charge so should have plenty of cranking power. Will the system self bleed if it cranks over enough?

It leaks. I have unscrewed it and cleaned it up and sealed it with some jb weld. Only stuff I had on hand. will refit in the morning it shouldn't leak, but I won't be able to bleed from there again. Any advice for bleeding from injectors? Gotta say I'm kinda worried it might be a loss of compression. Anybody have experience of headgasket blowing on the 1500? No water in oil, no overheating, no loss of coolant and all still clean? It lost power and then died all within seconds. It has always been a good starter and runner up until today.

So I should have left everything until tomorrow but decided to investigate further. the lift pump seems to be pumping diesel around now. I bled the filter, then undid the 8mm screw on the side of the fuel pump and bled that off, then undid the bleed screw on the top and bled that off, then tightened it up and managed to snap the stinking thing off!! Double help.

Hi Tony, Thank you. Will get some diesel in the morning and report back from there... had enough today.

Hi all, Need help. We were cruising along at full tilt on the shroppie when the BMC decided to shut down. After a little drama I got the boat over to the tow path and moored it up. Time to investigate. Initial thoughts were that we had ran out of diesel. But the tank is still 1/4 full. A friendly passer by suggested that the fuel filter could be blocked and fortunately I have a spare so quickly fitted this. The original filter was full of fuel and made a right mess everywhere. So new filter fitted and time to prime. Only problem is I'm not sure how to bleed the filter housing and fuel pump. I tried pumping the lift pump but it didn't seem to be doing anything. So I disconnected the union that feeds the filter from the lift pump and began to pump it but nothing was coming out. I then spoke to somebody who suggested I turn the engine over slightly until there it resistance on the pump action. Sure enough fuel started to pump through albeit very sporadically and not much. So I undid the big bleed screw on the filter housing and began to pump it and air bubbles started to come out, but I haven't been able to get anything like a steady flow of fuel out of it. It's like the fuel tank is empty, but as I say it is definitely 1/4 full. Thoughts, ideas and info to bleed the pump would be appreciated. We are stranded at present!! Help. Nice view though.

I like the 8mm studs much better than the usual clamping arrangement. However, that's the only good comment I would make about the Numax CXV batteries...Completely and utterly unimpressed with mine.