Messages

Hello,

A year ago, the oil pressure light and buzzer were not working. We called a mechanic and this is what he did: pulled engine control panel; traced wiring and inspected connections; tested oil pressure buzzer by grounding at panel – OK; rung wiring harness to be sure of continuity; grounded wire at oil pressure sender and tested -buzzer sounds. He determined that the oil pressure sender was bad and needed a replacement. Eventually he replaced it.

The problem is this: for the first 30 minutes after turning the engine on everything in fine. After 30 minutes (when the engine is already warm) the buzzer sounds if the revolutions are low (say 1500 rpm). If you open the throttle and increase the revolutions a bit (say to 1800 rpm) the buzzer stops.

Any idea why this is happening? Maybe the oil pressure sender needs to be tighten more? Or we need to increase the minimum revolutions?

Thanks for the help,

Juan

Hi guys,

I wonder if you can help me with this one: I went to sleep on the boat on Friday night. Everything was fine. On Saturday evening I filling up the tank and after a couple of hours we went to sleep I smelt diesel, so I check the fuel tank I found that a small trace of diesel was running from the fuel tank down below the head sink to the bilge. So I took out the panel that covers the fuel tank (on the port side) and I found this at the bottom of the tank...(see picture). It was like touching grease but it smelled like diesel. Here is another picture (second picture).  It is obviously something that has been building up there. So my immediate reaction was, maybe I have a very tiny whole at the bottom of the fuel tank. But then, I realize that I didn't smell diesel on the night before. It was only after we fill up the tank to the top. So then I touched the fuel sending unit and it has diesel around (see picture). So my second theory is that this unit has been loose and so when I filled the tank to the top, diesel has been spilling from them and gravity sends the diesel to the corner of the tank where you see the build up (first picture).

Obviously I cleaned everything, I tighten the screw at the top of the fuel sending unit (it was indeed loose), I ran the engine for a couple of hours to lower the fuel level and now I will wait until tomorrow to see if the diesel trace will reappear or not. In the meanwhile, I wanted to check if anybody has gone through a similar experience.

Thanks,

Juan 

Hi everyone:

Last year I noticed that the water heater was leaking. As soon as I filled the water tanks with fresh water, the fresh water leaked through the bottom of the water heater. I supposed this was because the water heater got rusty at the bottom. Since I never use hot water and to avoid this leaking of fresh water I put a shut off valve on the incoming hose. There is no more leaking of fresh water. Recently I noticed, however, that the relief valve is warm (not necessarily hot but pretty much warm). Frankly, since a year ago, I never check this valve so I don't know if it has been warm all this time. The question is, is this normal? Is there any way to shut off the electricity to the water heater...I don't see an obvious on-off switch for this..

Thanks

Juan

Hi everyone:

my bilge pump is not working. It gets electricity...I can hear the buzz when I turn it on, but it is not taking any water out of the bilge. Any suggestions on how to start tackling this issue? Could it be the hose that is clogged? or the pump itself? any way to differentiate between the two?

Thanks

Juan

Hi everyone:

I am in the process of changing the hose that goes from the water intake to the water pump (nothing wrong yet, but it looks very old to me). The hose has this mark "Shiledsflex 100-0580". So I figured that this is a hose with a 5/8" in diameter.

The question is whether I need more information. For example, in some websites there are water & exhaust hoses with the same diameter but with different psi: 725psi, 320psi, etc.

Do I need to worry about the psi as well? If so, which one?

Thanks

Juan

Hi guys,

a quick (and perhaps a stupid) question. I am also in the process of changing my charger. Following this blog, I have been considering the ProNautica P, 40 Amp. But I also noticed they have the 30 Amp option. I don't have a lot of loads in my boat. Should I go for the 30 amp instead of the 40 amp? The shorepower that I get is 30 amps, anyways.

Thanks

Juan

Stu and Patrice, thanks a lot!

Juan

Dear Ron,

in a different post you suggested me to get a single pole oil pressure switch from Kubota (I have confirmed that the oil pressure switch is the reason why my oil pressure alarm was not working). My engine is the "M25XP", but the Kubota dealer does not use these numbers. Do you know which is the Kubota equivalent for the M25XP, is it F2400?

Thanks

Juan

Hi everyone:

My oil pressure alarm stopped working. Before, you could hear the alarm when the key was in the ignition position and also in the glow-position (in that case, the alarm had a lower pitch sound), and would stop once the engine starts. Now, the alarm is always gone.

I thought the buzzers were too old. I changed them with new 12v buzzers from Radio Shack but still nothing...I checked the wires behind the panel, they were all fine...The motor seems to be running fine...Oil level is fine...

Any ideas on what to do (or check?)

Thanks,

Juan

thanks for the advice!

Ron you were right. The voltmeter at the cockpit is not very accurate. When the motor is on it reads almost 15 volts. But when I measure the volts at the batteries with a digital multimeter the reading is 12.9 v.

Juan

A quick question:

my voltmeter (at the cockpit panel) reads 12.5 when I turn the key to the ignition position. Once the motor starts, however, it goes to 15. Is this a normal read? I never paid attention to this before.

thanks,

Juan

Quick question:

what should be size of the wire connecting the alternator and the starter solenoid. Mine is #14. Shouldn't be #10? Should I change it? Does it matter?

Thanks,

Juan

Stu:

sometime ago you posted a picture of a nice starter solenoid fuse holder. I would like to change mine to something more durable, probably like yours. Is that a fuse holder you can find anywhere, or it is something special that you had to ordered?

Thanks.

Juan

Thanks Stu. What is the size of your solid wrench?

Juan

Hi, I need some advice on this.

Last weekend I was motoring when the revolutions slowly decreased and finally the engine stopped. I have discovered a small crack on one of the fuel lines right where it is attached to the fuel pump. I was planning to simply cut the line below the crack and attach it again, but I don't know if I have to do something else. For example, is there a risk that air gets into the system? Is this then a job for a professional mechanic?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Juan