Tony Dunkley

They don't achieve much during the week either.

It certainly does work very well, and it always has, . . ever since the standard tailshaft, sterngear and rudder layout for motor narrowboats evolved at the beginning of the last century. No need for a dummy shaft, . . the normal method of blanking off the stuffing box end of the sterntube by reversing the packing follower and refitting it over a temporary blanking plate/pad [square and a good fit between the follower studs] and a suitable gasket after the shaft has been partially withdrawn has never been known to fail.

You don't, . . . the tailshaft is removed/re-installed minus the propeller, and with the top bush/bearing loosened and lifted clear of the tube, and the rudder lifted out of the cup and to the side of the skeg. The bench fitting and pre-assembly makes for satisfactory and easy underwater propeller/nut/pin re-fitting.

Getting the tail shaft out with the boat in the water isn't difficult, if you go about it the right way. On some occasions getting the propeller off can be difficult, but you don't have that problem. As you have the offer of machine shop facilities from Richard, your best plan would be to get the tailshaft out and get it over to him, with the propeller and all the rest of the bits. The propeller, with a new key and nut, could then be bench fitted to the tailshaft to make for easy re-installation and re-assembly with boat in the water.

The 1.8's are nothing like as tolerant of worn chains and tensioners as the 1.5's. The timing chain is more than twice the length of the 1.5, and only engages with about one third of the teeth round the bottom of the crankshaft sprocket before passing over a fairly crappy spring loaded mechanical tensioner on it's way to the pump sprocket. I've known a few that have jumped a tooth and bent valves and pushrods, and occasionally cracked or broken a rocker or two, but as you say, a broken camshaft would be something of a first. I did alert the owner of this one to the possibility of the timing chain having jumped a tooth last night on the phone, and for the benefit of any other owners of 1.8's with more than 2500 hours on the clock, I would recommend renewing both timing chain and tensioner as a maintenance precaution against breakdown and engine damage. It's really quite hard to understand why, having made a distinct improvement on the 1.5 by going to a 5 x bearing crank on the 1.8, the makers then spoiled the engine with such a badly designed and engineered mess in the timing case.

Swapping the feed and return pipes from filter to pump won't do anything to re-instate the fuel/air bleed from the top of the filter head back to the tank, and it is essential that this is done. You should be able to get a suitable banjo bolt and washers, and an NRV/check valve for the pump to filter return from a Fuel Injection engineers, or you could try ASAP Supplies or Calcutt Boats. It also looks as though you may need a new throttle cable, and the throttle control lever on the injector pump needs re-positioning a couple of holes clockwise on the throttle spindle. The max. rpm and idling rpm adjustment stop screws are missing and should be replaced and the maximum governed speed re-set to no more than 3600 rpm. With the max. rpm stop screw missing it will be possible to rev the engine to destruction once the fuel system has been sorted out.

What exactly does 'etc' comprise ? . . . there are a number of small parts under the large hexagon fitting in the endplate, some of which are difficult to nigh on impossible to remove/re-assemble with the endplate in situ, . . . 2 x washers, 3 x springs, a plunger and a peg in a sleeve, the transfer pressure adjuster, and the small cylindrical nylon gauze filter. The fact that the engine is now running better after the transfer pressure regulating valve assembly has been disturbed does suggest that the internals may be gummed up, and not operating correctly. I'm baffled by your comment re. the injector pipes. You will have to remove all the injector pipes anyway, irrespective of whether you're just taking the endplate off the transfer pump or removing the complete injector pump. It may help if you could post some photo's of the entire fuel system from tank to injectors, . . . there is another thread running at the moment on a BMC 1.5 [almost identical fuel system] that's behaving in a similar fashion to yours, and it is now evident, since a photo was posted, that the pipework has been messed about with in a way which will almost certainly induce similar problems.

That photo may well be showing the cause of your problems, . . . the fuel system piping on the engine is all to cock. The pipes between the secondary filter [the one mounted on the cylinder head above the flywheel housing] are the wrong way round, . . . the pipe to the injector pump inlet connection [big hexagon fitting on the pump endplate] should run from outlet connection No.3 on the fuel filter head, and the return pipe, from the engine block end of the injector pump body, should go into inlet connection No.4 via a non-return valve. The injector leak off pipe banjo should not be connected to the tank return pipe banjo with what appears to be an ordinary nut and bolt. They should both be connected, by means of an extended [long] banjo bolt with a small centre drilling [to restrict bleed back volume] into the boss adjacent to the centre bolt on top of the filter head into which someone has fitted a blanking plug. With the piping arranged and routed as described above, as it would have been originally, the low volume bleed off of fuel back to the tank from the top of the filter head constantly purges out any small quantity of air, which may get into the system between the tank and the lift pump, before it find it's way into the injector pump. Before undertaking any dismantling/cleaning of the pressure regulating valve and gauze in the injector pump endplate, you need to re-pipe back to the original/correct layout, and change the filter element [because any muck in there will then be on the wrong 'side' of it]. We may possibly have got to the cause of your problems a little sooner if you had posted that photo at the start of this topic.

Yes that is the engine circulating pump pulley so that's good news in that it immediately eliminates the possibility of any overheating damage. To diagnose the problem there are various checks and procedures that you can do yourself whilst being talked through what you're doing over the phone. I'm busy just now, getting some grass cutting done before it gets dark, but if you would like to call me later on 07486 541302 we can probably get a bit closer to tracking down what's gone wrong.

The engine's own centrifugal water pump will be driven by the same belt as the alternator irrespective of whether the engine is keel/skin tank cooled or heat exchanger cooled.

The engine cooling circulation pump is driven by the belt that came off the alternator, so if you continued running the engine for more than a few minutes after the belt came off then it would have overheated. The reluctance to start and run now may possibly be due to this, but if the engine didn't seize at the end of it's last run then you may be lucky and any damage may be limited to the head gasket. If there is any more serious damage than that it won't be anything that isn't repairable, and although it could get fairly expensive, it will be a lot less than a new engine. Depending on where you are, I may be able to call in and take a look at it towards the end of this week.

C&RT have demonstrated what a bunch of spoilsports they really are by denying Andy W. the pleasure of serving a Statutory Demand on the CEO. They have refunded in full all the PBC [Licence] and Mooring fees misappropriated from him since obtaining a Court Order banning him from their waters. The next thing to be addressed is an appropriate figure for C&RT to pay Andy by way of compensation/ goodwill gesture in consideration of their actions. In light of the £150 late payment fee that C&RT regard as an appropriate penalty for late payment for PBC's and Licences, I think that figure, plus interest at County Court rate [ 8% pa.] on the £879.00 looted from Andy's bank account would be a suitable sum with which they could begin to make amends.

No, . . . they are far too bloody-minded and arrogant to climb down sufficiently to make proposals realistic and conciliatory enough to result in a settlement.

Well, yes, but there are degrees of desperation and I can't help thinking that this one, along with the recent strike out /sack Nigel Moore Application, is pretty close to the top of the scale. Almost everything they're saying and doing with regard to Leigh's Claim, and to their current issue sharing Claim against me seems to be aimed at avoiding, or at least postponing for the longest possible time, having to air their ridiculous arguments in an open Court hearing. I think, in reality, they are seriously concerned over the probable outcome and repurcussions from all this, and are now regretting that their own excesses have brought about the situation they find themselves in.

This much more of a desperation argument than a back-up one. Until fairly recently Shoosmiths were blissfully unaware of the wording and implications of Byelaw 19 (1), which, if C&RT's contention that the MNC extends for the full width of any navigation was correct, ie. from bank to bank, could only be complied with by amphibious pleasure craft capable of climbing out of the water when encountering an oncoming or overtaking commercial vessel.

It's wear or mal-adjustment, or a combination of both in the governor and linkage, . . . . not uncommon in multi cylinder Listers of any size or vintage with single element injector pumps. I've got a 150 bhp x 6 cylinder Lister JW6 in a tug that has hunted when idling or at low revs on load since it was new in the early 1980's.

The other Tony put some links to CAV Publications re. DPA injector pumps for you in post #6. You will also need to check the fine nylon gauze strainer to make sure it's clean, and not clagged up with the same sort of gummy muck that can make the regulating valve stick. Depending on the the sort of muck that you will probably find in it, it may not be possible to clean it successfully, but new ones are obtainable in service/repair kits. I would advise removing the endplate assembly from the transfer pump [ after first slackening the larger hexagon with the endplate still in situ, and all 4 x small retaining nuts/studs still tightened ] and then dismantling and cleaning the regulating valve and gauze somewhere where you'll be able to find all the small valve parts and springs that you'll probably drop whilst doing it. Reassembly is a simple reversal of the dismantling process, and final tightening of the large hexagon fitting is done with the endplate back on the pump and immediately prior to reconnecting the 'fuel in' pipe from the lift pump. As you will be dealing with internal components of the F.I. system, the utmost cleanliness in essential during reassembly. Wash/rinse all parts, including any new stuff, in clean fuel and assemble wet and without wiping.

It is great news, and highly encouraging, that C&RT now appear to have recognized the fact that the MNC does not extend across the full width of any navigation and are now reduced to relying on such a pathetically weak argument in support of their claim to have powers to demand the registration of pleasure boats not being kept or used within the MNC of a scheduled river navigation. To attempt to convert the fiscal and temporal parameters of S.4 of the 1983 Act into the widening of a geographical constraint smacks more than a little of sheer desperation. No wonder they are stalling and delaying by every means available, . . . I think they have finally recognized just what a mess they've got themselves into.

Looking back through all your posts, I can't see anything to confirm that you have done anything more than loosen and then re-tighten the [larger] hexagon fitting on the transfer pump end plate, under which is situated a pressure regulating valve and a very fine gauze strainer that Tony Brooks referred to in post #4. If either the gauze is clogged up with gum and/or muck, and /or the regulating valve is not operating freely and correctly for the same reason, then you will get just the symptoms your engine is displaying.

What would happen, if combined with a suitable reduction gear, would be that a lot more of the available horsepower would be turned into propulsive thrust than the pitifully small proportion that usually gets transmitted to the water via small diameter, high revving and very inefficient propellers. You are not taking into account that torque is a constituent part of, and directly related to power. Reduction gearing not only reduces speed of rotation, but it also multiplies torque, . . . by the reduction ratio.

By C&RT's standards, . . . it probably is.

No, . . . the transfer pump is part of the DPA injector pump. It's a rotary vane pump that supplies fuel at intermediate pressure [ more than lift pump pressure - less than injection pressure] to the high pressure plungers in the hydraulic head. The pressure regulating valve and [ nowadays nylon] gauze that get gummed up are under the larger hexagon fitting in the steel end plate which is held on with 4 x small diameter studs and nuts. Be very careful when you open it up, . . . there's a small spring behind the gauze which has a great fondness for the bilge somewhere just out of reach, underneath the engine. Whilst you've got it opened up, check also that the plunger is free to move, and not sticking in it's bore due to gummy deposits and muck.

Check the spring loaded valve and the gauze underneath the [injector] pump inlet union in the transfer pump endplate. The fine gauze can clag up with the same gummy deposits that also form on, and gum up, the spring loaded valve plunger.

We're still having to guess at the type/model of engine, but on the assumption that it's a BLMC 1.5 or 1.8, that you've tested the glowplugs as well as cleaning them, and as the engine runs OK once it starts, then this doesn't sound like anything much more serious than a set of service/exchange injectors, some attention/repair to a fuel leak on the pump throttle housing, and a new timing cover oil seal. Depending on where you are in the Midlands, I may be able to call in and have a look at your engine on the way back home from another job. We do carry/stock Service/Exchange injector pumps and injectors, and a common parts/spares stock for B[L]MC 1.5 /1.8, so I would almost certainly have whatever is needed with me.