Having fun with my engine...

February 2015

Universal M25 XPB engine

Well, I know that most readers would rather be reading about some adventure I am having on "Spirit of Adventure" and that is exactly what I am going to write about.   Of all of the systems on my boat, the electrical system is at the bottom of things I know about.   Seeing all of those wires running here and there really annoys me because I have no idea where they go.   I had re-built the fresh & salt water cooling systems and seem to have figured that out, but when I found a wire dangling and not attached to anything and my engine would not start, I examined more of my engine wiring and decided it all had to be replaced.   The adventure begins.

The old wiring harness... Oh yes, my engine is under the cloth, hiding from me.

It is fairly easy (but costly) to buy the wiring harness that comes directly from the manufacturer.   The first harness sort of begins at the front of the engine with the temperature sensor and alternator then runs to the starter and finally back to the rear of the engine.   It seems like there are at least twenty wires needed to get the electrical energy from the batteries to the engine and from the engine back to the batteries.   Then you throw in my two solar panels which really are great and you have a jungle of wiring.   Well, I simply (oh yes, I can say that now) took an old wire off of the engine and found that particular wire on the harness and attached the new one where I had removed the old one.   Now, this seems simple but it involves laying on your side, kneeling on your knees for hours and even standing (sort of) on your head.   As I attached the new, I pulled the old out of the back of the engine and just knew that I was doing a great job.    The only problem was that when I got finished, I had a wire left-over that I could not remember where to attach it and also, when I began to attach my alternator to the bracket, I got sparks.   Somehow I had some wire in the wrong place.  YIKES!
Well a quick trip (with my pictures) back to the parts store soon had everything figured out and I even came away with a color coded diagram of all of the wiring harnesses that I had purchased.   FINALLY,  I can tell what all of those unknown, unmarked wires are flowing so effortlessly throughout my boat.  

Wiring the "Admiral's" panel

   The admiral's panel (their name not mine) was a lot easier to rewire due to my not having to stand on my head.   When I finished this, I plugged in all of the harnesses and decided to get the key and see if it would start.   Remember, it wouldn't start before I began re-wiring.   Well, I was so surprised when I turned on the key and the engine sprang to life and sat there running as happy as could be.   I was so happy, I called Fred (Lator Gator fame) and told him what I had just accomplished.  

Old exhaust injection elbow

New exhaust injection elbow

When I finished this, I (as an afterthought) I replaced my exhaust injection elbow.   This was a very simple job that I failed to make hard.   My one day diesel mechanic course has just paid for itself.  

Great Blue Herron watching us get our "polish" on.

                       



Last week Halee and I motored/sailed over to Los Alimitos fuel dock to get the fuel (in my tank) "polished" which means taking the water out of the fuel.   When the tank is empty, they spray diesel fuel back into the tank under high pressure and then suck out all of the "guck" that is in the bottom of the tank.   When they started sucking the first time, "Jose" alerted me to watch the clear plastic hose that was removing the "guck" from my tank.   It was pretty visible and I do believe it was the cause of some of my engine failures on our trip back from Cabo.   Well, the tank is now clean and the fuel polished so that is another job I will probably not have to do again.