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Good afternoon I have a question in regard to my raw water cooled engine and the coolant. To be perfectly honest I’m struggling to understand the system. From what I understand raw water if feed via the water pump thought the heater exchange and then out via the exhaust (my be using the wrong terminology). My question is in regards too coolant or water in the heater exchange prior to running the engine. At the moment the heater exchange is empty of any for of liquid. Should there be coolant in there ? From what I can see here is one pipe that runs through the heater exchange. If somebody can direct me to the appropriate section of the following http://www.tb-training.co.uk/15cool.htm#bmn51 as I am still unsure even after reading the information on the website. // Having read this post (although the engine is different looking) from my understanding the heater exchange should be filled with a mixture of water and antifreeze, and that there should be liquid in the heater exchange (the mixture) rather than as mine is at the moment which is bone dry from the looks of it. I have included some pictures below of the engine and of the inside of the heater exchange as best I can. Will happily upload more pictures if needed. I appreciate this question will seem silly to some but I’m struggling to wrap my head around it. Thanks Dan

Hello lovely people, this is my first post and I am new to boating - all advice appreciated. I am looking for a 40 foot cruiser mainly for leisure purposes though my teenage children also like the idea of living on it. My budget is 35 grand. With the huge variation in layout, I have mainly focused on finding an interior that I like, making the assumption that it would be more costly to entirely refit an interior than to replace engines and potentially plating. That assumption might be completely wrong… I have found this boat and love the interior, it completely works for what I need and looks attractive. I like that the kitchen is small and the bathroom is split as it allows more living space and that it has a king-size bed at the back which also converts into bunks. I think the pump out loo is probably most practical as it reduces arguments about emptying cassettes… I haven’t much a clue about the technical specifications and would really appreciate advice or musings on the likely issues. Reading around things I can see that the 5/5/3 hull might be an issue. I will definitely get a full service done. A big plus for me is that it’s only 20 grand, which should give me plenty of money for replacing things. What do you think? https://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/springer-40-cruiser-stern-for-sale/783217

Hello this is my first post here, I was driving my boat the other day and I lost the reverse gear, I took a look at it and noticed this part highlighted no longer moved into reverse when the throttle was pulled back into reverse. Any help? Please ignore all the oil in the bilge I had an oil spill from the engine a few days ago which is all sorted now just need to clean up

Hello I got some 15w 40 oil for my BMC 1.5 and was wondering if this is the best option for it and what quantity to put into once fully drained? If so does anyone recommend a certain brand and where to get it cheap? Also asking about the best oil for the gearbox? Appreciate all suggestions! Thank you 🙃 all the best Goldilocks

My BMC 1.5l marinised diesel engine has not been looked after well by the previous owner. I am slowly going through bit by bit to fix the obvious problems. In a renovation of the cooling system of ehich there were many problems I found that there was no thermostat. I bought a new one to correct this omission. Specifically: https://www.asap-supplies.com/products/thermostat-82-c-with-bypass-shut-off-disc-199034 However, when installing I noticed that the depth of the thermostat would unlikely reach the depth to block the return valve. See photos. My question, maybe naively is; - Is this correct? - If it isn't what am I missing or where can I get a thermostat with the correct dimensions?

Hello, Does anyone know where I can buy one of these? It is a fuel injection pump driving gear lubricator filter for a BMC 1.5 diesel, and is located in the engine block on the opposite side to the injection pump. As can be seen , mine has disintegrated, and I see from an earlier post that there is now a more modern replacement (metal mesh, pictured). I don't mind which one I get, but I've had no luck in sourcing one. Would be grateful for any leads. Many thanks, Guy

Hello After another fix, I've just located a steady drip of fuel seemingly coming from the screw for my throttle lever on my BMC 1.5. I can't seem to find any useful information on tips to maybe replace the washer on the screw or if it is something further along into the governor housing. Has anyone had this issue before and if so, got any tips? Thanks!

Is it possible to have this starter motor rebuilt or should it be replaced? If so, by whom? or replaced with what? And would it need to be an insulated earth? I'm getting confused 😕 Thanks for any help given.

So about 3 months ago the nightmare began. The engine’s cooling system has always been a bit leaky but that’s never been an issue, I would top up the bowman heat exchanger before cruising and everything was fine. until one day it wasn’t. (as an aside the calorifier never worked either) The inevitable happened and the coolant must have gotten too low, steam, hissing and dead. Head gasket was my first thought. But i thought, I’ll give some other things a try before I start dismantling the engine. I bled the fuel lines and it went! All good! How Weird! 500m down the canal and a slow dying of the engine began, it spluttered dead and we had to catch a boat to pull ourselves to the towpath. Milky oil, not starting at all. We took off the engine head, which I had never done before and it was pretty nasty looking. Seemed obvious, head gasket had gone due to cooling. so we put it all back together, what a tough one. Nothing quite wanted to go back the same way, we had leaky fuel lines, broken bolts, dodgy threads and eventually had to make a change to the fuel return system as a spill rail bolt on the cav filter was near impossible to source. This was the fuel return line that before went from the injectors to the top of the cav filter and then also back to the tank through a double banjo bolt setup. The change we had to make was to put the return back to the cav through a single banjo bolt as that’s all we could find that would fit the large diameter of the filters’ hole and just not bother with the tank return. I replaced the leaky rubber ends of the bowman head exchanger and tightened up any seals that dripped water before and that was all sorted too. After this final problem we got it to fire! There was tears and everyone, me, my partner and the mechanic we hired was overjoyed at this. It was quick to start especially due to the cold weather. And we thought the headache was over. All good, we said goodbye to the mechanic and had a drink to celebrate. The next day we fired her up, what a lovely sound it was. But after about 10 minutes of running I heard a tick sound come from cylinder 4. Which I assumed was just a misfire maybe. But it seemed to then cause a consistent loud ticking and puffs of compressed air from just below the glowplug on cylinder 4. I thought maybe it was a bad glowplug and we had made it have a dodgy seal when we had the engine head off. So I replaced all 4 glowplugs and tried it again. Still ticking and now I notice all the white smoke coming from the exhaust. My heart sank. We are trying to stay positive as it’s been a tough winter without power, being able to move and finances taking a huge hit. I check the oil and it’s dirty and milky, but not as milky as the first time. but the engine seems to run okay. i have checked the tappets and push rods, nothing is visibly broken. I doubt it’s the head gasket again as we barely ran it before it did this, it couldn’t have overheated. Surely not. It seems like maybe a seal somewhere is bad. Or something to do with timing maybe? I’m totally lost as to what has happened. Any ideas? I’ll add some pictures and video links to this thread ASAP. -Matthew

Hi all, I have these ancient metalastik type rear engine mounts on my BMC 1.5 that have given up and need replacing. This one had broken before and was fixed as part of an engine rebuild by Calcutt Boats, it looks like they just filled the centre with a rubber washer. I know these are obsolete, does anyone know of a source to buy some used or a way of changing to a different mount? A search of the forums revealed I'm not the first with this issue but I couldn't see how it was previously resolved.

Hi We need to fit a new lift pump to our BMC 1.5 . We've never done this before so would appreciate any tips of things to be aware of or to make the job easier Thanks Jackie