Unexplained Diesel Leak Near Genset

BonBini said:
I don't know alot about the layout of your specific boat, but I do alot of trouble shooting with my job every day. When I'm trying to pinpoint a pesky fluid leak I will tie some paper towels around hoses and place others in suspect areas to home in on the leak. good luck with it. ...Ron
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great idea... I've used toilet paper... but it's a great idea.
 
Four Suns said:
Sooooo.... am I the only person wondering WHY you are posting in this thread when you don't know what color the diesel fuel is at the fuel dock?
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I'm not sure what you're getting at. I openly admitted I mistakenly thought marinas still had to pay the normal taxes (or other taxes in lieu of road taxes). The point is I was trying to help. Regardless of color, it doesn't mean I can't help chase down a leak, does it?

You gave me a quick jab... Fair enough. I gave a little one back in jest. I don't think this warrants a continued off-topic exchange, do you?
 
Lazy Daze said:
I'm not sure what you're getting at. I openly admitted I mistakenly thought marinas still had to pay the normal taxes (or other taxes in lieu of road taxes). The point is I was trying to help. Regardless of color, it doesn't mean I can't help chase down a leak, does it?

You gave me a quick jab... Fair enough. I gave a little one back in jest. I don't think this warrants a continued off-topic exchange, do you?
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You will never catch my post count... I know what you are doing.
 
sfergson727 said:
I don't know Gary, Dennis has only been on the board since April of 2009, he seems to have the momentum at the moment. I'm thinking you better drop the book or finish it soon so that you can get back to posting more often.
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Obama had "momentum"... look where that got us.

"Lazy Daze" and "Obama"... seems pretty similar to me... ;-)
 
Always amusement!!

Anyway back to the issue ... All the steering lines are on the stbd side. His issue is on port. and isolated to the outer side no less. The ram for the rudders is more stb as well... There is nothing other then water lines in that port side corner stern of the genset... WTF... Can u climb into into the pocket stern of the genset and look behind it .. see whats lurking ... What ever type of fluid it is I would think it would leave a trail... u know like a happy trail...

Rob
 
Off-road diesel is "reddish"- but that looks a little too red.
It's simple enough to check the fluid reservoir for your hydraulic steering (mine's the helm pump itself). If it's low, guess what...
 
Four Suns said:
Here's a picture of steering fluid in my bilge:

DSC_0022.jpg


That ain't diesel...

I can't really tell from the picture what you have but you need to make sure it is diesel and not hydraulic fluid...

I had a hose blow up:

DSC_0024.jpg


The hydraulic hoses installed on my boat during construction did not meet the Seastar/Teleflex documented requirements... Some dork put the wrong hoses on the boat and they blew.. I replaced all of them with the correct hose. Long story but the guy at Sea Ray in customer service I talked to (in TN) said "the safety factor on those hoses allows them to handle more pressure than what is printed on the side" or something like that... I didn't push it... spent about $2K replacing all of them. You can see from the pictures how they were bulging at times...
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What are those hoses attached to? I see what looks like a coolant hose in the lower right corner? and a zinc? Is that a cooler for the hydraulic steering?
 
tobnpr said:
What are those hoses attached to? I see what looks like a coolant hose in the lower right corner? and a zinc? Is that a cooler for the hydraulic steering?
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That is a raw water heat exchanger on the starboard engine and it is for the transmission and hydraulic steering.... They are inline... the transmission uses regular 30W but the hydraulic steering is SeaStar hydraulic fluid.
 
I'd sort out the diesel vs ATF question first. IF this were diesel from the gen set I would look for a trail from the pan under the gen set to the current pooling of fluid. I did not see such a trail in the photos, but the pics do not encompass the generator pan. This also seems a bit far outboard to be steering. The other option is a leak in the hydraulic line to the port trim tab. The bennett tabs take ATF, and a loose line could drip some ATF into the bilge in this area. Just a guess. I am on my boat all day tomorrow doing annual services on the C Series-I will take a look. We have the same boat, just different years.
 
Skip said:
I'd sort out the diesel vs ATF question first. IF this were diesel from the gen set I would look for a trail from the pan under the gen set to the current pooling of fluid. I did not see such a trail in the photos, but the pics do not encompass the generator pan. This also seems a bit far outboard to be steering. The other option is a leak in the hydraulic line to the port trim tab. The bennett tabs take ATF, and a loose line could drip some ATF into the bilge in this area. Just a guess. I am on my boat all day tomorrow doing annual services on the C Series-I will take a look. We have the same boat, just different years.
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Thanks Skip. I finally made it back to the boat today to check the steering and the tabs. I was hoping it was the tabs since they were recently replaced. No leaks in either. I found the pool has been washed away due to the water in the bilge which I assume is from the heavy rains. I cleaned up the water and will have to watch for its return.

When the tech was aboard the pan in the genset was checked and found to be dry. The latest suggestion is to check the genset coolant jug so I will try that next.

Thanks
 
Sorry for the delayed update. It is not coolant as the mains have green fluid and the genset has blue. ?!?!?!?

At this point I am believing an old issue is not fixed - leak in the port trim tab as the ATF in the system is red. Unfortunately, I am unable to find the source of the leak after checking all of the lines and thru-hulls. At least there is no oil slick so the leak is internal.

Don
 
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