Yanmar Engine Self-Repair: Part 2

Here are some details of my Yanmar Engine Self-Repair....
There is a German phrase that is straight to the point; "Wer rastet, der rostet" meaning "He who rests, will rust". I know that with my motorcycles, they are either up hanging from the garage rafters or the frames are up on blocks so my brother can turn over the engines and drive trains every month while they wait patiently for my return. Right: Injector Hole #3.

With my engine, I did NOT do this! When I returned to my favorite anchorage after the Hurricane 'Bill' adventure in the mangroves, I should have run my Yanmar engine a few minutes each week. I did NOT turn it on for 5 weeks and then it seized! Left: Water in #3 Piston.

After the Yanmar technician showed me the sea water in the #3 cylinder, he said it could cost up to $8000 to get it repaired at their Yanmar facility, and would take 3 - 4 weeks. I bought the parts and the Shop Manual, and strarted to 'Do-It-Myself'. First I had to take off all connections - electrical and plumbing.

The Yanmar 4JH4 owner's manual says that after running the engine for prolonged periods at low rpm, before shutting the engine down, you should rev up the engine 5 times to full power and then shut the engine down, to remove carbon build-up in the turbo etc. In my opinion, you still need to let the engine cool down at idle speed a few minutes before you bring it to a stop. My mistake was revving the engine to 2800 or 3000 RPMs for a few seconds five times and then just shutting the engine down. My friend and retired trucker diesel mechanic James, who helped me with the over-haul said you should ALWAYS let the engine idle for 5 or even 10 minutes after running it for a prolonged period, especially the new high speed turbo and ultra high compression 4 valve engines. I did NOT do this, with drastic results.

I learned from my father years ago that when tearing down an engine, you pull off the first things and put each item and its nuts or bolts in a separate container and at the back or end of the work bench, or in this case, a towel lined aft bunk floor. Then you just work clean and organized, labeling or numbering each item with masking tape and a magic marker.

Then I had to lift out the engine from the bilge and onto boards across the sole (floor) to get the engine up to a workable height.
I used a large diameter pipe across the top of the companion way entrance and a borrowed chain hoist.

The engine would not turn over, even with a big leverage bar on the crank-pulley nut. The piston was seized and was soaked in 'Corrosion-X' overnight. But it needed to be drilled and chiseled out.

After taking turns with my friend James at whacking at that piston, then drilling some holes and whacking again, we needed a full day to get that seized piston to finally come loose and pieces removed. I bought a special 'honing' devise to attach to my power drill and we cleaned up and polished the inside cylinder wall according to the Yanmar 'Shop Manual'.

The Yanmar distributor for SE USA, Mastery Engines, was very helpful and especially their service manager, Doug Dykens. He sent me "Everything You Need for an Engine Re-build" including all new seals and gaskets, a new piston and rings, all the little parts for the fuel injectors, and even a special tube of adhesive for the pan gasket. I kept the 'old' piston just as a reminder to check ALL hoses and fittings before a voyage.

Finally, after 7 continuous days of 8 -10 hours work, I was ready to turn her over. James was at the engine and I was at the wheel with the starting key. First tick and she purred like a kitten! Elation and a sense of accomplishment.

After 4 hours of idle speed, I changed the oil and filter. It was a bit dirty and had some diesel fuel mixed in. At ten hours and up to 1800 rpm sailing down to St. thomas and back, I change the oil and filter AGAIN, but it was perfectly clean!

Now, after 25 hours, I hired one of the off-duty Yanmar service technicians to come over to 'WanderLust 3' and check things out and inspect my 're-built' engine, just to make sure I didn't mess anything up. He removed the valve cover and with a feeler gauge checked the tolerances of the valves. They were good. Then he tightened the head bolts with a torque wrench, they were also good. Then a compression check, everything was broken in and running great with 25 hours on the rebuilt engine and two (2) oil and filter changes.

He was slightly impressed that everything seemed to be working perfectly. Then he went to the new Anti-Siphon Valve and also checked the old one. Sure enough the old one was corroded around the rubber flap AND the pressure release tube. This made him think to follow the end of that old tube, re-installed on the new siphon valve. He discovered that the open end, that is supposed to drain and relieve the sea water pressure, was way too long and run under the engine in a cavity that was not visible. When he pulled out the open end of the hose, it was completely CLOGGED with old oil and other debris. That means that eventually the new Anti-Siphon Valve would have FAILED again because the relief tube end was still clogged.

He simply cut that tube, and the parallel one for the generator, about 2 inches above the bilge so it would simply drain down into the bilge AND was also VISIBLE for inspection.

I can only recommend that everyone check the COMPLETE ANTI-SIPHON VALE ASSEMBLY. That maintainance check is NOT in my Hunter Owner's manual nor in the Yanmar book, but it IS in the one essential book I carry from NIGEL Calder, Boat Owner's Mechanical and Electrical Handbook. He devotes five (5) pages (377 -382) to just the subject of "Siphon Breaks". Read it!

Mike Harker
s/v Wanderlust 3

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Yanmar Engine Self-Repair: Part 1

How can an $80 part cause $8,000 engine damage?

After returning to my favorite spot in the Simpson Bay Lagoon after seeking refuge in the Mullet Pond Mangroves after the only Hurricane (Bill) to be near St. Martin this summer, I did not run the main Yanmar engine for over 7 weeks. That in itself was wrong, I should have run the engine, even for just a few minutes, at least once a week. But with 3 large solar panels and an Air-X wind generator, I only needed to charge my house batteries and make water for about 3 hours a week using the 12 Kw generator.

What I did not know was that the 'Anti-Siphon Valve' at the top of the sea water outlet to cool the intercooler on the Yanmar was corroded and the little flap did not close, allowing sea water back down the hose and into the exhaust, including back through the turbo, exhaust manifold and finally into the open exhaust valve of # 3 cylinder.

The starter would not turn over the engine, so I tried with a 14mm socket to turn the shaft nut at the alternator belt, but no luck. I went over to the Yanmar service facility and the mechanic came out to the boat and took off some hoses and the valve cover to show me how #3 cylinder was filled with sea water.

After e-mailing the Yanmar distributor in Florida, "not a Yanmar part" and the boat manufacturer Hunter, "out of warranty and a maintenance problem not covered under warranty anyway", I asked the service office for a quote. $5000 in cash, in advance, just to have a look at the damage! This would include towing over to their facility, a crane to haul out the engine and 3 - 4 weeks in the shop. If the turbo was damaged and the head and valves needed work the total could be above $8000!!!!

I grew up in Southern California with my Dad and two uncles racing and tuning their race boats. I've seen engines apart at the launch ramp, on an 'All-Night Saturday Night" engine repair before the big race Sunday and enough garage mechanics to attempt the engine over-haul myself. I had the Yanmar 4JH4 HTE service manual and I got Yanmar in Florida to send me all the parts they think I would need, including a new piston and rings, injector tips and all the seals and gaskets for a complete overhaul, and a 'Wish You Luck!".

After getting a steel bar across the companion way and the loan of a small chain hoist, I got the engine up and out of the 'bilge' area and on to boards across the boat's sole. With the stairs removed, I had to enter through the forward hatch. I also got the expertise of a real diesel mechanic, a retired local living on his sailboat for years, JAMES. He has worked on 'many a diesel' including old boat engines and trucks, but never a turbo charged, 4 valve per cylinder modern sailboat engine.

After exactly 1 week we put the hoses back on the engine and fired her back up. She runs perfectly. The turbo was professionally opened and cleaned including new seals and bearings and the head and valves were cleaned and polished. The cylinder wall was honed and polished using a special tool aboard the boat.

For around $800 in parts and about 80 man-hours, we got the engine apart, repaired and back working again. I do NOT recommend that anyone do the same without professional diesel service technicians, but when you are in a desperate situation and need to 'Fix-it-Yourself', it can be done.

I have over 24 hours on the overhauled engine sailing down to St. Thomas and back, I changed the oil and filters twice and the coolant replace a second time and everything works as good as, or, as it seems, better than new.

In Part 2, I'll talk about specific steps during my Yanmar Engine Self-Repair.

Mike Harker
s/v Wanderlust 3

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Latitude 38 Interview - Mike Harker: Part 4

March 2008

Part 4 of 5

Courtesy Latitude 38 Magazine

38: What was Wanderlust 3‘s fuel consumption like?

Harker: My boat has the Yanmar 4JH four-cylinder with the new turbo and intercooler. I can go at normal cruising speed for almost two hours on a gallon of fuel. It’s a very fuel-efficient engine at 1,800 rpms, which is what I ran it at. Speaking of fuel, one of the great items on my boat - and I’m going to recommend that Hunter make it part of their Mariner Package - is the Fuel Filter Boss. This device allows you to switch between two fuel filters while the engine is running, plus it has a fuel pump which eliminates manual bleeding, and even features a light in the cockpit that warns if the filters are getting dirty.

Thanks to the Fuel Filter Boss, I didn’t get a drop of fuel in the bilge. When the unit indicates a filter is getting dirty, you temporarily switch to the other fuel routing, remove the old filter and drop in a new one - while the engine is running. That’s it. Changing filters was a real pain with my old boat, and I always spilled about a pint of diesel in the bilge. I hated that. The Fuel Filter Boss is great insurance for your engine because all you need to keep a diesel going is clean fuel. I also have a third filter for fuel transferred from the reserve 80 gallon tank to the main 150 gallon tank. Incidentally, Hunter’s normal fuel filters are 10-microns. I bought a 24-pack of 2-micron filters. They stop everything. I never had a fuel problem on my trip and, believe me, I got some dirty fuel in a couple of places.

38: Did you have a watermaker, and how did that work?

Harker: I have a 7-gallon per hour HRO, and it was perfect. I changed the filters five times during my trip, and changed the carbon filter once six months into it. But there wasn’t a hiccup or problem at all.

38: You hardly had anything go wrong?

Harker: There were really just two significant things, and both involved a chain of events. My boat has four 8D AGM 230 amp batteries, which is double the number of batteries and amps that Hunter puts in. So I had twice the battery capacity that the alternator was designed for. Normally, it wouldn’t make a difference, but I had two Danish models who sailed with me from Panama’s Perlas Islands to the Galapagos, so they needed a lot of power for their hair dryers and things. Plus, they used the microwave and other things doing lots of great cooking. Normally, this wouldn’t have been a problem, but my Fisher-Panda had a faulty fuel pump. I carry the F-P Offshore Repair Kit that included a new pump and fixed it myself, but not before burning up the engine alternator. With the girls using the hair dryer all the time, and my genset out, I was having to use the engine alternator a lot to keep the batteries charged. Before we got to the Galapagos, the engine alternator was fried trying to keep the batteries charged.

38: Didn’t you have a spare alternator?

Harker: No. But I do now. It’s a bigger 100-amp Balmar which, by the way, is now standard on all Hunter 49s. The regulators have been upgraded, too.

38: What was the other major problem?

Harker: Having left Cape Town, I was 1,000 miles from Africa and 1,000 miles from South America, when my high water alarm went off. There was a very unusual leak in the water pump housing of my Yanmar diesel that peed water all over the alternator. There was so much that my lower bilge pump couldn’t keep up, and the water got to the higher bilge pump, which automatically turns on an alarm. But because we were heeled over, the water had also gotten into the F-P genset’s motherboard before the alarm went off, so it was toast. As for the main engine’s alternator, it was caked with salt from having water sprayed all over it. Thanks again to a chain reaction, I had no way to charge my batteries for the second time! Well, I have a Honda portable generator that I used to keep the charge up on my engine start battery.

38: We made a big deal asking folks how they would have stopped the leak in your pump. How did you actually do it?

Harker: I coated a self-threading stainless steel screw with 3M 5200 to make it waterproof, and screwed it in the hole. It lasted just fine until I got back to Miami and Yanmar/Mastry had a chance to replace the entire pump housing.

38: What spares did you carry?

Harker: I had a spare and/or spare parts kit for almost everything. I had them for my Yanmar and Fisher-Panda genset, a spare freshwater pump, a spare bilge pump, a spare high water bilge pump and alarm - and, eventually, a spare alternator. I even had a plumbing spares kit because Hunter recommended I buy it. Other stuff they recommended were a spare link arm and U-joint for the steering, a spare Selden gooseneck fitting for the mast and other small parts.
I also got a spare roller fitting for the headboard of the mainsail - I’m terrible at the specific names of things - that I actually needed to put on yesterday. It pulled away from the mast while I was in the doldrums, but I was still able to make it here to St. Barth.

38: It’s a good thing that you didn’t have to go up the mast.

Harker: That’s not an issue, because I can’t go up the mast when alone. By the way, I had to change the masthead tricolor on my last boat twice, so for this one I bought a $700 LED tricolor. It wasn’t cheap, but I think it’s worth it. It’s called a Lopo-Light, and it includes the navigation lights and a five-mile anchor light. It uses less than one watt of power, but is twice as brilliant as the old-style lights, and you never have to change them. All the Volvo Race boats used them. Readers might be interested to learn that I don’t have a single incandescent light bulb on my boat. Everything is either low-power fluorescent or even lower-power LED.

38: You have solar panels. How much did they help?

Harker: I have three panels for a total 28 amps, and during the day they normally provide all the power I need to run everything and to top off the 900-amp bank of batteries. I have two freezers and two fridges, but I only use one of each. I typically used 20 amps an hour, depending somewhat on how much effort my autopilot was having to make. All my instruments and lights use very little power. This Hunter 49 is very well thought out in terms of energy use.

WATCH FOR OUR FINAL INSTALLMENT, PART 5

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Strictly Sail Miami: Mike Harker Seminars

If you plan to attend Strictly Sail in Miami, you won't want to miss Mike Harker's seminar: Sail Around the World!

If you've been following this photo weblog on TheSailingChannel.TV, you know that Mike is a truly courageous adventurer as well as a professional photographer and gifted storyteller. Mike has returned to the Strictly Sail Miami Boat Show, after completing his under-one-year circumnavigation, on the anniversary of his departure.

Join Mike for his inspiring, informative and entertaining (PG-13) slide show. You'll leave ready to plan your own circumnavigation!

WHERE:

• Strictly Sail Miami at Bayside Marketplace - Seminar Tent A
  

WHEN:

• Friday, Feb. 15th at 12 noon
• Saturday, Feb. 16th at 5pm
• Sunday, Feb. 17th at 5pm
  

SPONSORS:

• Hunter
• Interphase
• Yanmar Marine
• Harken
• UK-Halsey Sailmakers
• Selden
• Walker Bay
• Flex-O-Fold Propellers
• Lewmar
• Fischer Panda Generators
• Parasail Parasailor
• Lopolight
• TheSailingChannel.TV
• Raymarine
• DSR Dockside Radio
  

North Atlantic: Antigua to St. Barts

Just at sunset I left English Harbor and sailed along the east coast of Antigua towards St. Barts. I should arrive mid morning.

I will meet with Richard Spindler (Publisher Latitude 38 Magazine) and stay one night in Gustava.

I got my impeller pump replaced but could NOT fix the F-P generator nor do I have a reserve alternator. Hunter sent a reserve alternator on Thursday 'overnight' but it will not arrive until Sat and they don't deliver until Monday.

I left without a replacement alternator and hope my provisional repair and re-wire holds until I get into Miami. I have only the Balmar alternator on the Yanmar engine to charge batteries, but I am confident in my own repair and trust it will hold.

I will keep a running log each day.

Mike
S/V Wanderlust 3
BOTY

Antigua: English Harbor - Anchor Down!

With 35 - 40 knots of wind, rain and lightning all around for 5 hours, I could not see land within 10 miles of Antigua.

5 miles from English Harbor, the sky turned blue and the sun came out! What a terrible welcome, storm and lightning windward of the French Islands of Martinique and Guadalupe.

I don't get along with the French anyway and a little storm and lightning won't change my appraisal of the French. All the better to be welcomed by sunshine and happy people.

The entrance to English Harbor was so dangerous that I went around the corner to Falmouth Harbor where all the 'Super-Yachts' park.

I will go back to English Harbor after the storm.


Tomorrow the Yanmar mechanic comes aboard with new parts and I will have internet to send out some photos.

Mike Harker
WanderLust 3
Hunter 49 BOTY

South Atlantic: Ascension Island

Jan 2, 2008 5 pm Ascension Island, South Atlantic

After getting 400 liters of diesel fuel at the military base on Ascension Island, I left after 4 hours for Antigua. Ascension was not really worth the stop! There is nothing here worth seeing, the facilities are terrible and the people are not even nice. And no working internet!

There are less than 1000 people here and over 90% are with the US or English military or their families. I do not recommend a stop for anything but fuel, and that is almost torture. You have to anchor way out and get down your own dingy, there are no ferry boats. The 'pier' is not protected from the swell and it was running 10 feet.

You have to time your landing with the up swell, grab a hanging rope and jump out of your dingy with the painter onto the piece of concrete slap. There are no taxis and the fuel station is 2 miles up in the hills. I have eight 20 liter jerry cans! I finally walked up into the 'Town' but it only has about a dozen buildings.

I was able to talk a young military guy with his pickup truck into taking me up to the fuel station. He was very nice and helpful, from Virginia! You can only imagine how difficult it was to get the 8 full jerry cans back into the dingy, with a 10 foot swell running, and that 3 different times!

Antigua is my next stop, about 3300 miles NNE. I am predicting about 3 weeks. I have to sail and motor cautiously because of the 3 temporary repairs I have done myself. The Yanmar engine has a leak in the salt water impeller pump I fixed with a screw and some 5200 sealant, the Balmar alternator had to be re-wired to by-pass the regulator, and the Fischer-Panda generator does not turn on power because I got some salt water on the mother board from the water leak.

When I cross the equator into the North Atlantic in 1000 miles, I expect to get into the "Doldrums", a band of weather 500 miles wide with NO WIND! I expect to motor sail. That is the reason I stopped inn Ascension, to fill up all my reserves of diesel fuel. It would be the only reason I would recommend stopping there to anyone else.

Mike Harker
s/v Wanderlust3

Atlantic: Water Leak

On his way to St. Helena, Mike ran into a bit of problem. Here is his story. --TSCtv.

I was really worried when the "High Water" alarm went off. I hurried down the stairs to look in the bilge and when I saw the water up to the floorboards, I shouted "Oh my God, I'm sinking!!!!"

The first thing I did was shut off the engine, then I went around to close ALL the through-hull seacocks. I went back to the manual bilge pump and started pumping out the sea water, but it was too slow. I then got out my hand pump and buckets and pumped the bilge water into the buckets and threw the water overboard. With most of the water overboard I went around looking for leaks.

When I lifted the engine cover, there was dried salt all around the alternator area and a water stream coming up into the alternator from somewhere under it. I took down the stairs and laid them in the forward cabin, then took off the engine cover to get to the alternator. After removing the alternator, I found the leak.

A steady stream about the force of a kid peeing was coming up out of the salt water impeller pump. Not from the two hose connections on the pump, but from the curve of the metal casing of the pump itself.

Now what do I do, I have to stop the leak? I got out the Yanmar book and found the page where it shows the impeller pump connection into the intercooler. I unscrewed the drain plug from the intercooler to drain all the water from above the pump, that stopped the water flowing from the leak. How do I plug or fill the hole?

I thought of screwing a stainless self-taping screw into the hole, then surrounding the screw with 5200 sealant. That seemed to work. I rinsed off most of the salt from the exterior of the engine around the leak area and got out my reserve spare Balmar alternator I bought just for such emergencies.

I pulled out the old alternator and laid it out on the floor with all wires showing. I put the new alternator next to it, then started exchanging wire connections. I could see the salt covering the interior of the old alternator. I put the new alternator on with a new drive belt and tried to start the engine. It would turn over but would NOT start. I ran the battery down trying, so I went to start the Fischer-Panda generator, but the remote switch would not even light.

I was in trouble! No engine, no generator, no wind to sail and a leak in my boat in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean a thousand miles from any land, half-way between Brazil and Africa. The only civilization was the island of St. Helena, about 500 miles north of me. That is where the British interned Napoleon after he lost at Waterloo. That was the most distant place from any other land on earth they could find.

I got out the SAT phone and called Hunter Customer Service. Then I called you (Greg Emerson of Hunter Marine). You were terrific. You got me in a conference call with your specialist, Joe Kerr, then with the Yanmar distributor and finally Fischer-Panda. Somehow, with about 300 minutes of SAT phone time, Karl from Yanmar finally found a way for me to start the engine after other attempts failed.

With the engine running, there was no charge power from the Balmar alternator. A SAT phone call to Dale English of Balmar in Texas got the right man. He talked me through re-wiring the alternator to by-pass the regulator and, with 2 pieces of wire and some crimp connections, I was able to use the internal regulator.

After 2 days of drifting in the South Atlantic, I finally had the leak fixed and the engine running. At just above idle, not to overwork the alternator, I was able to bring back charge to my depleted battery bank of 900 amps, down to only 110 amps left. I had to use my Honda generator to keep the start batteries charged, but that worked fine.

After 3 days of slow motoring, I was able to drop anchor in Jamestown Bay, St. Helena on the day before Christmas. I was relieved. "Ann's Place" offered all the sailing cruisers a get-together Christmas dinner for free, just bring your own booze. I brought the gallon jug of aged Panamanian rum a guest had left aboard to the party. That was a hit! I e-mailed all the contacts you gave me but I only got replies back saying "Closed for the holidays, will be back in the office after Jan 2."

Because St. Helena does NOT have an airport to fly parts into, I left yesterday for the island of Ascension, about 700 miles distant. There is a small contingent of US and English military communication experts there, but not much else. But Ascension does have an airport. If I think I need to stop and get a replacement impeller pump and alternator-regulator flown in, I will. That could take days, if not weeks. Remember the 3 week wait for a new alternator in Galapagos?

If my alternator keeps charging and the impeller pump leak I repaired still holds, I think I will continue to Antigua where they have both a Yanmar and Fischer-Panda mechanic and get all three repairs done professionally. However, that is over 4000 miles with no working generator, an amateur repair job on the pump leak and a re-wired provisional repair to the alternator/regulator. It will be a risk!But I really want to get to Miami for the Boat Show. A delay in Ascension waiting for parts would put a Miami arrival in time for the boat show out of reach.

Mike Harker

s/v Wanderlust3

Tuesday Jan 1 - Happy New Year!

I am 170 miles from Ascension, and will arrive at daybreak tomorrow. My primitive repairs are holding and working well. I will leave Ascension after getting fuel. It is 3300 miles to English Harbor Antigua. When I arrive in 3-4 weeks, it will be my personal circumnavigation. From there it should be less than 2 weeks to Miami by way of Tortola BVI and above Nassau. I am on schedule for an arrival on Feb 12 into Miami. Let's hope everything runs as well as it is.