Comfortable cruising speed is about 1300-1400 RPM - though recommended operating range of the engines (as per Brian at American Diesel) is 1500-2500 RPM to get engines hot enough to not accumulate soot in the exhaust due to incomplete fuel burn. 1650-1750 RPM should be most efficient range for the engines (as per Brian).
Engines should reach 2750 RPM no load, 2500 RPM under load WOT. Should at least see 2400 RPM WOT with no load. If not - check cable adjustment to see if it's not allowing throttle to go far enough forward.
See Blake and Diana - they give oil change classes - should be able to teach how to bleed.
Also contact Tom, "The Boat Coach" - 713-254-3105 - Previous owner of this boat!
Oil Change - Last oil change has 5 hours engine time at time of purchase.
DO NOT USE NAPA or WIX FUEL filters!!! (Per Brian at American Diesel)
Due to past issues (with leakage?)
Wix makes NAPA filters. Use anything else (like Penzoil, etc)
Fuel Filter: Fram C1191A
In 1998 email between Bob at American Diesel and Vic Kleinsteuber (previous owner):
Rotella 30W recommended over Rotella 15W-40. From Bob: "The multi viscus has to much of the oil content dedicated towards making the oil suite the wide range of viscosity instead of being oil." Operators Manual calls out SAE 30 for above 90F ambient.
From Bob at American Diesel, Wed. 22 July 1998: "The standard oil filter for the Lehman 120 is the Fram PH8A"
MAIN ENGINE OIL CHANGE:
Do every 200 hours, or at least once a year.
INJECTOR PUMP OIL CHANGE
David (PO) changed injector pump oil about every 50 hours.
Injector should take 14oz of oil. Use a 2 cup plastic measuring cup to measure out 15 oz. This should be enough to fill the injector, and have a small amount bleed out of the fill level plug.
Diesel will creep into the injector pump. At about 50 hours, use a large cup under the "level" plug on the pump to capture the excess amount of fluid. The pump should be filled to the level plug when changing the oil. When an additional 2 oz of oil has crept in (about 50 hours), it's time to change the oil.
Start on the PORT engine to re-familiarize with the procedure and plug placement. Use a large flat blade screwdriver for the fill plug. Use a 1/2" box end (NON-RATCHETING) for the level and drain plugs. Remove fill plug first to allow air flow, then remove level plug to see how much diesel has seeped in, then remove drain plug. Note that re-threading the plug in the bottom is a "challenge", perhaps complicated by the mounting angle of the engine? See notes on 7/20/25 in log.
IMPORTANT NOTE: After the water pump on the starboard engine was changed, the elbow of the water pump interferes with removal of the starboard injector drain plug. The ONLY way to remove the plug is to use a traditional box end wrench. Use the enclosed end, not the open end. There is NOT enough clearance to use a ratcheting wrench. Only a traditional box end wrench will fit - and it is a challenge to fit it in place blindly on the starboard side.
Other random Engine Notes from Brian at American Diesel:
Lehman 120's require 420 CCA of battery capacity to start. In theory, a group 24 battery should be able to do it, assuming sufficiently short wiring.
Operating range for engines: 1500-2500RPM
Helpful videos on priming the engine and replacing oil:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjtbk8e6Cvw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw8r1W1feTI
Hoses:
Small hose (transmission cooler?) - 1"
Main exhaust hose: 3.5"
If replacement is needed, use rubber hose (per Brian at American Diesel), not silicon.
Replacement elbows ship as raw steel, and should be painted. Brian recommends just painting with regular paint. The paint will burn on the bottom, and turn black, but will be better than having raw metal oxidize. He suggested that normal paint is ok, as either normal or even high temp paint will likely burn on the lower portions of the elbow.
Steps for replacing the exhaust elbow:
1) CLOSE the main engine seacock.
2) May need to pinch off shaft log exhaust water hose.
3) Need to drain coolant down several gallons.
a) There are two drain plugs at the bottom of the heat exchanger. The one furthest from the cap is the coolant. The other one is sea water.
b) With the petcock at the top of the manifold still closed, loosen the furthest drain plug - some coolant will start to drain. Remove plug, and replace with hose as quickly as possible. Hopefully with everything closed up, not much coolant will spill out.
c) With a hose on the drain opening, going to a bucket, open the petcock at the top of the manifold and open the fill cap on the top of the exchanger to allow air in (and water out). Drain ~3 gallons.
4) With the coolant drained, remove the exhaust hose and the secondary hose on the elbow. Then loosen the bolts holding the elbow in place. The large hose on the stbd engine elbow was stuck - ended up removing elbow, then using hose puller, followed by driving long screwdriver into hose to loosen. The upper two bolts were much easier to remove than the lower two bolts on both elbows. The starboard lower bolt required lots of PB Blaster, lots of tapping, and then use of a standard length 9/16" socket, with a socket extension, and a 24" breaker bar to loosen. Note that 3/8" drive sockets and extensions must be used. 1/4" extensions sheer due to the forces required in breaking the bolts loose.
5) Install the elbow for the heat exchanger hose. Anti-seize was used on this fitting. The fitting was screwed mostly in, and left for final tightening / positioning until the elbow was bolted to the manifold.
6) Replace the elbow, using the new supplied gasket in the kit (and new bolts). Use anti-seize on the bolts (?). NOTE: Use Permatex #2 Form-a-Gasket Slow Drying / Non-Hardening sealant on the MANIFOLD side of the gasket to seal the gasket. Do NOT put Permatex on the ELBOW side of the gasket - this will allow the elbow to come off easily, then the gasket may be peeled off the manifold.
7) With the petcock open and the cap open, re-fill
Port Engine exhaust elbow was started 2/12/22. A 1/4" fitting and addapter was used to drain coolant from the heat exchanger into a 5 gallon collapsible water container. One of the four bolts on the elbow sheared off, leaving a stud of about 3/8" long protruding from the exhaust manifold. Attempted penetrating oil and use of an external bolt extractor (not an "easy-out" - did not yet resort to drilling out the bolt). That did not work. However, at Steve's suggestion (Dock 18 friend), lots (~5 min+?) of tapping on the stud with a hammer, and repeated applications of PB Blaster finally loosened the bolt enough that it could be extracted with a pair of vice grips.
In further discussion, Brian (American Diesel) suggested using studs and nuts to install the new exhaust elbow, rather than the supplied 4 bolts. That would remove the potential issue of the bolts sticking in the future. 2" x 3/8" studs were ordered and used on the upper bolt positions. Unfortunately, due to the lack of space between the bolts and the elbow body, the standard bolts (not studs) had to be used in the lower two positions - which are also the most problematic to remove (this is where the water is...). Actually - in retrospect - Studs were used in all 4 positions on the port engine, but only the top two positions on the starboard engine. Let's hope that the generous amount of anti-seize will help if this job needs to be repeated within my lifetime (or ownership) of the boat. The rest of the assembly went without issue. Installation of the port elbow was completed on 2/19/22. Total engine hours at that point were 4274.8 hours. Drained coolant was poured back into the system, and about 1/3 to 1/2 gallon of distilled water was added to top off the tank. Engine was run for 30 min with no leaks and no issues.
Replacement of the starboard elbow was started and mostly completed on 12/28/22, at 4305 engine hours. For whatever reason, this elbow was not as severely rusted as the port elbow. From the exact color match of the old elbows to the engine paint, one might guess that these may have been the original elbows - though Brian from American Diesel said that couldn't be - as the elbows only last ~1500 hours. Perhaps we got lucky?
At about 4280 hours (mid July, 2022), I finally took the time to sop up the oil that had been accumulating under the engines. It had been there since I bought the boat. Not a lot, not enough to be a major concern. But definitely something that I should have gotten around to much sooner than later. When I finally got around to cleaning up the mess, I discovered that there was a lot of water in the oil (not surprising, as water could get in the pans under the engines from any number of places).
I then checked the oil in the engines. Both engines showed plenty of oil. In fact, they showed that the oil level was closer to the factory mark on the dipsticks - well above the scratched mark that was probably made when the engines were installed, or at least by a careful previous owner that was aware of the slant of the engines and took that into account.
The more alarming issue that I saw was that the starboard engine oil had a tannish brown color to it, not the jet black color of the oil in the port engine (that just needed to be changed). I haven't been as good at checking the oil as I should have been. I haven't taken the boat out a lot, and the several times I've checked the oil, there was always plenty of it, and it seemed to be ok. So I have my fingers crossed that something hasn't gone terribly wrong. At the very least, it's time for me to probably do a couple of oil changes on the starboard side, and definitely give the port side a good oil change as well.
OIL SELECTION:
According to Brian at American Diesel, and "Bob" (experts on Ford Lehman engines), the preferred oil for a Ford Lehman 120 is straight SAE 30 oil. Unfortunately, these days it is challenging to find straight 30 wt oil in large quantities. The FL 120 engine capacity is stated to be 12 quarts - thus requiring 6 gallons for the two engines, plus another gallon or two for the injectors. That's a LOT of oil. In mid year 2022 with the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, fuel prices skyrocketed. Diesel jumped from $3/gal to over $5/gal. Rotella 15W-40 oil is running at $20-$28/gal! After price checking Walmart, Sams, Costco, AutoZone, Advanced Auto, O'Reilly's, NAPA, and Amazon, the best price that I could find in quantity was at Walmart, where they only had gallon jugs (not the 2.5 jugs or 5 gal buckets that would have been a better price). I ended up paying $15.34/gal for Rotella 15w-40, and $13.47/gal for 4 gallons of no-name (Ultra Plus?) oil just for flushing the engine.
By the same token, Fram PH8A filters (I was cautioned to avoid NAPA and WIX filters) were $4.20 at Walmart, less than half the price listed at auto parts stores.
I agree with the opinion expressed on Trawler Forum that while SAE 30 is the oil recommended by the EXPERTS, that no harm will come from using Rotella 15W-40 oil, given that I cannot find a sufficient quantity of Rotella SAE 30 (or other major brand). My personal belief is that if the oil is API certified, it should be fine. I'm not planning to run my engines hard, and I probably typically won't run them all that long at a time. For my engines, my thought is that changing the oil regularly is far more important than sweating whether it's SAE 30 vs. 15W-40 - as long as it's a well known, trusted manufacturer, and the oil is changed regularly.
11/10/24 - Oil Change - both engines.
General notes:
Oil Change Pump is powered by "Engine Rm Blower" breaker.
Switch on pump is: in - off - out (right hand positions pumps oil out of engines).
Use valves to select which engine.
Have 8-9 gal on hand. 9 should give plenty of reserve to top off after run-in.
Port Engine:
Drained 3+ gal (fit in 3 gal jug - barely).
Refilled with about 3.5 gal.
Stbd Engine:
Removed about 4.5 gal (exceeded 3 gal jug)
Refilled with about 4.25-4.5 gal.
Injectors - removed drain screws, allowed to flow into drain pan under engine, and sopped up with absorbent pads (puppy pads).
Port injector was not much over fill plug. Stbd injector had a lot of excess fluid (fuel mixed in).
IMPORTANT SUMMARY NOTES:
There is only ONE bolt (where expected on the right hand side of the fuel injector) for bleeding air out of the fuel system.
Use 30 micron filters in the Racor. If 10 micron filters are used, the engines will be starved for fuel and die at high speed / power.
I finally got around to changing the fuel filters. I had been putting off this project for far, far too long out of fear and intimidation at the thought of needing to bleed the fuel filters / lines / injectors. This turned out to be a nightmare project from hell.
Each engine has 3 filters. There is a Racor 500 filter mounted on the aft bulkhead of the engine room. This fixture houses a 30 micron filter, along with a water separator. Each Ford Lehman then has two fuel filters that are engine mounted. Many believe it is better to have a course filter on the Racor to catch the big stuff, and then let the engine mounted filters be small to catch the little stuff.
3-12-23 I started with the port engine because the Racor was easier to get to, and the fuel filters on the engine were on the starboard side of the engine - meaning they were easily accessed in the passage between the two engines. This allowed me to more easily discover what I was doing (i.e. bend down and look under to discover o-rings, etc.) before moving on to the starboard engine, where the engine mounted fuel filters were between the engine and starboard wall.
The bowls of both of the Racor 500 primary filters were cloudy. Opening the spigot on the bottom of the port filter did nothing. When I opened the top lid, I saw that the filter was completely full of sludge. This was BAD. No one should have ever let the filter get this bad, and I realized that this should have been a first priority when I initially bought the boat. I honestly have no idea how the engines were still running (and yet, they had been running just fine). I had ordered the rebuild kits for the Racor filters. But after seeing how full of sludge they were, I decided that I'd rather replace the filters than take a chance on getting them completely cleaned and put back together correctly (lots of parts, lots of o-rings, lots of opportunity for leaks). A pair of new Racor 500's was about $500. That was the start.
I discovered that over the past 30-40 years, Racor had changed the design. The filter was the same. The body was essentially the same. The mounting is now different, and the inlet and outlet port threads are different. I also discovered that my engines had been plumbed so that the copper tubes from the fuel manifold went outboard to each fuel filter, and then from the further outboard part to the engine. The Racors designate one side of the filter as input, and the other side as output. Since my filters were plumbed to be mirror images of each other, the port engine had fuel going in to the output port, and out of the input port to the engine. Apparently, this didn't matter much, as the engines both ran fine. When I replaced the Racors, I fixed that issue - though it did mean that the hose replacing the copper tubing had to cross sides.
As mentioned previously, the Racor ports are different from the original threads on what I removed. Racors currently have ports that are threaded to 3/4"-16 UNF SAE J1926 (need to check this... I got it from the spec sheet, not from the part I actually bought to mate to the new Racor body). This is NOT a standard fitting size. My local Marine store (Blackburn Marine in Kemah, Texas) happened to stock fittings that adapted the unusual Racor threading to a more standard (1/4 or 3/8" NPT) fitting. The next challenge was the copper fuel line from the fuel manifold to the fuel filter. I ended up replacing the copper line feeding the port filter with a piece of 3/8" rubber (A1-15 rated, USCG approved) fuel hose. This had it's own set of fittings to find. On the other side, the outlet of the fuel filter already went to a 5/16" hose (that turned out to also be A1-15 rated, USCG approved,) running to the fuel pump on the engine. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was 5/16" hose, instead of the ubiquitous 3/8" hose, until I was ready to attach the hose to the 3/8" barb fitting I had specially ordered for the filter housing... ARRRRRGGGGH. Yet another trip to Blackburn Marine.
Once the Racor was replaced, I went ahead and fired up the engine to ensure everything worked before moving to the next step.
In addition to the Racor 500 for each engine, the Ford Lehman 120 engines have two engine mounted fuel filters. The fuel filters were replaced with Fram C1191A fuel filters. The filter comes with the 4 (yes, FOUR) o-rings that must be replaced when the filter is replaced.
When I removed the filters, there was some sediment / sludge in the aft of the two filters, but the forward filter seemed pretty clean. Given the condition of the Racor, that was a huge relief!
Getting all the o-rings in the right places is a little intimidating the first time. The good news is that they are all different sizes, and will generally only go in one place. The smallest one goes on the long screw that secures the filter. I found the previous o-ring all the way at the top of the bolt. My understanding is that it should only extend up as high as the threads of the bolt. I need to check this with Brian, the Lehman guru, at American Diesel.
The outboard bolts on the filters are for bleeding / filling the filters. The inboard bolts go all the way through the filter to the bottom cup, and hold the filter in place.
HINT: A turkey baster is excruiatingly slow, but works well for filling the fuel filters with fuel through the vent ports on top. Once the filters were filled with fuel, the engine got past the air bubbles and ran normally fairly soon. The manual paddle on the fuel pump didn't seem to do much at all.
UPDATE: Using a plastic measuring cup to pour the fuel into the filters is slightly less painful than the pitiful turkey basters I was able to find. The manual paddle on the fuel pump is marginal, at best.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The 1981-1984 Ford Lehman 120's only have ONE screw (the right hand side) for bleeding the fuel system. The manual and youtube videos show two bolts. For my engine, only one bolt. Loosen it, and work the manual pump lever (forever...).
Having replaced the port Racor, and the two engine mounted filters - the port engine was now done. It was run for a solid 30 minutes to ensure all air bubbles in the lines had been purged.
Now for the starboard side. After the experience with the port filter, much understanding was gained, and I had already survived the parts circus of trying to find all the required fittings. Instead of hose, the starboard engine has copper tubing going from the Racor to the engine. While I did replace the copper tubing from the engine manifold to the Racor with rubber hose, I decided to leave the copper tubing going to the engine. It was working, and replacing it would have required getting places that would have been VERY challenging to reach. (Edit - The starboard fuel line from the Racor to the engine eventually got clogged or got an air leak. It was eventually relaced with Coast Guard approved rubber hose.)
Unfortunately, this required finding the fitting that would adapt the Racor to the copper tubing fitting. This is not a Home Depot / Lowes fitting. Three plumbing supply houses later, I tried Grainger. They were helpful, but also didn't have anything that matched. However - they DID suggest trying the Hydraulic House in Austin, across the freeway. The Hydraulic House finally was able to supply the right fittings! It appears the copper lines on the Ford Lehman of the '83 Ocean Alexander were -6 and -8 JIC threads (???) - apparently common for diesel engines? One of the other threaded fittings appears to be a -6 SAE fitting (though I don't think I ended up needing that). With parts from the Hydraulic House, I was able to "Frankenstein" a series of connections from the Racor to the copper tubing feeding fuel to the starbard engine.
After installation, the starboard Racor was filled with fuel, and the starboard engine miraculously fired right up! After a few seconds, it died. It took a little cranking, and several attempts, but eventually the engine started and ran. On to the engine mounted filters.
When I changed the port mounted engine filters, I noticed that the forward filter had an acorn nut on the bottom of the retaining bolt (turns out it's not the bolt, but rather a fitting in the cup). The stud has a hole through it, and the acorn nut can be loosened to drain fuel out of the filter. The aft filter didn't have an acorn nut - rather, it had a plastic knob to accomplish the same purpose.
In removing the starboard filters, I immediately noticed that while the cup on the stern filter had an acorn nut similar to the one on the forward port filter, there was no nut at all on the forward starboard filter cap. Upon removing the filter and examinging the cup, I discovered that the retaining bolt screwed down into the cup, but that the acorns / knobs were threaded onto a stud in the bottom of the cup. The aft filter had a hole through the stud for draining. The forward filter had no hole, and no nut or knob. Other than that, the filter replacement was fairly straight forward - other than working on the difficult side of the engine where one had to lean over the engine and attempt to look up into the filter housing to see what was going on...
Once the filters were replaced, I used the turkey baster to sip diesel fuel in through the bleeding ports. It took about 4 cups of diesel to fill the filters. Again, the engine started easily, but died soon. More cranking, and eventually the engine came to life and kept running.
Both engines were run for about an hour and 20 minutes to ensure everything seemed to be running well.
Engine hours: 4324.8, 4315.6
8-29-23: Replaced primary Racor filters, and cleaned housings. 4362.6, 4353.8 (38 hours)
10-12-24: Replaced Starboard Racor with imitation copy of Racor 500. Hours: 4432.4, 4430.7 (~77 hours)
Using 10 micron filter instead of 30 micron filter recently used.
Disassembled and cleaned old Racor filter - this seemed to be fairly reasonable to a first order of cleaning. I removed the 4 screws securing the bowl, removed and cleaned the bowl, unscrewed the lower stem, cleaned the turbo / spinner part, replaced - being careful not to lose the steel ball in the lower stem. Re-assembled without replacing any gaskets...
Original Racor: $286, Rebuild kit (O-ring set): $56
Imitation Racor: $35 - Cheaper than the rebuild kit!
CHECK ENGINE FILTERS every 20 Hours.
11-2-24: Completed replacement of all 3 fuel filters on Port engine. Waiting for better weather to take out for test run. Tested on 11/09/24. All ran well.
About mid March, 2023, while replacing the engine fuel filters, it was noticed that the starboard engine shaft seal had a stead stream of water with the engine stopped. Having never worked on shaft seals, I decided to hire someone to repack the seals so that I could learn how to service them. It took about 2 weeks for someone to finally show up. Thankfully, by that time, the stream of water from the seal had dropped back to a drip about every 4 seconds. Reference for the seal work:
Jake Kay
Kemah Boat Repair
281-698-7752
$115/hr, 2 hr. minimum.
3/24/23 - When Jake arrived, I explained the issue, and that I wanted to repack the seals on both engines, as they had never been serviced since I owned the boat, and no idea how long prior to that they were last worked on.
Jake stared with the port engine. The first nut sheared off immediately. The boat was rusted through. This stopped work - a haulout would be required to dis-assemble the coupling, replace the broken bolt stud, and see what else needed to be done.
Jake noticed rust and some pitting on the port engine shaft, though he thought it might simply be surface rust. He would not know until the job had progressed. Worst case, both shafts and both couplings may have to be replaced. Jake also commented that the port and starboard couplings did not match. Apparently, at least one of the shafts had been worked on before.
Seeing these issues, and understanding that the port prop was bent (this was seen at the original purchase survey), Jake expressed concern that the rudder seals may also need to be serviced, and that the rudder could be bent. As per survey, bottom job, and pressure wash haulouts, the rudders seemed fine. Jake checked the rudder posts and said that the rudder seals appeared to be fine.
A fuel transfer pump was rigged to transfer fuel from the stbd tank to the port tank to compensate for the natural list of the boat. This resulted in the stbd tank now being 1/3 or less full, while the port tank is almost full.
There were copper main and return fuel lines from the manifolds to the generator. At the generator these lines transitioned to rubber hose. The rubber hoses were removed. Shutoff valves were installed, and then fuel hose was run from the shutoff valves to the diesel transfer pump. The transfer pump was rated at 11g/min - but this seems to be very optimistic.
On 11/4/23, I started having problems with the starboard engine dying. It sounded and felt like it was somehow getting starved for fuel. Note that this was after I had transferred fuel out of the starboard fuel tank to the port side, to compensate for the boat's natural list. I was still running both engines on only the starboard fuel tank.
I had also noticed at the starboard Racor appeared to have some water in it. I drained some of the fuel (and water?), which was just before the first failure of the starboard engine, about halfway out into the Watergate channel. Eventually started at the dock, ran fine at low speed. Failed a second time out past Kemah boardwalk when the throttle was increased. Racor and engine mounted filters changed. Engine would still fail in the dock when ramped up to high speed. Checking the engine mounted filters showed that they had at least a lot of air, with little or no fuel, explaining why the engine died. Changed the manifolds to draw fuel off the port tank. Worked at the dock, but didn't have a chance to take it out for a good shakedown. Brian suggested running the engine a while, then taking the lid off the Racor to see if it had air.
Discussion with Brian at American Diesel:
Replacement fuel pump is about $70 - however, 1) Brian said the pumps almost never fail, and 2) there is one nut/stud that is very difficult to get to. Offset wrench would be very helpful for this. Brian, of course, thought replacing (and especially) or supplementing the mechanical pump with an electric fuel pump was a HORRIBLE idea - more connections, more points of failure, dependence on 12V when nothing else on the engine needs 12V power...
Brian believes the problem is most likely either in the Racor, or in the fuel lines.
Ordered two fittings from American Diesel to adapt 5/16" SAE Recessed Flare (what goes to the lift fuel pump) to 5/16" barb. Also ordered 10' of Coast Guard Approved A1-15 fuel hose.
The fuel line from the Racor to the engine is original - copper line changing to jacketed tubing for the last foot or so to the fuel pump. Fittings to convert the fuel line to 5/16" Coast Guard Approved fuel hose have been ordered...
Fuel problem put on hold mid December to focus on the breaker replacement project.
The boat appeared to have the original starboard copper fuel line from the Racor 500 fuel filter to the engine mounted mechanical fuel pump. At the engine, the copper line transitions to a braided fuel hose that goes to the lift pump. Brian at American Diesel STRONGLY recommended replacing this line, as the braided hoses can eventually leak (or almost as bad - allow air to be sucked in, starving the engine of fuel).
2-4-24 Replaced starboard engine fuel line from Racor to engine fuel lift pump.
To replace the copper line with 5/16" USCG approved A1-15 rubber hose, new fittings were required. Blackburn marine had the metric (?!!!) fitting that works on the Racor. American Diesel is quite proud of their fitting for the engine side (or was it really the ridiculous shipping cost that made it seem painful?). The fitting for the engine side is a 5/16 SAE Recessed Flare fitting that goes to a 5/16" barb. Brian also suggested that the Racor could use 2 micron filters. Small filters in the Racor prevent stuff from getting to the engine mounted filters. The Racor filters are MUCH easier to replace than the starboard engine mounted filters (and also much easier to pre-fill with fuel)!!
10/27/24 - NOTE: Use 30 micron filters in Racor! Tried using 10 micron filters. This resulted in fuel starvation at speed. Replaced 10 micron with 30 micron, and engine ran well. Yes, it would be nice to filter early - but the engine doesn't seem to support it. Project on "to-do" list is to rig DIY / "Poor man's" fuel polishing system with spare Racor's and fine filters.
The starboard engine has the original combination of Drive Adapter, and Jabsco 5850-001 water pump (marked 10558 on the pump). See page B-16 of the printed manual (not available in the online version). The drive adapter design allowed usage of a pump that was cheap and available at the time. Unfortunately, the thangs on the drive shaft of the adapter eventually wear, and the drive adapter assembly is no longer available. The 5850 pump and rebuild kits are still available (pump is about $600+), but the adapter would be expected to fail eventually, and the pump should be removed and inspected annually.
My boat had the original drive adapter and pump on the starboard side. The port engine (with the pump on the starboard side, making it MUCH more accessible) already has the single unit installed.
In the process of performing the latest oil change (11/10/24), it was discovered that the water pump on the starboard engine was dripping. At this point, given the extreme lack of access, it seems most reasonable to replace the old pump / drive adapter combination with a new (single combination) pump, and be done with the issue.
The original water pump was a Jabsco 10553. (Note - the pump on the stbd engine was different from the pump on the port engine. One or both of these pumps may have been replaced at some time in the past - though the starboard installation appears to be original, most notably with the paint on the adapter matching the rest of the engine.)
The new pump is a Johnson Pump (Norwegian, but pump from Poland?) part 510-0201. It has been ordered from American Diesel for $600+tax and shipping. Possibly arriving in about a week.
The original pump installation has an adapter plate that mounts to the engine. The actual pump is bolted (4 bolts) to the adapter plate (3 bolts). One issue with the original pump adapter was that the tangs on the adapter shaft would eventually wear, requiring replacement of the adapter. American Diesel recommends disassembly and inspection of the pump / adapter on an annual basis.
The pump assembly has 3 bolts. Two are obvious, the third is in the back lower corner. The assembly mounts to the engine housing, and has a gasket with sealant on both sides to seal. There is expected to be residual oil inside the housing, but not a lot. No draining or refilling is needed. However - the pump on the starboard engine is nearly impossible to reach. Getting to the bolts will be tricky.
Several weeks later... Accumulated new pump, new fittings, 1" hose, hose clamps, Permatex #2, threaded stud bolts, and made 3D printed tools to assist with removal or starting of removing nuts/bolts and starting studs. The nut tool allowed a 3/8" nut to be inserted into the fingers, with the fingers thin and flexible enough to pop over the nut/bolt, but will hold it enough to allow removal or to starting on threads. The tool was printed to be just under 10" long. The stud tool was printed to be about 3.5" long, with two fingers threaded for a 3/8" stud bolt. The two fingers are separated, and thin enough to be able to wiggle off the stud, once the stud has been screwed into position. This tool was intended to fit a standard 3/8" socket extension. Unfortunately, the spacing on the female socket side of the tool was too tight. A bit of blue painters tape was sufficient to tape the tool to a long enough extension to get the job done. It would be fun to have a 3d design that could receive a socket extension...
12/17/24 - Pump project completed, and appears to be running fine!
Yes, the pump was a nightmare to remove and replace, due to being on the starboard side of the starboard engine, next to the starboard wall.
Old pump was removed. While the gasket appeared to be completely intact on the engine, it was removed, and attempts made to scrape off as much of the old gasket as possible. A small amount remained where the existing stud was in the upper corner, and at the lower inboard corner where it is most difficult to reach for scraping.
The pump kit included a small pin that was coated in #2 Permatex, and inserted into a small hole on the side of the engine opening, at about 8 o'clock. This pin is supposed to prevent oil from being squirted out - one of the primary sources of oil leaks on the Lehman 120.
The advice from American diesel was to apply #2 Permatex on the gasket between the engine and the pump. I ended up using thick gear grease for two reasons: 1) If I (or someone else) ever have to remove the pump again, grease will be MUCH easier to remove than Permatex. 2) Given the position and difficulty of installing the pump, I expected it to take far longer than I would have before the Permatex started to harden.
I did use #2 Permatex on the elbow fittings. I had ordered two fittings from American Diesel - but they didn't seem right. They fit the 3/4" MTP fitting on the pump, but the other side was straight (i.e. for soldering in copper pipe?), rather than barbed for hoses. I purchased two bronze fittings from Blackburn Marine that were threaded for the pump side, and then went to 1" barbed hose on the other end. These were threaded into place on the pump (with Permatex), and then hoses were attached before the pump was installed.
The original installation had one stud and 2 bolts securing the pump. When replacing, I went with threaded studs in all 3 positions. This allowed me to put the gasket in place (coated with grease on both sides, then position the pump. I would not have to attempt to keep the gasket aligned or stab bolts through gasket holes.
Positioning the pump required a bit of luck. The pump had to be lifted to an awkward position, me hanging upside down over the engine, and out of reach... placed on the 3 studs, and then HOPEFULLY pushed in with the main gear in alignment to the gear in the engine. This took several efforts just to get the pump in place, never mind getting the alignment right for the gears.... Again - took FAR longer than the Permatex on a gasket would have allowed. Eventually - the pump was in place and the first nut in position to hold everything together. Then it was a matter of getting the rest of the lock washers and nuts on, and tightened. Again, what should have been trivial was far from that - given the location. Hoses had previously been attached to the pump to give me more to hold onto and steer the pump. The hoses just needed to be cut and attached to the heat exchanger and the sea strainer.
With the installation complete, the motor was started on Tues, 12/17/24. All seems to be fine. 4437.1 hrs on engine. Engine run for about at hour at the dock. All appears nominal. Waiting for good weather and sufficient time to go out for a sea trial.
5/29/25 - Transmission fluid change. The transmission manual recommends transmission fluid changes once a year, or at every 1000 hours for commercial boats. I don't know of anyone that regularly (or has ever?) changed their transmission fluid. But... Since I now have 4470+ hours on the engines, and have never done a transmission fluid change, I figured it was probably over due.
The transmission fluid level has always seemed ok. And the fluid appears to be "like new", not at all dirtly like engine oil gets.
Brian, at American Diesel, gave a higher sense of urgency. He stated that these transmissions are long since out of production. The "soft parts" (i.e. pressure plates) are available, but NONE of the "hard" parts (gears?) are available. There is no current transmission available that will replace this one. At a minimal, the engine would have to be jacked up a couple of inches for the closest fit. Brian recommends FREQUENT transmission fluid changes. He indicated the typical life of these transmissions is about 4500 hours (I have 20-30+ hours left?)...
The manual indicates that either Dextron II, Type F fluid should be used, or for pleasure boats that do not exceed 3000 RPM, a premium SAE30 motor oil could be used. Brian STRONGLY advised using Type F transmission fluid instead of 30 wt motor oil.
The manual recommends removing the lower heat exchanger hose to drain the transmission, then using an extractor through the dipstick to get any remaining oil out.
I was reluctant to take the hose lose (fearing I might break a fitting), and couldn't see that I would be able to get the hose low enough and from that into a bin to drain. So, I used a small oil extraction pump to attempt to pump the transmission fluid out (cold).
The pump worked extracting fluid. The fluid appeared to be in pretty good condition. No, I didn't get it tested... Good or bad news, I would still keep changing the fluid and running the transmissions till they died. Knowing I had a bad report would just give me more anxiety.
The bad news was that with the hose on the pump, I was only able to extract about 1.25 gallons from both transmissions. The rated capacity of the transmission is 1 gallon each side - so I clearly was not getting a LOT of the fluid out. About all I can do at this point is try to compensate with more frequent changes.
I was able to add 3 quarts of fluid to each side, which resulted in the "cold" fluid level nearing the top of the dipstick. After running the engines in gear, but idle speed for 10-20 min the next day, the "warm" level was about half way between the mark and the top of the dip stick.
The fluid I used was Walmart "Super Tech" Dextron, Type F transmission fluid. About $5.44/qt, this was MUCH less expensive than name brand Type F fluid at auto parts stores. And I'll probably be changing it again soon.
Note: The cheap small electric transfer pump is not able to extract both engines without overheating. Letting the pump cool for an hour allowed completing the job. Once the pump / battery / hoses were set up, the extraction and refill (using a funnel in the dip stick opening) went fairly quickly.