For two months we have had a frustrating diesel leak, just enough to cause the engine to lose its prime after sitting for a day. We can start it back up right away after running it, no problem. But wait a day, and we had to bleed the system again.
Pete thought that the fuel switch located on the injector pump was leaking, so Jon replaced that. Didn’t fix the problem, though I think it was part of the problem.
An injector started leaking from around the nut on the feed line. I discovered a tiny scratch on the surface of the nipple of the injector, undoubtedly created by some errant shard of metal when we put the injectors back in. I removed the injector and took it to Diamond Diesel in Oakland and they replaced the piece for free (I had them all rebuilt just a few months ago). This was definitely part of the problem, but it still didn’t fix our priming issue.
I decided that the fuel manifold to which the fuel switch is mounted was leaking, because it didn’t have a copper washer to seal it properly (no idea why). Took it off and added a copper washer. Leaking stopped, engine doesn’t lose its prime now.
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