boomerang
Guru
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2016
- Messages
- 1,446
- Location
- united states
- Vessel Name
- Wandering Star
- Vessel Make
- Hatteras 42 LRC
When we bought our beloved Albin 40 from Scott Neeld last winter, he kindly delivered it up to the Saint Augustine area from his marina in Fort Pierce for us. We had the boat there for over a month and not once did we even start the engine ,since we were so busy moving onto the boat and familiarizing ourselves with it. When we did get around to starting the trusty Leyman 120, I was prepared to grind on the starter some, since it was definitely a cold start situation (cold start as in not having been run for weeks…the ambient air temperature was in the low 60’s at the time), but I barely touched the key before it fired off.
Coming home, each morning after the previous days run, it fired right up without an issue.
After a leisurely week of running ,we reached Myrtle Beach where we left the boat for 6 weeks. When it came time to depart the marina ,the Lehman wouldn’t pop. Puzzled, I went into the engine room and checked everything. All of the lines and filters looked good so I gave the mechanical Lehman fuel pump a few pumps of the priming lever. While doing so, I noticed bubbles forming at the base of one of the fuel delivery valve holders on the injection pump. I tried the engine again and it begrudgingly started and ran fine after clearing the air from the system.
Each morning ,the engine would start but I noticed it didn’t fire off immediately s it had in the past. After we arrived at our home dock on the Chesapeake, when we wanted to go for a cruise, I would have to pump the priming pump before it would fire up. Even after anchoring for more than 2 days the engine just didn’t want to start.
I surmised it was loosing prime through the leak in the pump ( I already checked the snugness of the lines and fittings) and started researching other threads on TF concerning hard starting Lehmans. The 7 year old sticky thread started by scurvy_dan was spot on for problem. I looked for the parts Dan helpfully listed and couldn’t find them anywhere except for the very place he found
them, in France. Thankfully everything was in stock and damn if we didn’t have it delivered in 5 days!
Anyway, the next day, I removed the suspect fuel line and delivery valve. I got nervous when I couldn’t find the exact o-ring and crush washer in the kit. The o-ring didn’t concern me too much ,what came out was more of a flat-sided o-ring rather than round but the size was the same. The crush washer that I removed didn’t look like a crush washer at all to me, but rather more like a regular flat washer. Determined to make it work and referring to dans thread, I used the smaller washer and centered it ,just as he outlined in his thread.
I reassembled everything and low and behold, after a little priming , the engine fired up ,smoothed out and ran like the kitten as it did in the past. The final test was a cold start a few days later where it started immediately, no priming involved!
I just can’t express how grateful I am to Dan and this forum for making my troubleshooting and locating the parts needed a painless experience.
Coming home, each morning after the previous days run, it fired right up without an issue.
After a leisurely week of running ,we reached Myrtle Beach where we left the boat for 6 weeks. When it came time to depart the marina ,the Lehman wouldn’t pop. Puzzled, I went into the engine room and checked everything. All of the lines and filters looked good so I gave the mechanical Lehman fuel pump a few pumps of the priming lever. While doing so, I noticed bubbles forming at the base of one of the fuel delivery valve holders on the injection pump. I tried the engine again and it begrudgingly started and ran fine after clearing the air from the system.
Each morning ,the engine would start but I noticed it didn’t fire off immediately s it had in the past. After we arrived at our home dock on the Chesapeake, when we wanted to go for a cruise, I would have to pump the priming pump before it would fire up. Even after anchoring for more than 2 days the engine just didn’t want to start.
I surmised it was loosing prime through the leak in the pump ( I already checked the snugness of the lines and fittings) and started researching other threads on TF concerning hard starting Lehmans. The 7 year old sticky thread started by scurvy_dan was spot on for problem. I looked for the parts Dan helpfully listed and couldn’t find them anywhere except for the very place he found
them, in France. Thankfully everything was in stock and damn if we didn’t have it delivered in 5 days!
Anyway, the next day, I removed the suspect fuel line and delivery valve. I got nervous when I couldn’t find the exact o-ring and crush washer in the kit. The o-ring didn’t concern me too much ,what came out was more of a flat-sided o-ring rather than round but the size was the same. The crush washer that I removed didn’t look like a crush washer at all to me, but rather more like a regular flat washer. Determined to make it work and referring to dans thread, I used the smaller washer and centered it ,just as he outlined in his thread.
I reassembled everything and low and behold, after a little priming , the engine fired up ,smoothed out and ran like the kitten as it did in the past. The final test was a cold start a few days later where it started immediately, no priming involved!
I just can’t express how grateful I am to Dan and this forum for making my troubleshooting and locating the parts needed a painless experience.
