Fuel Manifold Valve Leaks, Repair?

[bobk]

The starboard fuel return valve on the fuel manifold is leaking again. I had them all reconditioned by lapping a few years ago. Boat is a 1981 48MY, twin 692's. Are these valves replaceable, or do I need to go the recondition route again? The mech in Florida who did the job said they had tapered seats and stems that are held together with a spring.

Bobk
Chateau de Mer

 

[Timm]

It's best to replace those valves with the more modern ball valves. They have a tendancy to leak air Available at West Marine or other chandlery. Probably can also get them at Amazon.

 

[Top Shelf]

I've got this same issue with all 4 of mine. Has anyone on the forum re-plumbed the whole manifold? It seems you'd need 4, 2 way (or is it a 3 way) ball valves. On my set up the return lines are a smaller diameter than the supply lines. It also seems like there would be significant re-plumbing of the copper lines to make them fit the ports on the new ball valves.

Anyone done this and how bad of a job was it? Thanks all.

 

[bobk]

SAMS has a near drop-in replacement at ~$105. I odrered two and will see how it works out. I didn't see anything on the internet that looked similar. Hope I can just plumb up with the same flare fittings. Meanwhile I need to burn out some fuel.

Bobk

 

[rsmith]

When I replaced the OEM sock primary filters with racors way back in 1978 everytime I changed the racors they were half full. I ran a piece of clear hose ahead of the racor and saw a stream of small bubbles running thru it. I took a blob of electrical duct seal and goobered it around the shafts of the fuel selectors. Bubbles stopped. Ordered the selectors from Hatt. Major PITA job. I had to use both std and flarenut crows foot wrenches plus I had to "modify" several of my good Snap-On wrenches to get the job done. The 1978 valves are still there and dont leak. Now I need to find a piece of wood to knock on.

 

[Top Shelf]

Now that you mention it, I remember I couldn't get a wrench on a few of the flare nuts on one vlave.

It seems the one I was able to remove had no o'ring or provisions for o'rings. Pretty much a brass on brass or bronze on bronze fit. And you could cetainly see some galling where it had been turned or excercised. Do you think a machinest could fab some o'ring grooves in the cone portion?

Bobk, pleas elet us know how you ake out with the retro from Sams. Thanks.

 

[bobk]

I pulled the front of the manifold panel today and that let me get an open wrench on one wet flare nut. I got it tightened a bit more, and I tried to work the valve seats in using a wrench and twisting back and forth. What a b***h getting the panel back up!! We will sea trial tomorrow to see if it helped.

I'll keep you posted on how the new valves work out. I think I'll need a 1" and 1 1/8" crows foot flare nut wrench for the change out. Any sources????

Any idea of what angle of the flares are? I'll need to get some plugs.

Bobk

 

[Boatsb]

THEY SHOULD BE 45 DEGREE FLARES.

That's what they should be but who knows what they are.

 

[bobk]

Now that you mention it, I remember I couldn't get a wrench on a few of the flare nuts on one vlave.

It seems the one I was able to remove had no o'ring or provisions for o'rings. Pretty much a brass on brass or bronze on bronze fit. And you could cetainly see some galling where it had been turned or excercised. Do you think a machinest could fab some o'ring grooves in the cone portion?

Bobk, pleas elet us know how you ake out with the retro from Sams. Thanks.

I ended up getting two more valves from SAMS and had them all replaced. The mech removed the shelf etc in addition to the manifold face. Well worth the extra time because it made easier access. To prevent siphoning of the fuel he simply blew back on each line to break the siphon column.

The old flare fittings went back on the new valves perfectly. No replumbing needed.The copper tube sizes are differrent but the valves are all the same. The different tube sizes are accomodated by the fittings. Two plugs could not be removed from the old valves so had to be replaced. As Steve advised, the new valves have a different bolt hole pattern, so the manifold face had to be re-drilled. Otherwise the biggest issue was forcing the panel face back into place.

I found an aditional benefit to the new valves. After about eight hours running at 1100-1150 rpm, the Racor vacuum gages are still at zero psi. Prior to this the gages would show 5-7 psi. I did not change the filters with this job as they were recently changed out.

This is one of those jobs I could have done myself and paid with an aching back for five days, so it was well worth a few hours labor ($85/hr) by an experienced mech.

Bobk
Chateau de Mer

 

[TopHattandTails]

I did th Sam's drop in replacement last winter. Search the thread. Just make sure the handle isn't on backwards! Fuel over board is not cool.

 

[Top Shelf]

That is good news!! I'll swing by Sams next week in FLL and try to get all the parts. Sounds like a few hundred bucks and a saturday afternoon and this multi year problem is solved!! Thanks appreciate the update.