Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 3:04pm

On starting my engine no problem after 25 minutes on river a surge in acceleration blowing a lot of smoke from exhaust back to moorings where I dipped oil but could not get a proper reading as dipstick was wet not oily all the way up, left overnight to settle and dipped still no proper readind dipstick wet started engine no problem and let it run on different revs for 40 minutes a big difference in oil pressures all of a sudden engine reved by itself and was unable to shut off with key or pull stop every cabin was full of smoke and indeed outside as well eventually engine slowed by itself and stopped any ideas or help would be appreciated thanks

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 4:23pm

There is a difference between being wet as with water and being wet as with fuel. The fact that you give no indication of "oil" colour or height up the dipstick makes diagnosis difficult. My suspicion is that either the lift pump diaphragm has split and fuel is finding its way into the sump or, and I think this is more likely, the shaft seal on the injector pump is doing the same. This would explain the symptoms. First fell the stuff on the dipstick ck and smell it. My guess is that it will be a bit thin and oily like diesel and it will smell of diesel. If it has a whitish tinge than it is likely to be water in the oil but I do not think it will be. If it stopped you may have seized it up but with a bit of luck it may free itself as it cools. Do not run it again until you deal with this problem. The very least you should do is drain the oil and refill with new oil to the correct level so you can run the engine and monitor the level. My guess is that it will go up - that will prove the fuel theory. I have been waiting for this since we had to move to low sulphur diesel. The sulphur in the fuel made the seals swell as they wore. Now there is no sulphur they are shrinking and leaking. Tony Brooks

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:08pm

Thanks tony,I just checked the pump diaphram and it is not split and operates as expected the mixture was thin and smelt of diesel a bit,drained sump and mixture very thin this leads me to think injector pump could that be so

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 6:54pm

I said in the above:- and I think this is more likely, the shaft seal on the injector pump is doing the same. This would explain the symptoms - so yes it could be so. Tony Brooks

Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 10:40am

Hi tony,had the injector pump changed and everything seems ok,I have been told to find some open water and give some rev is there any recommended additive that will help

Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 12:45pm

If the pump was recently overhauled then the seals should have been made of a better material so additives will not help with that issue. If it was an Ebay bargain or secondhand then we have no idea when it was last overhauled so it may still have old seals in it. If they are new you should get a number of years service out of it. However, as you ask about additives, I am seeing increased instances of problems with diesel bug. To combat this you need to take a number of precautions. 1. Annually drain or suck whatever is in the bottom of the fuel tank to minimise any water build up. Keep going until you get bright red fuel. Brown, grey, or whitish (cloudy pink) all indicate potential problems. 2. Try to refuel at outlets that have a high turnover and where a fuel problem will cost them more than you. 3. If you find you have bug then use a fuel additive like Marine 16 or Grotamar. Tony Brooks