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The Contessa Corner → General Questions/Comments → ferryman diesel questions
Not that I can help with your question - but I have a 1980 with the same exact engine and I seem to have the same problem - always started like a charm but at the end of this season noticed same problems you mentioned.
My boat was at Collins Bay until it moved to Ottawa in 1990.
Ivan Ross "Morava" #266
H'mm do you think it has something to do with Lake Ontario water 
Collins Bay is a great harbour my father kept his Tanzer 22 there for years, before moving to Portsmouth, quicker access to the lake was the prime reason for the move.
the usual causes of dumping smoke out of a diesel are improper injection timing - caused by many things including injector(s) popping too soon, injection pump wear and/or failure - or blow by (burning oil). based on the hard to start issue, i'd say its a fuel delivery problem. best bet is to pull the injector, have it cleaned and set to the opening pressure listed in the service manual. if the engine is equipped with glow plugs, check functionality of them as well. (might need a meter...) reinstall, bleed, and giv'er. ensure that the fuel lift pump is operational and providing low pressure fuel to the injection pump inlet. start with the simple and go on to more complex. if this doesn't work, pull the injection pump and have it bech tested and set if necessary. check the injection timing in accordance with the service manual.
unfortunately, if you're not doing most of this yourself you might just be better off scrapping the farymann after the simple stuff doesn't cure the problem as labour costs in diagnosing and repairing can quickly come close to or even exceed the cost of repowering. not to mention the reliability and simplicity of a newish yanmar - but don't expect to get your 8 grand back out of the boat. if you're thinking of sellin then just leave the engine issues for someone else........
Thanks Stefan It gives me a place to start.
I plan on doing the work my self in so far as pulling the injector and sending it off to be cleaned.
You asked or wondered if the engine did in fact have a glow plug. I am assuming that it does. IF not how does the fuel combust, simply by pressure? My believe that the engine has a glow plug is based on the fact that the engine control panel has a button that when pushed and held in place is used to warm up the glow plug or so I assume.
thanks,
John
Some diesels do infact need the glowplug to start - the temperature at the end of compression in an average ambient temperature is not high enough to sustain combustion. On most, a glowplug is a helper for starting, allowing combustion to occur while the rest of the system (cold block, head, etc) would pull too much heat from the fuel charge that is just barely igniting. This is when you end up just cranking and cranking, building some heat in the system until a temperature that will sustain combustion is reached, allowing the cycle to continue on its own. This is why as you crank and crank, you can see some smoke coming out of the exhaust, but mostly just see and smell unburnt fuel. And then, hopefully, she goes....
Most likely the culprit is a dirty injector tip and an injector that needs adjustment. Sailboat engines tend to carbon up a lot faster than say, a bobcat, because they never reach an operating temperature that allows for more complete combustion of the fuel charge (the hotter you run, the more effecient or complete you burn your fuel charge). Incomplete combustion happens to everyone.... (And if it doesn't then let me know becuase I want my name in the textbook too) This is why we should all be pulling our injectors every other year and having them cleaned and set.
Hi Fellow Farymann owners!
Well, my 1985 engine does not have a glow plug, I don't believe any of them did....and if you push a button, (but not turn the key like a car) and the starter is cranking, that is the starter button for the actual starter. I turn a key and crank like a car, another Farymann owner in my marina holds a button as well. Glow plug button is separate from cranking button, from what I know of big (old) diesel truck engines.
I have to give mine alot of fuel if she's cold...then when she starts she's a clanging for a short bit, as the fuel/cylinder is still cold and loudly exploding all that excess fuel, then she warms up...and starts to purr.
If your batteries are low, or your alternator (if you have an aftermarket one of anykind...they did not come with one), make sure it's not drawing power.
Plus, could be your starter, it was mine...will crank forever, but not start.
I had seawater in cylinder cooling jacket that got past o-rings and into and against outer edges of cylinder, a poor design that has been rectified, but if you need to rebuild you need new cyliner, piston and head!!! Goodbye $5,000 Canadian, including starter. Remember, if she doesn't start, turn off your cooling water intake, you don't want saltwater building up in exhaust elbow and flooding into cylinder, very bad thing! I have before and after pics of the horror of corroded cylinders, I can send if you'd like, view at your own risk! ;-)
Hello all
I have a 1979 contessa 26 with the standard 8hp ferryman diesel. Up til this season the engine has started with out much effort, a couple of cranks and she fired up.At the beginning of the season I noticed that she required a bit more cranking to get her going and is now at the point where she will only fire up after up to a minute of cranking time. Now that the season is over I want to take a look and fix the problem. Any suggestions? The diesel fuel is fresh(beginning of the season). Am I correct in saying that the glow plug either works or doesn't? can the injector be taken out and cleaned or should it be replaced?
I should add that warming up the glow plug as I crank over the engine does not appear to improve starting. As well the exhaust is darker(bluer than notmal) I believe this may be caused by the fact that the fuel is not completely burning off.
Thanks
John, from Kingston, Ont
Thanks For Your Information
The Contessa Corner → General Questions/Comments → ferryman diesel questions
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