Diesel saga`s!!

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

For three years I`ve had odd starting,first thing it wound over for ever or not. Ferret put thread about fuel pump and I grabbed onto it like a starving man, that was after changing filter head, pipes and cleaning injectors. Finally over the weekend I pulled the pump out of a 1/4 full tank and looked at it,nothing odd,tiny O ring was old but then,noticed that not on;y was the pump black plastic but so was I(black).On investigation the entire tank was covered in black crap, diesel was clean tho`.I pumped the tank out and wiped it clean to discover it was the fabled marine bug that breeds in the air/water/ diesel interface.Filled the tank after renewing the pump and filter,fired up ok but took two more filters before it ran ok, now fires up like a petrol and is pulling like a train at lower revs.When I originally checked the diesel it looked ok but the bug seems to coat the tank and pump then block, partially, the gauze on the bottom but not completely.Blamed old age-car- and everything else when I should have checked the obvious, on the bright side its like the Woodmans axe now, four heads and four handles but original.

[Ferret]

For three years I`ve had odd starting,first thing it wound over for ever or not. Ferret put thread about fuel pump and I grabbed onto it like a starving man, that was after changing filter head, pipes and cleaning injectors. Finally over the weekend I pulled the pump out of a 1/4 full tank and looked at it,nothing odd,tiny O ring was old but then,noticed that not on;y was the pump black plastic but so was I(black).On investigation the entire tank was covered in black crap, diesel was clean tho`.I pumped the tank out and wiped it clean to discover it was the fabled marine bug that breeds in the air/water/ diesel interface.Filled the tank after renewing the pump and filter,fired up ok but took two more filters before it ran ok, now fires up like a petrol and is pulling like a train at lower revs.When I originally checked the diesel it looked ok but the bug seems to coat the tank and pump then block, partially, the gauze on the bottom but not completely.Blamed old age-car- and everything else when I should have checked the obvious, on the bright side its like the Woodmans axe now, four heads and four handles but original.

Ahh-ha congrats!

So the gauze was filling up full of crap and causing the pump to strain?

[Tiger]

You need Startron or equivalent.

[winfred]

some sort of biocide fuel additive would be a good idea

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

Ahh-ha congrats!

So the gauze was filling up full of crap and causing the pump to strain?

Yup,it was ok until under load/boost,I can only get marine additive in bulk, any ideas where one can get small ammounts? Startron in UK? OBC here.

[Tiger]

http://www.starbrite-europe.com/index.htm

[NielsGalan]

Is this ... phenomenon ... geograpically conditioned, or can this happen to any diesel tank anywhere? Is this weather/temperature/moisture related?

Would like to pop my head into my tank to see if there is any funnines in there, but if this is a very rare thing, i might reconsider.

Niels

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

[QUOTE=NielsGalan]Is this ... phenomenon ... geograpically conditioned, or can this happen to any diesel tank anywhere? Is this weather/temperature/moisture related?

Would like to pop my head into my tank to see if there is any funnines in there, but if this is a very rare thing, i might reconsider.

Niels[/QUOTE
Afraid it happens anywhere,but as you say, dependant on temp/moisture related. Known it happen regularly on ships,diesel powered engines can be buggered by it,first time I have known it affect a car .Been lazy not putting Additive and paid the price,luckily BM diesels are tough old bits of kit.GET YOUR HEAD IN THAT TANK!

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

UPDATE AND WARNING! BMW/MANN filters now come without a centre "O" ring. The idea being that the old "O" ring stays on the centre pllar BUT when I finally checked i had five "O" rings in a stack. due to me adding an O ring from old filter and changing 7 to get rid of bugs. BMW specify filters without the drain but its important to get the one with the drain as it allows you to flush the filter and clear crap out, saves time and filters, easy written, hard learnt!