The Commodore

Remember you will need to change it again and have the head re-tightened.

I would keep a good eye on http://www.iwai.ie/byelaws/byelaws.php for full details of the forthcoming proposed new amendments to the canal bye-laws.

Bit late on this but I have the BMC 3.8 Commodore and it is very easy on juice and also has the power to cope with fast flowing rivers during flood conditions that i find myself in often, not sure how the 1.5 would cope with same and wouldn't wish to chance it, having recently rebuilt it completely i have great respect for it and consider it bullet proof.

Well i did manage to remove it by heating it with the dryer and using the drill once i got a good grip it came easy, easy but i did chip a small piece (1cm2) off the edge so am now a little concerned about it being balanced, was thinking of glueing the piece back with some heat resistant glue, the material seems to be a Bakalite type substance, any thought on this would be apprieciated.

Hi all, Have a noisey bearing on this heater but can't for the life of me get the impellor off the motor shaft, had it in the freezer and put the hair drier on it, then the drill, not a budge, anyone any ideas on this ? Thanks.

Thanks for that Geoff your a Gent.

OK, engines back and will be going in this weekend. Can anyone tell me how to deal with the hydraulics, ie do they need bleeding or will it bleed itself ??

No one here mentioned Engine Restore to me, I dare say a lot cheaper than the €3000 engine restore I just purchased.

I ended up putting it all into a reputable engineering shop after a fall out with original chap after a threat of getting it all back in a box, thankfully I did just that, it turned out that one of the liners was holes and cracked, all now rebuilt and should be back next week.

You have my alarm bells ringing. Not sure of the qualifications of the chap doing the job but he's an elderly man who seems to know what he's talking about, recommended by a friend, difficult for a numpty like myself to be telling a tradesman what to do so i'm thinking of getting a complete engine rebuild kit and asking him to fit it. Thoughts ???

Thanks for that, will check. Was going to paint but hell of a job to degreese it and not sure if paint would stick.

It appears that i should be doing the Loto as i'm so lucky. The engine is now stripped and on investigation it appears that the problem was caused by the overheating and blowing the head gasket, this slowly allowed the sump to fill with water to the extent that there was so much water/oil in the sump it caused the engine to lock, thankfully no significant damage but i will be taking the opportunity to freshen her up a bit, anyone any suggestions on what i should do while the opportunity is there ??

Hope i'm ok jumping on this but can i identify anything for sure from my engine number, i'm trying to source parts but the parts listed on the internet for my BMC 3.8 dont seem to look like what i have, ie, 5 rings for a piston but mine seems to only have 4 My Engine number :- 498NV1600G2323221

Injectors out and still no movement, rebuild under way.

Turns out its a Dowty pump, have removed it and it does turn freely by hand and unfortunetly the engine will still not turn over on the key.

Thanks for that, i'll report back.

Sent.

No drive plate, the pump appears to be bolted directly on the end of the block, am i right in thinking that there would be a shaft from engine going into the pump and oil seals should prevent leakage ? I put pics on photobucket but the community apparently wont except pics from there, can supply the link by PM if required.

Sorry but although i have pictures i always struggle posting them here, done photobucket but i just can't cop on to it. The pump does have flexies on each side so i think i will attept to remove it. If it does turn out to be the pump or spool valve is it a repairable fix or replacement ?? Thanks for all the advice by the way. It is what i inherited with the boat although i have thought of changing it.

You have it spot on. The electronic control is a engine control at the helm (at bow) that uses electrical cables to send electrical signals to an electronic unit in the engine bay (stern) this unit uses 2 electric motors that control 2 mechanical cables to push or pull both the throttle cable and the drive control (Spool valve ?). I am myself starting to sway towards an hydrualic failure of some type. Could i simply unbolt the pump from the engine or would engine oil leak ?

As i said, i walked away to sleep on it, and take advice here on what to check for on my return. Would a fould prop matter, when in nuetral should it not disingage the drive?

Sorry, yes its more a clunk than a click.

That's what i was thinking, could that be possible?? i have no idea of how this drive selector works. The engine wasn't at all hot when she died.

It has a Hydraulic pump rather than a gearbox that pumps oil to the hydraulic motor via a drive selector control that is controlled electronically via the engine control. I believe i manually put it into nuetral and tried turning it over, no joy. The engine did overheat last year but was fine after the blocked pump impellor blades were traced, it has though always lost some water and always shown a cleamy deposit in the rocker cover that folk here advised me was the norm with this engine. The engine oil was replaced last summer and would have been done again in the next few weeks if i had got to it, i hadnt checked its condition since putting her back in. Another factor that may be something, when i put it in first and she overheated i found that the hydraulic resevoir was missing about 6lts of fluid, and it wasnt in the bilge.

No, i just walked away in order to sleep on it, usually a help for me. But as you mention it ! The boat has hydraulic drive and electronic engine control, the engine control had just been re-syncronised due to a problem last season that the control would on occasion not select drive, i did since the event manually move the gear selector control to nuetral but it still will not turn over