Cheshire cat

If you haven't got your button sorted out I'm sure these guys can supply you. They make them for everyone else including boat hire companies, A new button awaits They also make thousands of those rubber fenders that get wrapped around the prop

The engine has been behaving itself although it has only been out for two short runs. In my own mind if the fault reappears I would want to look at the spill rail and also try to borrow a diesel compression tester.

There's an ex workboat on the bottom at the visitor's moorings at Huddlesford Junction. The same boat was on the bottom last year for many months where the Coventry passes under the A38. Judging by the increasing number of pumps on the bankside it took several attempts to raise it so it must be galling that she's gone down again.

Spend a day with a wire brush is very optimistic in my experience. I have just reblacked our boat using Intertuf. Prior to applying it I tried wire brush and polymer abrasive discs in an anglegrinder to remove the rust around the waterline. The wire brushes are effective but polish the metal which isn't good if you want something to stick to it. The discs simply smear what blacking is left. They do get rid of it eventually but you would spend a lot of money to remove all the blacking on an average sized boat.

My insurance is due next month. Towergate have informed me I need to get a survey because the boat will become 25 years old during the next insurance period. Annoying because the email informing me arrived days before the boat was coming out of the water and too short a time period to arrange a Surveyor. I plan to switch insurers in the short term and plan for a survey in a more leisurely timeframe.

Presumably one of the total loss scenarios involves a sinking in which case there's a chance you get a hefty bill because it needs to be refloated and removed from the water.

I was wondering how Wayne was doing whilst out boating this weekend. Come back, do a bit of digging and lo and behold. You can't keep a good man down.

What is the correct space between prop and stern tube? On our boat the gap is negligible. I do know the previous owner changed a PRM mechanical box for a PRM150 at some point.

When I bought CAV injectors from Calcutt last week they came with 12H220, 11B276 and the small copper washers for the banjo fittings on the bleedback rail.

That's a good idea David. We'll try that before spending any money.

Thanks Eeyore. I don't particularly want to get involved in taking the head off at the moment. We might have to consider it if the fault returns. My track record with exhaust manifold stoods isn't good. I really don't want to be getting into trying to remove snapped exhaust studs. The boat is going out for a cruise at the Bank Holiday. It will be interesting to see how it performs.

Tony, I was given new steel fire shield washers with the injectors but didn't have an exploded parts diagram. Looking down the injector hole I thought I was looking at the base of the top hat. The pin hole is what you are calling the auxilliary spray hole. What is its purpose. Regarding the spill rail, I was referring to the poorly made bend which looks severe enough to put a restriction on diesel returning to the filter. Is the diesel under pressure at this point in its journey. I'm wondering if the bend could be improved with a bit of heat. New spill rails are available from Calcutt. £55.00 Eeyore, what is involved in cleaning out the exhaust manifold. Is it easy to take off? No point in doing that though unless we work out what is causing the excessive carbon to be created in the first place. I'd just like to say thankyou again for everyone's help.

Interesting day. I decided to buy a couple of injectors. Hopefukky replace the dodgy one and have a spare. Called in to a diesel centre in Leamington that advertises them on Ebay. He had some but would only sell on an exchange basis. Fair enough. Went to Calcutt and they sorted me out. Back at the boat. Turned the engine over with difficulty. Couldn't use the breaker bar because it was too long and the socket wrench was a bit too small which caused jerky movements. Result inconclusive. Took the tappet cover off. Noticed that one of the cylinder head bolts holding the rocker pedestals down had blue engine paint on it. It must have been external at some point. Makes me think that someone has had the cylinder head off in the past. Took the rocker assembly off. The rocker faces are worn, some worse than others, but no great indentations. Some valve tops showing slight signs of wear. Checked the valve clearances. Some were only 12 thou but no real surprises. Decided not to start the engine because I hadn't done anything that would make a difference. Took out number one injector easily. Turned out it isn't a rogue. The inbound pipe has been swaged badly which means the locking nut won't go up the threads as far as it does on the other pipes. I noticed that the pin hole referred to by Tony was buried under a coating of carbon. Replaced by a rebuilt injector. (The replaced injector has been in service for less than 150 hours. Took out number two or at least tried to. It put up a fight. In the end I levered it out which caused me to loose the spill rail bolt in to the engine tray. An hour later I was having a serious sense of humour failure, eventually managed to recover it by dragging a rag lengthways through the tray. Number two injector didn't have the large copper washer fitted! I'm not sure of the ramifications of this. Presumably it would be difficult to get a good seal around the injector. Picture attached of the nozzle on this injector. I presume the black crescent is where it has been touching the fireshield washer. I didn't have my laptop with me so couldn't work out where the fireshield washers went. The old ones are still in there. New ones not used. Managed to put everything back together and fired up the engine. It started on four! Stopped and started again several times and it always came back on four and the rev counter showed 800 rpm. Very pleased. There's still what Tony called a diesel knock present though and there's more black smoke than I think there should be. By this time it was 6.30 so I didn't do anything with regards to investigating further. I'm interested in the last two lines. What do you think about this. It's the spill line on its way back to the fuel flter

This thread has been running too long. I posted earlier that I had been in touch with the owner. He has had this problem for some time and had the injectors replaced with this "set" about two months ago. The problem went away for a short while but has returned. There is grey smoke from the exhaust until the fourth cylinder joins in. My plan is 1) turn the engine over manually to see if I can detect low compression on one of the cylinders. I haven't got a diesel compression tester. 2) Have a look at the rockers to see what state they are in. If they are worn that might be an indicator as to the likely state of the valves and guides. 3) Set the gaps on the valves to 15 thou 4) Start the engine and see what happens If it still starts on three I shall turn my attention to the injectors. Warning duly noted about making sure I don't inject myself with diesel. What does a top hat look like? Should it come out of the injector hole?

I'm trying to rationalise that in my mind. Possibly unburnt fuel is helping out the piston rings? Takes a while to build up on a cold start but already "wet" on restart? Maybe. Can also see that it could be a sticky valve. It stops sticking once it's got a bit of lube from unburnt fuel? I would say that there aren't any odd noises in so much as there's no clacking going on. The exhaust note changes when the fourth cylinder kicks in. I'll see if I can get something loaded on Youtube. Cold start. Engine picks up after 57 seconds

I'm going with the low compression theory at the moment. I'm fairly confident it's the cylinder at the other end of the block that has a problem. Hopefully, more news on Wednesday unless the weather is terrible.

OK, sorry for disappearing. We have just finished our blacking and put our boat back in the water. I had a chance to look at the BMC again this morning though not with the correct tools yet. I checked the oil level. It is on max. It doesn't smell unduly of diesel. I started the engine. I actually turned the key too far and it fired up without any glowheat. I watched the exhaust and could see a grey mist coming out of it. I had to wait only a minute today before the fourth cylinder fired up and engine revs increased by 200 rpm. Two or three seconds later the grey mist disappeared confirming to me that all four cylinders were firing correctly. I stopped the engine and restarted it . Back on to three cylinders for 10 seconds and then the fourth cylinder joined in. I had a brainwave at this point and decided to feel the injectors. The engine wasn't anywhere near normal running temperature but I am sure that the suspect cylinder is number 4. The injector body of number 4 was cooler than the other three. I've looked at the high pressure pipes and can't see any evidence of diesel weeping. Annoyingly, number four's pipe comes out of the pump underneath the pump body so difficult to see even with a mirror. I shall return with appropriate tools on Wednesday. I measured the crankshaft pulley nut as 1 1/4 AF. Is that correct? I have a suitable socket and bar breaker so should be able to turn the engine over OK.

And when you are finished apply grease or waxoyl to protect for the future

Thanks all. I'll have a look around for signs of a leak. Failing that my feeler gauges are at home 60 miles away. I was anticipating a glowplug fault so only brought appropriate tools to pursue that line of investigation. I shall be back early next week with a full tool kit. I've worked on A, B and C series petrol engines but never previously a diesel. On the petrol I would take the plugs out and turn the engine over by hand. How do I go about doing it on a diesel? I'm anticipating the compression will be more difficult to overcome. Someone mentioned unburnt fuel (white smoke). I shall take note today. In my opinion it does throw out an above average amount of black smoke when running on four cylinders, particularly if given some throttle. At the momement I'm thinking the black smoke is a seperate issue.

Here is an update to muddy the waters. I've been in touch with the owner. The engine had this fault before the glowplugs and injectors were changed. The glowplugs were changed which got rid of a cold start problem. The injectors were replaced because of "running on three" syndrome. Following replacement of the injectors it started on four for a while (only a few starts over a period of a month or so) but has now gone back to starting on three. If it was air on the high pressure side I would be expecting to be able to see a diesel leak. If it was on the low pressure side I would expect all cylinders to be affected. I'm blacking my boat tomorrow but when I've got the final coat on I shall have another look. My first thought is to try slackening the nuts on the fuel supply in turn. I'm expecting it not to want to start on two cylinders so that would indicate which cylinder is at fault. It's not just the injectors. Look at the nuts on the delivery pipes. They vary in depth too. One and two are the same but three and four are different It's not as though the engine is an old nail. It hasn't done a lot of hours.

I hadn't considered air getting in to the system but that feels like a valid explanation. Is it just a question of a gentle tweak of the pipework or do we need new crush washers? Regarding the injectors I would feel happier if we had four identical ones. I note that Tracy has previously stated that the injector nozzles are a different length on BMC compared with Perkins and it is important to buy from someone who knows this. I was wondering if either of you could recommend anywhere? The boat is currently in the Midlands but willing to travel 50 miles or so for the correct parts if necessary. MTB makes a valid point. The owner is out of the country at the moment. It was the first trip out since replacement injectors and he only started mentioning the symptoms part way through. I'll see if I can get clarification on that.

I'm trying to help a friend with a BMC 1500. It recently had new glowplugs and replacement injectors (allegedly refurbished) The symptoms are that on first startup of the day the engine starts easily but sounds rough. It runs willingly though. After two or three minutes of running the revs will suddenly rise and the engine will run much more sweetly. I am guessing this is when the fourth cylinder decides to join the party. I think I'm correct in saying that this only started to happen part way through a two week cruise. My first thought was that maybe a connector had vibrated loose on one of the poer leads supplying the glowplugs or maybe an early life failure of one of the glowplugs. I' have checked the leads. They were all tight. I've taken them off and checked the resistance of the glowplugs. They are all showing 0.7 - 0.8 Ohms which makes me feel they are still good. I put everything back together and started the engine as expected it was around three minutes before all four cylinders were firing. I let the engine run for a short while whilst scratching my head. I then turned it off and immediately tried to restart it. Yet again it started on three but this time the fourth cylinder joined in within 10 seconds or so late. Subsequent restarts were the same. Fourth cylinder was always 10 seconds late. I'm thinking faulty injector but I can't logically explain what is going on. Any ideas welcome. Picture of engine attached for what it's worth. I notice that the injectors are a motly crew. One and two appear to be identical, three looks aftermarket and four has a longer thread on the fuel supply neck so obviously different again.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned. We think that the impact of weed is influenced by the shape of your swim and the amount of prop shaft in the water. Our shared boat had a poor swim shape and a prop shaft protruding maybe six inches from the sterntube and used to pick up everything from reeds to builders bags to tracky bottoms. The current boat simply doesn't.

Hexaboard might be black when you purchase it but 12 months in the sun will have bleached it to grey/brown

Given that he is up the Ashby the options with regards to buying a soldering iron will be severely limited. It's very rural. A lot of the local bus services seem to have been culled in the recent shake up. There are buses from Snarestone and Market Bosworth though.