Tgno3

Thanks Steve this is good to kno! and Tony good to rule things out so I will have a look tmrw along with testing the header tank and the exhaust manifold. question which may seem simple but just want to clarify- buy filling up to the brim do u mean right up to the the opening of the header tank or the line inside the tank? and by venting do you mean, conduct the test with the cap off ? Again apologies if seems obvious

Hi, got carried away reading the replies, if ever I’m having a bad day I’m going to read this thread. so where will you be continuous cruising ? For instance if in Ldn, there is a small company who provide a compostable toilet collection service specially for boaters. They collect via bike and trailer from Tottenham lock on the Lea to Kensal rise on grand union. you have to pay for it almost like a subscription. Cant remember the prices but they provide tubs and collection service based on how many collections/ how much waste you want collected. it’s a very good idea, I slightly resent paying to have my shit carted off so I’m a cassette kinda gal. On other boats I often see butts on the front of boats which I assume are for composting. anyway here is the company https://www.circularrevolution.org/ quite interesting either way

well you certainly have persuasion skills ! I also find it interesting hence asking so many questions and wanting to figure it out. I’m going to have a bash at it, worse case scenario the engineer who is already coming out can fix but sounds like not much can go wrong ? Whilst I’m at it I’ll re wrap the exhaust in new wrap

Well this is the annoying thing by trade I’m a woodworker (furniture) and very used to being able to fix everything I just need to confidence to use some transferable skills ! Silly really it’s not the stern I have a plastic bucket underneath and it’s currentely bone dry ! Spose that’s one good thing can trade skills- anyone need any wood work advice or upholstery advice I am here ! ps thanks for the encouragement, might even pop to work to collect the right sized spanners tmz

Have mentally logged when it happens and it happens regardless of rain/ dry. Only correlation is when I had the engine running

Ok I will have a look in daylight tmrw thanks Tony

It is a single drip, infrequent but 1000000% coming from engine bay and something is dripping into bilge and no ducks in sight 😂😅 on few occasions I’ve been in my pjs in the engine bay trying to listen/ see where it’s coming from hmm ok regrading misfire I’m unsure but will run by my engineer

The exhaust isn’t flexible at this point, would it still b ok to take apart, am slightly concerned I don’t REALLY know what I am doing so a bit anxious about just un doing it so urring on side of caution to wait for engineer

Hiya sorry catching up- - The drip tray has also had a very small amount of oily coolant. Since owning the boat (bought in Jan) the level of this stayed the same, cleared it out in Aug, the engineer who done the service notified me that it was mainly coolant and it was probably from me over filling the tank, which- I thought I wasn’t doing because I was filling up to the line. He didn’t explain what Tony you have kindly explained which I know and understand now. - since Aug there has been a small amount of liquid in the bilge ( i was unsure of what it was but assumed was coolant) so stupidly didn’t think anything of it as it seemed to building up v v v v gradually and slowly -it wasn’t until about a month ago I was in bed and I could just hear dripping either after a cruise or after charging bats in neutral. On closer inspection I saw quite a lot more build up of liquid in the bilge. I cleaned out and like you said Tony tried to figure out where the drops were coming from with paper towel. one of which I could definitely find was underneath the header tank, it looks like it was coming from the cap, hence the new header cap. - with the new header cap I could still hear a drip at night (driving me mental). So got my normal engineer out and he found a leak on the fuel injector banjo bolt, so the bilge was a combination of coolant and diesel he told me. I also notified him of the exhaust spitting (it wasn’t even as half bad as it is now at this point) and he said keep an eye but could potentially be a few things but might be bore glazing which is common with CCers, said if it gets worse call me asap. (I would have got him out today but he wasn’t about, he is quite busy so would have to wait, guess that’s a good sign) all of the above as previously said (except the exhaust) I’m aware may not be linked or if they are it’s general maintenance rather than my specific problem with the emulsified oil coming out of exhaust. you are completely right I have no idea what a misfire sounds like. I’ve had a be classic 1966 vw beetle and I certainly kno what that sounds like to misfire but we are talking about a diesel engine so assuming it’s potentially not the same ? I am going to test the correct top up level Sorry lots of info but aware you need as much detail as poss, sorry if I’m missing stuff in my replies, Thanks again, T FYI I have no problems starting her up from cold, (nearly) always starts 1st turn of key on cold days 2 turns of key

Don’t feel bad, shit happens and this is the price you pay if you have no idea what you are dealing with and learning as you go (I.e -me) BUT that being said replacing the head without looking at it even to me sounds mad and I’m not willing to just Willy nilly agree to an engineer who came with no tools that his diagnosis is correct! I can tell you folks kno what you are talking about so in no way disregarding that I’m completely on board with the suggestions and advice, I’ll that over this bloke that turned up today any day!!!

Hi Tony, totally didn’t take it like that don’t worry! You folks know WAY more than I do so I’m just trying to absorb everything. My actual engineer who knows my engine and know him from years of work on my mates boat amongst other boats I know. The tricky thing is that he only goes as far to a certain area of London but thankfully happen to be there now. I’m going to get him round to diagnose with his own eyes and get him to test it. I did tell the rcr guy about the manifold and requested that he looked at it but he didn’t even come with tools and asked a colleague over the phone for confirmation so off the bat I was instantly not reassured of his diagnosis.

Apologies Tony if I haven’t quite understood exactly your point. I’m just relaying what the engineer told me. thanks for advice on the rest, i do really appreciate it!

obviously I can’t take what he has told me for gospel. I’m not gona count my chickens yet until I have my own engineer come out as a 2nd opinion (well 3rd including everyone’s input as above) ofc rcr are gona try and cover their ass for any other problems

Hi, RCR came out, said it’s the head gasket. Water is making its way through the oil way and the cylinder, as it’s burning oil and oil is slowly going down consistently. AND or cylinder valves rings/ injector pumps are failing (I think that’s the right terminology he said) Ruled out exhaust manifold gasket as the coolant isn’t going down fast enough/ would be creating lots of steam in engine bay and said the overflowing maybbe the reason why water is making it’s way into exhaust. Said if definitely not be the head gasket it’s the valves but would be advisable (which I will do) to replace the head, as it’s off anyway so might as well. In mean time until I get it seen to, said to keep an eye on oil and water, check oil 30mins-1hr after use and don’t rev too high. Any other advice let me know, thankyou for all the previous help and advice T

This is the oil I have been advised to get which says it’s performance levels are API CG-4/ CF-4/SJ/SL the oil currently in the engine already is 10w/40 API-CC/SF thoughts? Considering I am using the engine to charge batteries/ heat calorifier every other day (Fyi have plenty of solar)

Am calling out canal rescue today! this is exactly what my engineer a couple of wks said it was and I have bought 15w-40 on his recommendation, need to change so will change filter then too, and under the advice of all the above change every 100hrs. I have tried clearing it it’s ALOT of smoke and not entirely sure it worked She starts well even in freezing weather

When I bought the broker said had services from the owner, but obviously this doesn’t mean it was done properly. has no history, unless I’ve been told fibs to. interesting Ray T, maybe the reasoning for the bolt coming unthreaded, maybe something to consider. here are pics of the exhaust spitting if interested, also bit of context, this was after having been run for 25 mins) (disclaimer- stopped engine after seeing how much was coming out, I am not polluting the canal anymore)

Glad that one’s cleared up. I certainly am no expert at all but either way I have come away from this thread knowing a hell of a lot more than I did this morning. it’s wonderful that people WANT to give their valuable knowledge and time to do so. I can see the annoyance if people weren’t being so helpful as to not give detailed explanations/ pics. It’s good folks like myself who are not as knowledgable are not scared to ask on here. With some fb boater pages You would just get barked down at ‘why do you live on a boat if you don’t know how to fix everything’- I’m here to learn, we all have to start somewhere ! i really do appreciate all of it, so thanks again

Well funny you mention I’m actually already with them but I thought it may not be a big enough job to call them out for but CLEARLY it is I’m actually quite worried now, well more worried than I was. I do really appreciate all the time you have and the rest of the people on the thread have put in to advise ! happy new year to you, cheers again

Thank you this is v v v helpful. there would be no reason to not be able to check the bolts, even though I understand what you are saying I would be so worried I would fudge something up without the knowledge to fix. For someone to come and fix this specific problem what would you imagine they would charge or hours to be able to do (just so I know I’m not being had on) I wish I had the know how to do this sort of thing but I guess this is how you learn ay! Thanks Tony, this makes perfect sense I.e the coolant level

Thanks for all the advice- just to be clear, I’m not experiencing symptoms of misfirings so unsure that it this. -the washer needing replacing is the copper seal ring for the fuel injector banjo bolt -the lost bolt is to secure the header tank, this could just be coincidence that this has come unthreaded but thought I would mention as this had happened in the past couple of days -coolant lost after running is usually about 5- 10mm depending on how long I’ve ran her for from the max line in the header tank, even if I’ve been running for a few hours and even under load it never goes down more than this. - overall the levels of oil/ coolant don’t dramatically go down sometimes they don’t go down at all. *update* sorry for previous confusion it’s a mixture of fuel and coolant in the bilge I cleared some out today will upload images

The smoke is not constant it’s only ever when I rev quite high but yes agreed will get someone out who knows what they are doing, cheers

Hi as not done enough posts on here I can’t access/ send PMs. Would be very useful