When we made the decision to sail to Swansea with a major oil leak the idea was to get a professional engineer to look at it.
Neither of us are confidant about engine maintenance.
There are at least four people who service marine diesels in Swansea. We spoke with three of them. All were fully booked for weeks ahead. I guess a lot of boats are coming out of the water and wanting winterising.
We bought a pack of diesel wick pads and Alison got to work mopping the spilled engine oil from the bilges. This meant I couldn't investigate the leak until she had finished so I went onto the internet and found and downloaded the service manual and workshop guides for the engine. I also posted a question on Facebook. Peter Lyons quickly replied - remembering the 1GM10's known problem with the external oil pipes. There are two of them and we had the longer one replaced in 2014. The drips I had seen yesterday could indeed have been coming from the shorter one, and dropping down onto the suction pipe nut.
The only way to know would be to remove the pipe. I got the spanners out and a 19 mm one fitted perfectly but I couldn't get enough leverage to loosen the nuts. So off we went to Screwfix to get a socket set. We combined the trip with a light lunch and a trip to Swansea's excellent indoor market where we bought the ingredients for a seafood stew.
Back on the boat I got the first bolt out but I couldn't get the socket onto second one - it was blocked by the longer pipe. So the long pipe had to come off first. Then it was easy.
We bought a pack of diesel wick pads and Alison got to work mopping the spilled engine oil from the bilges. This meant I couldn't investigate the leak until she had finished so I went onto the internet and found and downloaded the service manual and workshop guides for the engine. I also posted a question on Facebook. Peter Lyons quickly replied - remembering the 1GM10's known problem with the external oil pipes. There are two of them and we had the longer one replaced in 2014. The drips I had seen yesterday could indeed have been coming from the shorter one, and dropping down onto the suction pipe nut.
Back on the boat I got the first bolt out but I couldn't get the socket onto second one - it was blocked by the longer pipe. So the long pipe had to come off first. Then it was easy.
At first sight the pipe looked in reasonable condition but then I spotted a tiny dimple. A little poke with a sewing needle exposed a hole maybe 0.5 mm in diameter. I had found our leak!
Back on Facebook Andy Abraham offered to make a new pipe using the old banjo fittings but there was no way to do this quickly - we were at opposite ends of the country! I could feel Andy's horror at the idea of my paying Yanmar the excessive price for a replacement but it was the simplest way to get us sea-worthy.
Yanmar make these pipes of mild steel. I presume this is to minimise the galvanic potential with the engine block. The trouble is that they live in a damp environment and any problems with the raw water cooling system drip boiling salt water onto them. Most engineers, including Andy and Barry Watt who had replaced the long one for us in Tollesbury in 2014 replace the steel with Cunifer - a copper/nickel alloy which is much more resistant to corrosion.
So the official part is more expensive and inferior to the one Andy wanted to make for us but it was available to be delivered in a couple of days.
The other option would have been to make a temporary fix to the existing pipe. Andy suggested slipping a 30 mm length of small bore petrol pipe over the pipe and gently tightening a small jubilee clip over the hole and covering it with 3 layers of insulation tape.
Back on Facebook Andy Abraham offered to make a new pipe using the old banjo fittings but there was no way to do this quickly - we were at opposite ends of the country! I could feel Andy's horror at the idea of my paying Yanmar the excessive price for a replacement but it was the simplest way to get us sea-worthy.
Yanmar make these pipes of mild steel. I presume this is to minimise the galvanic potential with the engine block. The trouble is that they live in a damp environment and any problems with the raw water cooling system drip boiling salt water onto them. Most engineers, including Andy and Barry Watt who had replaced the long one for us in Tollesbury in 2014 replace the steel with Cunifer - a copper/nickel alloy which is much more resistant to corrosion.
So the official part is more expensive and inferior to the one Andy wanted to make for us but it was available to be delivered in a couple of days.
The other option would have been to make a temporary fix to the existing pipe. Andy suggested slipping a 30 mm length of small bore petrol pipe over the pipe and gently tightening a small jubilee clip over the hole and covering it with 3 layers of insulation tape.
This was very sensible but for once I felt like spending some money for peace of mind.
I went up to the dealer's office and ordered one. It will be here on Thursday.
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