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Need Help Bleeding M40-Bleed Valve Question

wurzner

Member III
Hopefully, I just ran out of fuel yesterday after putting the mast on my boat. When I had the fuel polished in Alameda, the guy told me he thought the tank was full....Hopefully he was wrong. We left the boom area and were heading back when I dropped by the guest dock at west marine. I left the engine running and came back about 10 minutes later with everything running fine. After leaving the dock, the died about a minute out. Not knowing if if was a fuel pump or filter issue versuse just plain out of gas, we went and purchased 2.5 gallons.

I verified that the Racor filter was full and then tried (unsuccessfully) to get fuel to come out of what I believe is the bleeder valve on the pump body. When I opened it, I could hear the pump increase (much more clickly, rapidly), but no fuel ever came out. I then removed the fuel line into the injector pump and there was a good flow of fuel. Next, I removed the 4 fuel lines into the injectors and it a very small amount of fuel was coming out. Based on a call to my diesel mechanic friend who is also a very accomplished sailor, it appeared that I did in fact run out of fuel. The problem is, every time I turned the knurled know (bleeder valve) closed, the engine would start to stumble after about a minute. I read that some of these systems are a self bleeding type and I'm trying to determine if it is meant to stay open. There is a fuel line on the bleeder valve body that goes somewhere, likely to the fuel return circuit. My question is, should this valve be closed? No fuel every came out and it ran fine back to the dock (about 10 minutes) with it open. I can try and close it later today and see if it still stumbles. Also I will fill up later today and hopefully it takes at least 40 gallons suggesting it was fuel starvation.

Any help on the nuances of this engine and bleeder procedure would be helpful. I did read the info at torrensen which is where I found out there are two different bleeder systems.

thanks
shaun (with the mast finally on the boat)
E38-200 #207
Sorcerer, Everett , WA
 

footrope

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
Bleed the filter on the engine?

Shaun,

I have the early 32hp engine (5432) so I'm not sure of your configuration vs. mine. When I've had problems starting after changing fuel filters, it's because I forgot to bleed the spin-on fuel filter that is mounted on the engine. I've found that the Racor on the bulkhead bleeds itself, but that second filter has to be bled or the engine just won't run right.

On mine the fuel system beyond the filters hasn't been the problem. If you have the same injector pump system the knurled knob has to be all the way in for normal operation. I'm not sure about the return line, but I'd think you want that open, it may be only a vapor return, at least for lower engine speeds.

Last, it is better to release the compression and crank for 10-15 seconds as part of the bleeding process. That is easier on the battery and the air clears out of the system quicker.

Hope this helps. Glad you got the mast stepped. Getting closer...
 

wheelerwbrian

Member III
I have the same engine and knurled bleeder knob and when bleeding the engine, I've never had fuel come out as with my previous and older Universal M-25. The first time I bled the engine for 30 minutes waiting for the spurting to happen and in frustration I closed it and the engine started right up and ran for the rest of the season with no problem. I suspect that if you might have ended up with bubbles in your fuel line running all the way back to the tank and that is taking some time to clear.
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
Tighten the filters?

On my 5432 the only time I have ever had any fuel related problems is when I didn't tighten the two filters quite enough. Snugging them up ann extra 1/16th of a turn did the trick.

Not sure whether this is likely to be a cause in your case (did you just change the filters?) but it sure is easy enough to try.
 
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