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Water in Fuel Tank M25xp

JSM

Member III
Added a few gallons of diesel last Sunday and somehow left the fuel cap off . Tuesday we had torrential rains here in Chicago and as luck would have it my bimini directed a good amount of water directly into my tank fill port. Luckily this was discovered when the engine died while idling in the slip and not out on the lake.
I have a 12v diesel transfer pump and will empty the fuel tank and install a new filter on my Racor.
I'm a 30 yr Atomic 4 veteran and this will be my first run at bleeding a diesel. Can the water be bled out of the engine at the bleed screw on my M25xp or am I better off bleeding at the injectors ?
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Water be Gone!

There was an electric lift pump (Facet brand) on our M25XP.
Powering up the engine panel would turn that pump on (along with the obnoxious oil pressure buzzer) and allow me to open the little knurled valve at the fuel rack and let the system fill with diesel to that point -- and that is also where the return line goes back to the tank.

A mechanic friend of mine did once bleed ours by loosening the individual injector fittings a bit, but in 20 years I never had to. There was also a bleed screw on the top of the engine mounted spin-on fuel filter. Put a pad under it to catch the overflow.

It always started up fine, after that.

You can hasten the filling process by pouring some clean diesel into the Racor, altho this is a lot easier with a series 500 Racor filter, and that's one more reason to convert to one... which I did for the recent engine change.

Do not delay getting it running again on clean diesel. Leaving any water in the system anywhere is not a good idea.

You will also need to get any remaining water out of the bottom of the tank -- when the boat rolls around it will pick it up and may overwhelm the Racor's ability to separate it out.
 
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JSM

Member III
Thanks guys, the tank is now completly empty. Naturally my local Worst Marine doesn't have my Racor filter in stock. Can I dry out the old one and reuse it ? Its only been in service for the last 3 weeks.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
If it's a 200-series canister, I probably wouldn't. Hard to know what's in there--or at least, I don't.

I like to have several backups on board anyhow, and I buy them on line from Defender.
 

JSM

Member III
Thanks again. Tried reusing the old Racor filter to no avail. Managed to get a new filter as well as a secondary, bled the engine from the bleed screw and she fired up and ran fine. Problem now is engine goes up to 3000 rpm at wot and then drops down to 2500rpm. Under load will only go to 2200 rpm.
My (original) Facet pump now runs at full speed where as it used to only produce a steady but slow tick......tick......tick.
Will check the screen in the Facet pump today and maybe run the engine direct from a separate fuel source and see what happens.
 

markvone

Sustaining Member
JSM,

Fuel pump located after (downstream) of the Racor filter and before engine secondary filter (typical setup)? When I ingested water AND grew stuff in the tank in the hot July temps, I needed to replace the filters twice to get full fuel flow. It sounds like the Facet is running hard because it is starved for fuel from the primary Racor. I would try another filter in the Racor. If no change then keep the original one as a spare. Also, check CAREFULLY for air leaks at the Racor and it's bowl and any pipe/hose joint you disconnected. An air leak is a common problem with Racors and is responsible for not getting full rpms.

Mark
 

JSM

Member III
Thanks Mark. Ran the facet into a cup. Output looks a bit meager for all the noise it's making. At this point I'm starting to think about replacing both the pump and the racor as they are both 30 yrs old.
 

67rway

Member II
Fuel Pick-up?

Thanks Mark. Ran the facet into a cup. Output looks a bit meager for all the noise it's making. At this point I'm starting to think about replacing both the pump and the racor as they are both 30 yrs old.

I'd consider pulling the fuel level sender and checking to see whether there's an obstruction in the fuel pick up tube.
 

JSM

Member III
Thanks All!

Got all the water out and in the process discovered that the Racor was leaking. Installed a new 200 series Racor along with a new Facet cube pump. Went out last evening for a shake down sail and the engine seemed to run smoother than ever.
 

markvone

Sustaining Member
JSM,

Excellent! If you can easily check the old fuel pump for flow (without the Racor upstream) you may find it works fine and can keep it as a spare (or for a fuel polishing system). They have a pretty easy life pumping diesel fuel, a lubricant. Mine is still working fine, 37 years old. It may have been the leaking Racor that gave you the problems.

Mark
 

MarineCityBrian

Apprentice Tinkerer
Thanks Mark. Ran the facet into a cup. Output looks a bit meager for all the noise it's making. At this point I'm starting to think about replacing both the pump and the racor as they are both 30 yrs old.

The Facet pump I've got is actually serviceable (I believe they all are). If you can get a wrench beneath the bottom there's a cover with a hex head on it that comes off with a partial turn, locking into a couple lugs on the barrel of the pump. Once that's off a cylindrical plastic screen filter should fall out along with some Diesel (be sure to close petcocks on either side if possible, and have rags on hand).
On mine I couldn't believe it operated with the amount of crud in there. It was very hard starting to say the least. After cleaning it does as you mention - only the occasional click and puts fuel out at a healthy rate.
I may even have a picture of I can dig it up...
 

JSM

Member III
Pulled the bottom of the pump early on in the de-watering process and it was nice and clean but the output seemed low for the amount of noise that it was making. I got "fooled" by a fresh water pump last year that sounded like it was running fine but doing nothing so I decided to replace it.
The new cube pump that I installed with the new Racor is pulling thru a 10 micron filter and the pump seems to be running "fast". Previously have been using 30 micron filters. The boat is running fine but I'm wondering if the 10 mic. may be causing the pump to labor.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
For what it's worth, I doubt there's an issue between 10 and 30 microns, or 2 microns even.

I have never been able to correlate the sound of a fuel pump to its action. Slow tick, fast tick, never seems to relate to what I think is going on.

I have replaced two cube pumps because "they were dirty on the outside" and in both cases it wasn't necessary or at least wasn't the problem.

Not a mechanic, just a fellow jig in the puzzle.
 

JSM

Member III
For what it's worth, I doubt there's an issue between 10 and 30 microns, or 2 microns even.

I have never been able to correlate the sound of a fuel pump to its action. Slow tick, fast tick, never seems to relate to what I think is going on.

I have replaced two cube pumps because "they were dirty on the outside" and in both cases it wasn't necessary or at least wasn't the problem.

Not a mechanic, just a fellow jig in the puzzle.

Will be keeping the old pump as a spare as well as the 2 micron filter that came with the new Racor housing.
 

Tom Metzger

Sustaining Partner
The Facet pump I've got is actually serviceable (I believe they all are). If you can get a wrench beneath the bottom there's a cover with a hex head on it that comes off with a partial turn, locking into a couple lugs on the barrel of the pump. Once that's off a cylindrical plastic screen filter should fall out along with some Diesel (be sure to close petcocks on either side if possible, and have rags on hand).
On mine I couldn't believe it operated with the amount of crud in there. It was very hard starting to say the least. After cleaning it does as you mention - only the occasional click and puts fuel out at a healthy rate.
I may even have a picture of I can dig it up...

When I took inspected the screen in mine a few years ago I found it to be clean, but the gasket swelled up when exposed to air so I had to make a new one.

Guy Stevens once commented that if you ever see a Facet fuel pump in the garbage grab it. It most likely still works up to spec. People throw them away before find the problem was something else. I did, but it didn't make it to the dumpster.

A Westerbeke engineer recommended that I use a 10u Racor element in series with my 10u Wix engine mounted filter. He wanted the Racor filter to do most of the work. The Universal branded fuel filter is 25u.
 
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