How to Bleed a Sailboat Diesel Engine

Easy tips for small boat cruising sailors-- http://www.skippertips.com

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Howto & Style

Tags:

• sailboat diesel
• boats diesel
• sailboat maintenance
• small boat diesel
• small cruising sailboat
• sailing skipper

[seasensical]

Hi,

I discussed your question with a marine engineer. He says nothing should happen, but--depending on where the air is trapped, it may take longer to start your engine. Also, see if your throttle was bumped; this could cause your enginet to idle higher than normal.

Best - Captain John

[seasensical]

Hi,

Try these steps if your lift pump isn't working:

*Is the pump lever depressed all the way down? This means the engine was stopped with a cam pushing down onto the pump. Crank the engine over to release the cam so that the lift pump lever pops up.

* Most lift pumps have a diaphragm inside. The bellows tends to wear out after several years. So the pump loses it's ability to pump fuel up to the secondary. Replace the lift pump diaphragm or--better yet--the entire pump.

Good luck,

Captain John

[Cyan1902]

Yessss!!! thank you. i only did point b but it worked out perfectly!

[isko38ca]

if i pump the fuel lift pump few times.. but i dont loosen the bleed screw...say there is no trapped air...will it going to result to a high idle speed?

[snakyjake1]

Great video. Question: When I manually pump the lifter and with the fuel filter bleed valve open, I'm not getting any fuel out the valve. I tried for 15 minutes, and not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or if I need to keep doing it for a lot more time?

[sodaPhix]

a nice step by step visual diagram of what to do. its exactly what i needed, thank you.