fuel warning light

[duetto]

hi all,

our fuel warning light is coming on on one engine. manual says it indicates water buildup in yanmar fuel filter. i have drained both yanmar and racor and there is not one molecule of water in either place. maximum vacuum on that engine has been 3.

any suggestions?

[S Slater]

Does this happen at a certain rpm, say about 1900-2100. Does the buzzer go off as well.

[duetto]

hi simon,

yes, it happens in the 1500-2000 rpm range NEVER above that all the way to 3350. yes, light and buzzer both go off together.

btw, i just spoke to bill beach on beach magic, another 34, and he has a very similar problem.

[S Slater]

Yanmar has known about this problem from day one. They changed the torque settings on the base of the filter unit to change the harmonics of the engine. This is a flaw of the engines and we could never get them to fix adequately. Sometimes they would come down to the water and simply back off the bolts, this worked sometimes. I would check the rubber gasket underneath the base of the unit to see if it has deteriorated and allowed the bolts to loosen. This is one of those very frustrating flaws that we were never able to get yanmar to deal with. Yanmar has a record of this problem and if you have a good dealer and it isn't in the busy spring time you might get them to follow up with some solution. The good news is your engine is not in danger.
Simon

[duetto]

simon,

are you talking about the bolts & rubber gasket which hold the fuel filter bracket to the engine? if so, it seems bolted down pretty tight. if it is that bracket / gasket combo, i'll fool around with tighter / looser settings.

[S Slater]

That ia correct. We found that loosening them was most efective, if not a bit nerve wracking.
Simon

[duetto]

simon,

what would be your thoughts on removing it from the engine and mounting it on the hull side much like the racors? i would have my local welder make up a pair of brackets. it has the added benefits of making it easy to drain & change the filter.

at this point i don't really care what yanmar thinks

[S Slater]

That would have been our solution and in fact that is what our local distributor suggested. When I suggested that they could go ahead and make the Yanmar factory authorized changes, they said they were not prepared to take on the job. We always feared fooling around with the engines for fear of giving them someway to void the warranty.

I think that the brackets are a good idea. You may want to get some fancy hoses, with prefinished ends between the engine and the filter just to make the system as reliable as possible.
Simon

[duetto]

thanks for the input simon. i'll add it to my summer maintenance list.

[S Slater]

Let us know how it goes.
Simon

[jbrad]

Simon,

I want to thank you, James and Jackie for your continued support of PDQ here on the forum and elsewhere. I know I am not only speaking for myself and Jonathan, but all of the friends and proud owners you have made over the years, if there is anything we can do for you and the rest of the PDQ clan please do not hesitae to ask.

Your friends,

Jimmy and Jonathan Bradley
Mr Busy
mv 34059

[GEORGE]

ON DAWN, I REPLACED THE YANMAR FILTER ASSEMBLY WITH A NEW ONE, AND
BEGAN TO GET THE ALARMS EVEN THOUGHT NO WATER PRESENT. NEVER HAD THAT PROBLEM
WITH ORIGINAL FILTER, SO I JUST DISCONNECTED THE WIRE HARNESS.
I THINK I WILL TRY TO LOOSEN THE FILTER AS SUGGESTED.
THANKS

[duetto]

actually, the more i've thought about this, i may just totally replace the yanmar filter with another racor 500.

[James Power]

One problem with disconecting the water alarm is that you no longer have that feature. I jumped on a boat to run it to the Miami show and the alarm went off. I figured it was a false alarm, but returned to the dock to make sure. The aft fuel tank was topped up with water when the boat was left. If disconecting the yanmar alarm, what about installing an alarm on your racor. This is further down line from the engine and away from the harmonics problems.

[duetto]

thanks james for your reply. i will probably go with my original plan to fabricate a bracket and mount on hull next to my racor.