Yanmar 2gm20 won''t start

[Juebel]

Here''s a case of what can go wrong will and at the worst possible time. I think I ran my Yanmar 2gm20 out of fuel. Unfortunately this occured at night during a sever thuderstorm with 30k winds.

The engine was running fine then all of the sudden slowly faded out. I had no problems starting that day. I filled the tank cranked the starter several times and the engine started again. It ran for about two minutes then died again and refues to restart. Could this possibly be a case of fouling the fuel lines with the slug at the bottem of the tank? How would I go about checking this and clean the lines? I''m pretty sure the engine is being fuel starved. Thanks for the help!

[gunnyman]

It could possibly be the fuel pickup tube in the tank being clogged.First I would jury rig a gravity flow tank in front of the tank and see if it would prime and continue to operate. If so it is your tank pickup clogged. As a precaution check your fuel water seperator. Is it filled? Or is it drained wahen the engine quits? As to priming I found that a squeeze bulb like used on an outboard fuel system will allow you to prime the engine with ease. Hope this helps.

[hamiam]

Im getting old so I can''t actually remember which Yanmar engine I had in my C&C 30 but I do remember that the one time I ran the tank dry, I needed to bleed the fuel system. The process was not difficult; I opened my manual and followed the instructions contained therein. It involved backing off a bolt and then pumping a small lever to get the air out of the system and then re-tightening the bleeder bolt. You should also immediately change the fuel filter(s) and, if you have the cash, have someone stop by to clean out the fuel tank. Given it is devoid of fuel it might be an ideal time to do so. If you dont have the engine manual, order one as it is an invaluable resource and can save you alot of money in maintainance and repair costs.

[Juebel]

Thanks guys. I think I will try to by pass the tank and see if it will start and run. That''s a good idea.

There is some kind of lever on what looks like some kind of fuel thing. I need to get a manual for sure.

I bought the boat last year so I don''t know what kind of condition the tank is in. Is it common for diesel fuel to get gunky? I see a number of products on the marine store shelves that are supose to help with this so I''m asumming it''s pretty common.

[splitmind]

Where is your fuel tank?

If it is below the engine chances are you may have an electric lift pump which gives low pressure fuel flow to the engine. When this failed on ours, the exact same thing you had occured to us.

Take a oil extractor (pela type) and try to get a sample from the bottom of your tank. Scape the bottom and bang the solid end of the lift tube from the extractor all over the tank as you are sucking out old fuel. This should remove a ton of sludge if it exists.

Finally after the other steps are done replace all fuel filters. Start using a diesel additive that uses biocide, and gives a cetane boost.

[splitmind]

You should be able to clean the tank yourself, and not contract it out. My wife and I did this with an oil extractor in about on hour. Just have lots of empty 1 gallon jugs from anit-freeze, etc to put the waste fuel. We extrated 5 gallons from a 20 gallon tank to get it very clean.

[gstraub]

If you ran out of fuel, then you most certainly need to bleed the fuel system. We had a 1GM10 Yanmar. There should be two filters. The first one is separate from the engine and needs to be primed. Our old one you just had to fill up and get all the air out as you put the lid on. Others have a bleed screw of some sort.

The second filter is on the engine and it does have a lever pump and a bleed screw. Open the bleed screw and pump until only diesel comes out. You may have to bleed the injectors as well.

This doesn''t discount the possibility of fouling, but running out of fuel generally requires a bleed to get things working again.

Gerhard