Fuel Tank Woes

[SEACRECY]

Last Friday I had a local service center in Baltimore (Tidewater Yacht) come check my engine to troubleshoot my Universal M-35, which is running a bit warm. They apparently got some paperwork mixed up and thought they were supposed to de-winterize the boat as well. Well, while one "mechanic" was running the engine, the other "mechanic" was filling up my fuel tank- WITH WATER!

I'm not sure at what stage they realized their mistake- I wasn't there. I don't know if the engine quit, they realized diesel was bubbling out of the overflow valve, or what. They just towed the boat over to their facility this morning and informed me that they were going to pump out the tank, refill it with diesel, change the filters, and everything should be fine.

Shouldn't there be more to it then that? Absorbant pads to remove all the water? Do our tanks have baffles in them, making it pretty darn difficult to get all the water out? (I've got a '92 MKI). Think my injectors or injector pump might have problems later on?

They pumped at least 12 gallons of water into my fuel tank. The service manager told me this morning that they wouldn't charge me for the water. Anybody have a gun? :P

[Gene Regan]

Hmmmm???? Professionals ???


   Make sure you dont drink from the water from the sink just in case. HA Ha !!!


 The fuel tank should be emptied,water will be on the bottom as fuel is lighter than oil. The filters all changed,fuel system on engine purged and additives installed in the tank. This would be a good opportunity to have your tank cleaned on them of course, also and insist they do it, also pay attention to the pickup tube and screeen.
  A full tank of Fresh fuel and strained as filling, & running the engine and you should be fine. Get copies of work order indicating what they did wrong in writing and how they fixed it for your records to protect you if something comes up. Keep an eye on things and you should be fine. Same thing somewhat happened to me last boat and no problems after fix was done.
Good Luck and check that tap water

[Ray & Sandy Erps]

I agree with Gene but would do some research on whether to use additives or not.  An alcohol additive is often used to help run water through a gasoline engine but you don't want to run the water through the fuel injectors.  Additives might actually let some of the water sneak past your primary fuel filter/water separator.  

If they clean out the tank and the engine still runs afterwards, you're probably in good shape.  You ought to try and negotiate an extra fuel filter/water separator out of them too.  Those things are expensive.

[Stu Jackson]

Brian

First, thanks for being up front about your experience.  We know it must have been hard to go through.

1.  Diesel stuff:  either complete cleaning or total replacement of your tank is in order.  Ron's right:  how do you know if all the water is out?  Do you wait for a water "ping" !!! in two months that says a shot of water was left in the tank, and was only diagnosed by your #2 cylinder head crashing?

2.  Clean all lines:  filters alonewon't hack it enough given your description.  Clean, clean, clean.  New injectors, maybe, and a new pump, unless YOU can be convinced both personally and professionally otherwise, are in order.

3.  Most important, in addition to everything that's been mentioned is just this:  YOU figure out the WORST that could happen to you given your circumstances, and THEN, document YOUR requirements, NOT just their "offers."  

Your goal has to be a smooth, trouble free engine.

How do you do that?

Not only get them to perform the work at their cost, but, like reefing:  PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

What this means is, simply:  get them to agree to allow you to monitor the performance of the engine and systems for a set amount of time, say two or three weeks, or months, whatever suits you and your motoring conditions.  

Maybe you just need to motor around WITH THEM on board for one full fuel tank (23 gallons, 1/2 gallon per hour, 46 nm, find somewhere 23 miles away and go for a great dinner, on them!)

What YOU need to do is to make SURE they understand that you REQUIRE performance, real performance, not just some stupid piece of paper.

Consider the fact that you are really recommissioning your engine and fuel system.

Be hard now, my friend, because you simply won't get another chance with these "mechanics."

Stu

PS

we DON'T do guns.  How about a 60 foot squirter?

[Ray & Sandy Erps]

I like Stu's idea of an agreement on some time on the engine to make sure everything is okay and Stu's further suggestion on taking them for a ride around the marina. (with a chase boat)

On the other hand, I personally wouldn't get too paranoid about all that water in the tank, as long as the engine wasn't running or had been run after it all went in there.  The fuel systems are designed to put up with a little water in the tank, as condensation collects in there and collects in the bottom.  If that wasn't the case, there wouldn't be articles about cleaning out your tank now and then.  Also, if you look at the bowl at the bottom of your fuel/water separator, you'll see that water collects in there now and then, proof that water is already going though our fuel systems but is being stopped before it gets to the injector pump.  My concern was the additives that were mentioned might degrade the filters ability to keep water out of the injector pump, which would be a bad, bad thing.

If the engine has not been run, and the tank has been cleaned out with new filters installed, you should be able to turn the ignition key to activate the fuel lift pump, crack the fuel bleeder valve and let the lift pump circulate fuel through the entire system and watch for water collecting in the water separator bowl at the same time.  That should give you a good idea how well they clean it up.  If the engine had been run before all this has been done then it's possible that the water separator was so full of water that it passed some through to the rest of the fuel system and all bets would be off.

[Stu Jackson]

Ray's ideas are very helpful.

I agree completely and think that the process he describes is exactly what you need to do as part of my recommendations.

The most important part is that YOU be there when the work is being done as Ray outlined.  That's the ONLY way you'll know "they" did it properly, and wouldn't hurt knowing about yourself.  

Think of it this way, if you're not into your engine very much until now, you'll certainly be a much wiser skipper knowing everything you'll learn from this experience.

Then...take them out for that ride and get it in writing, and list everything that you saw them do or you did yourself, like a log book, so you can remember all the steps.

All the best, Brian, sounds like you're on the right track and should be able to put this behind you soon.

Fair winds,

Stu

PS  -  Now what's that about the original thing that started all this: the engine running warm?  Guess you'll need to get back to that.

Try this, about tn lines down from Bernd Mueller.  Good info.

http://c34.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x?a=search&s=329609511&reqWords=overheating