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Re: Paranoia about the D3-110 Volvo Penta - diesel bug

Paul Dowd and Sharon Brown
 

Hi all,

 

My dip stick tells me I have a fairly thick coat of sludge at the bottom of the tank. I have just done a short but fairly rough passage, motor sailing, with 170 litres in the tank, and did not have any fuel problem. I have been aiming to get it as low as I can before figuring out how to clean the tank. Presumably I should suck out the remaining fuel – about 150 litres now – then use some combined mechanical/chemical means of cleaning the bottom. Not really sure how to go about that so any advice would be well appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Paul

S/Y Ya Fohi - Amel 54 #98

 

From: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io> On Behalf Of Dan Carlson
Sent: 09 February 2020 11:00
To: main@amelyachtowners.groups.io
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Paranoia about the D3-110 Volvo Penta - diesel bug

 

Hi Scott, I really can't say what I do is right, but here are a few things that seem to work for me so far. 

1) I try to use more than half the tank before refueling to replace the old with fresh. That is dependent on having it available when you need it, but we are in the Caribbean. 2) we have avoided biodiesel. 3) I use StarTron treatment as that has been what was available when I have needed to replenish. 4) I leave the tank full during the off season to reduce condensation  from air that enters thru the vent during the daily temperature cycles. 5) I have inspected my tank twice in 4 years when there was less than 200 liters in the tank (I could not see the bottom of the tank when there was more than 200 liters). The walls and floor we're shiny, but both times there were several small 50cm2 patches of slime on the floor. I attached a 2 meter length of small fuel hose to my fuel dipstick with a couple zip-ties and then stuck the end of the hose into the slime spot and sucked it up with a 5 liter vacuum fluid (oil)extractor.  6) I also shine a light thru the racor bowls regularly to monitor if any sludge is getting into them.

 

The risk of running the fuel tank low is that rough seas will break loose and break up any accumulated sludge.  

 

Best regards,  Daniel Carlson on sm #387, sv BeBe

 

On Sun, Feb 9, 2020, 9:28 AM Scott SV Tengah <Scott.nguyen@... wrote:

My paranoia about my Volvo D3-110 (rev c) has been kicked back into high gear. I think this applies to anyone with a diesel engine but particularly with the hyper sensitive D3-110.

I know a few A54 owners with failed D3-110 due to water ingress. We've discussed that on another thread. I'll leave that discussion there.

Recently I met a HR46 owner who had to lag behind the World ARC ($$$$!) because of diesel bug issues on his D3-110C. Another HR48 owner had the same issue and in both cases, the engine died and wouldn't start back up. His tank was disgusting, apparently. I've opened my inspection hatches and my tank is nearly pristine. But I am not going to rest on my laurels. 

What do you guys do to keep your fuel system clean? Here's my procedure and I hope I can improve on it with your help:

1) Diesel only from places that get high turnover. We aim for duty-free, so they're usually in high demand.
2) Outside of the US and EU, we use the Baja filter. Damn slow at only around 8liters per minute, but you gotta do what you gotta do... That said, I know of a few owners in the EU who have had diesel bug - seems more prevalent with biodiesel.

One idea to reduce filling time (900/8 = nearly two hours!!) is to use the Baja Filter to fill up our spare 20liter jerry can and then inspect the Baja filter. If all is good, just fill up the boat without the filter.

3) I use BioBor JF. I don't know if it's the best, but I found a bottle in the US that was enough to treat 10,000 liters, so that was my decision making criteria.
4) I have 10 micron Racor filters in the water separator filters. I carry 15 filters aboard.  Two micron in the Volvo, per spec.
5) Pray.

What do you all do to ensure you aren't stricken by the bug?


--
Scott 
2007 A54 #69
SV Tengah
http://www.svtengah.com


--
Cheers
Paul
Ya Fohi - Amel 54 #98
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