Went Completely Dead in the Water

[SlackwaterJack]

That's good news!

Tugger Toy's album has a nice picture of the dual filter system he made and installed on his R21. Nice thing about a dual setup is if a filter needs changing or plugs at a bad time, a few simple valve-turns and a fresh filter is on-line. It's more costly and a bit more complex to install, but if you're a "belt and suspenders" sort of guy or you boat long distances in the boonies, it's a great setup.
Even a single water-sep. diesel filter is a good idea..especially if installed with in and out shutoffs.

 

[RProffer]

Where was the red plastic found? You should have a fuel filter on your engine. The filter is a 10-15 micron filter. The filter should have caught the plastic. Did you or the mechanic change the filter? The filter should be replaced every 250 hours or the end of season, whichever occurs first.

A little bit about diesel engines. I am not a diesel expert, but I do read a lot and talk with others. The reason people like diesel engines for their boats is because they are designed to run at a constant speed and will last forever if properly maintained (i.e. scheduled maintenance). The number one thing that will kill your diesel engine is dirty fuel. That is why so many people are so anal about where they get their fuel and their fuel filters.

You should get your fuel from a place that dispenses a lot of fuel. It will more that likely be cleaner fuel than a place that does not dispense so much. You should keep your fuel tank full so it does not develop condensation in the tank. Water in the fuel can destroy the engine.

People like to use two fuel filters in the fuel system to catch the water and crud that could be in their fuel. Normally you would have a Primary Filter of 20 or 30 microns just off the tank and a Secondary Filter (5 or 10 micron) between the Primary and the engine. You can get very carried away with the filter system by having 2 Primary's and 2 Secondary's, etc. It is essential to have at least one good filter. Evidently, Yanmar thinks one filter of 10-15 micron is sufficient for your engine. Many tug owners have installed another filter off the tank (Racor is deemed the best). Ranger now installs a Racor 110A filter right off the tank on the R21-EC tugs, and it has a 10 micron filter. So, the newer R21 tugs have two 10 micron fuel filters in their system.

If your engine "just stops" such as your did, the first thing you should troubleshoot is the fuel filters. You should always carry a spare filter. Some people have gotten such dirty fuel that they had to replace all the fuel in their tank because replacing just the filters was not good enough.

Well, there you go. I would ensure the filter in your fuel filter on your engine has been replaced, and get another filter for a spare ($5.40 from Ranger - get 2, they are cheap). If you want to install another fuel filter like the Racor 110A, that will be around $100 plus hoses. The filter for the 110A is about $19 from Ranger.

 

[tuggertoy]

Hi Mark,

First of all let me say that I am glad you got this figured out.

I have a feeling that the red plastic material was a result of the factory modification to the plastic fuel tank which was originally designed to hold gasoline and therefore to feed a gasoline engine. Unlike diesel engines, gas drives do not require a return line from the engine to the fuel tank. Diesel engines, however do require a return line to the tank, as the fuel pump is always pumping more fuel than is required by the engine. The extra fuel is actually used to lubricate some internal components as well as to remove some of the heat that is generated by the fuel system components and the engine. This extra fuel is then pumped back to the fuel tank via the return line, where it cools off and joins the remaining fuel in the tank to be cycled again. So my point is that the folks at the factory actually had to drill an additional hole in the top of the fuel tank to accept the fitting for the return line. My guess is that, after drilling the hole the factory tech would make every attempt to remove any of the plastic drill cuttings (plastic shavings) but because there is always a certain static charge associated with plastic tanks, some of this plastic was left behind, probably stuck to the walls of the tank. Eventually these shavings would have settled to the bottom of the tank and under the right conditions were sucked up by the fuel pick-up tube inside the tank. Before you move forward with an additional filtration set up, or even if you choose not to, it would be wise if it has not been done already, to drain all the fuel from the tank, rinse the tank well with some clean diesel and if you choose to reuse the original fuel, add it back to the tank by running it through a filter funnel like this one http://www.westmarine.com/1/1/12471--fu ... icron.html

I bought one of these when we first bought Tugger Toy last summer and I use it religiously when refueling even though I buy all of my diesel from a known and trusted source. As SlackWater Jack mentioned I also installed a primary filter manifold with 2 Racor filters plumbed in parallel so that if by some chance one should ever become plugged up while underway I could switch over to the other filter with just a flip of a few valves. If you would like more info on this arrangement PM me and I will be happy to go over it with you.

Eric