Firing up an old marine diesel

What maintenance steps would you take before turning over a marine diesel engine that has not been run in 2 years?

Depends on the service history prior to restarting. In theory if it's not seized up, I would just try starting and see if it builds oil pressure, then I would get the oil warmed up and then change it. If it's not running well I would check the condition of the fuel. If it doesn't turn over it might need batteries. Not much different than anything else, provided it was properly maintained before hand. If your marine engine is in a vessel, that's been sitting in salt water, I might inspect the heat exchangers for leaks, and make sure your bilge pump is working. If your marine engine is on dry land, you'll need a cooling source.

What, did you buy the torpedo retriever?

What we do when we resurect a boat from the dead:

Roll over engine to ensure it is not locked.

1. Change Oil and Filters, Note the conditon of the filters and the goo (hopefully not) on the inside of the filter housing.

2. Change Fuel Filters, observe as in #1.

3. Check heat exchangers or raw cooling pump. Check content of HE system, change out if even the least bit concerned. Top off with water.

4. Check out raw water cooling pump impellor. Most small ones are made of neoprene, change it out, dont even try to save it. The big ones used anything from cast iron (stupid) up to Nibral or SS. If it was cast iron, you might want to RUN, not walk from it.

5. Ensure fresh batteries or good air pressure.

6. Start engine up and check all vitals. After this you can determine if you want to keep it or trash it.

7. If you want to keep it, you can then spend the big money on redoing it the right way...new antifreeze, impellors, redo heat exchangers, etc.

Good Luck!

Sometimes when diesel engines sit for a while parts in the injection pump will stick. On some brands of engines they just won't start. On others the rack will be stuck in the haul a?? mode. Ask me how I know. Now when I start one that has been asleep for a while I take the air pipe loose at the turbo and have a board or flat piece of steel handy to block the air. It will shut right down when you cut off the air, unlike the John Deere power unit I had just rebuilt after taking from an old combine. It took it a full three minutes to suck all the fuel from the lines and filters after I cut the lines. All the while turning well in excess of 3000 RPMs.

poppop said:

Sometimes when diesel engines sit for a while parts in the injection pump will stick. On some brands of engines they just won't start. On others the rack will be stuck in the haul a?? mode. Ask me how I know. Now when I start one that has been asleep for a while I take the air pipe loose at the turbo and have a board or flat piece of steel handy to block the air. It will shut right down when you cut off the air, unlike the John Deere power unit I had just rebuilt after taking from an old combine. It took it a full three minutes to suck all the fuel from the lines and filters after I cut the lines. All the while turning well in excess of 3000 RPMs.

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Haha, there's nothing like a diesel runaway to ruin a good pair of pants. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH Oh, dear god, please don't impale me with a rod while I try to kill this monster.

Really, two employees and one friend just hauled a??. I am running in circles wanting to flee also, but i just sunk $2000.00 in this screaming demon. Thankfully no damage was done. I credit the assembly grease I always use for that. This baby fired quicker than any engine I have ever rebuilt and made those souped up black smoke pouring tractor pulling tractors look like sissy's.