Villamoura: There's Diesel in our Diesel
37:04.630N 8:07.268W Today we started hunting down the water in the diesel. First
job was to drain the tank. Fortunately it has a tap at the bottom, and after affixing
a short length of hose, we drained a half litre. It didn’t look like it
had any water, so we drained some more. We were still unsure what water in
diesel looked like so we added some from the tap into the container. It was
very obvious, and it was very obvious there was no water in our tank. Maybe
only a bit occurred due to condensation over the winter and that was what we
could see in the fuel filter? We then started to drain the fuel filter. Funny, the water
was not coming out. After it was fully drained Stephen realised the “water
in the diesel” was just the thick glass at the bottom of the fuel filter
jar…he really was quite embarrassed to admit this mistake. On the plus
side the filter was due for a change and hence we changed it. Now all we had to do was bleed the air from the system. And
so the fun began! To cut a long story short, we eventually realised we needed
to crank the engine a little bit so the manual lift pump would start to work. This took all day with only a very quick rest for lunch. And
all for nearly nothing, although we have learnt a lot. We still have no idea
why our tank is showing more fuel than the start of the passage to Vilamoura.
Another mystery reserved for another day. Maybe it’s a faulty sensor? Koshka and Yoyo were banned to the deck all day. Yoyo was
fine but Koshka is clearly not happy. Tonight we have deserved a glass of wine or two, and the
cats will definitely get some tuna. |