Heres a new one I've never seen or heard of before:
On my E38 there is an engine bilge that is separate from the rest of the bilge system, no limber holes. I assume this is to collect any engine fluids and keep them from entering the main bilge. Good idea.
There is also a fiberglass approximately 1" tube that is glassed in that allows the stuffing box water to pass through the engine bilge space and into the main bilge. This tube runs from the aft bulkhead of the engine bilge space to the forward bulkhead of the engine bilge space.
The stuffing box drips just aft of the aft engine bilge bulkhead and the tube ends there to drain off the water.
This tube has now decided to leak, its leaking stuffing box water past the aft engine bilge bulkhead into the engine bilge space. This is a closed space as I have said before and the water just accumulates there. I have to pump it out, chamois it out, etc.
Accessing this leaking tube is very, very difficult. Why it has chosen to leak now I have no idea. I can see "wetness" at the aft tube joint on the inside of the engine bilge space so I'm 99.999% sure that is the problem. Its saltwater, and there are no leaks on the engine.
To correctly repair this I would have to at a minimum, remove the shaft and possibly the transmission. Not bloody likely to be honest, I did that last winter and if I never did it again it would be too soon. I was thinking of grinding a bit on the aft side of the bulkhead, where the water collects and trying to seal that area with epoxy. May just be possible with a Dremel tool.
The other possible option is to simply install a PSS dripless shaft seal. I should have done this last year when I had the chance but did not. Now its bitten me in the a$$.
I used Ultra X packing when I redid the stuffing box so it leaks very, very little as it is and I'm also pretty sure "most" of the water is actually making it down the tube. I will also snake the tube to make sure its not clogged.
Any ideas on how to fix this would be appreciated.
TIA, RT
On my E38 there is an engine bilge that is separate from the rest of the bilge system, no limber holes. I assume this is to collect any engine fluids and keep them from entering the main bilge. Good idea.
There is also a fiberglass approximately 1" tube that is glassed in that allows the stuffing box water to pass through the engine bilge space and into the main bilge. This tube runs from the aft bulkhead of the engine bilge space to the forward bulkhead of the engine bilge space.
The stuffing box drips just aft of the aft engine bilge bulkhead and the tube ends there to drain off the water.
This tube has now decided to leak, its leaking stuffing box water past the aft engine bilge bulkhead into the engine bilge space. This is a closed space as I have said before and the water just accumulates there. I have to pump it out, chamois it out, etc.
Accessing this leaking tube is very, very difficult. Why it has chosen to leak now I have no idea. I can see "wetness" at the aft tube joint on the inside of the engine bilge space so I'm 99.999% sure that is the problem. Its saltwater, and there are no leaks on the engine.
To correctly repair this I would have to at a minimum, remove the shaft and possibly the transmission. Not bloody likely to be honest, I did that last winter and if I never did it again it would be too soon. I was thinking of grinding a bit on the aft side of the bulkhead, where the water collects and trying to seal that area with epoxy. May just be possible with a Dremel tool.
The other possible option is to simply install a PSS dripless shaft seal. I should have done this last year when I had the chance but did not. Now its bitten me in the a$$.
I used Ultra X packing when I redid the stuffing box so it leaks very, very little as it is and I'm also pretty sure "most" of the water is actually making it down the tube. I will also snake the tube to make sure its not clogged.
Any ideas on how to fix this would be appreciated.
TIA, RT