Lost a cylinder

[sailaway78]

Apparently the Gods of the Sea have decided I am not to make it to the Dry Tortugas this year. Left Slidell two days ago, heading east. Plans were to head east and take it pretty slow, keeping an eye on Erika, till it decided what to do. First night out, anchored up in a dead calm. About an hour after dark, the wind started howling. A long bumpy night. Yesterday diddled along in very light air, motor sailing mostly, and made a nice easy 30 miles. Again anchored up in dead calm conditions. And again after dark the wind started howling. Last night was much worse. After a couple of hours of anchor watch, when I decided we were going to stay put, we drug. So, best thing to do is up anchor, and get across the bay, to a more protected anchorage. Now it's blowing 35 to 40, and pouring rain. This of course is time for Mr. Murphy to rear his ugly head. The engine will not make any power, will not rev up, and is pouring black smoke. Sounds and acts normal, till about 1/3 throttle, then more throttle just produces black smoke, no more revs, no more power. Can only make 1 1/2 to 2 knots, running against the wind and seas. This engine has been perfect forever. I think that one cylinder isn't firing for whatever reason. I just went over all the maint. goodies, including cleaning the manifold and riser, adjusting the valves, new air filter, cleaning fuel tank, new fuel filters, oil and filter change. The whole nine yards. But I can't think of anything I did to get this kind of response, unless a valve has tightened up. So, this morning, soon as I get some ambition up, am gonna see what I can see. I have a new injector on board if it is an injector. I have enough tools to do most any repair. So, gonna crank it up, feel the exhaust manifold to see which cylinder it is, if that is in fact the problem, and go from there. I do not have a gasket set if the head has to come off. Will keep everyone informed

 

[Joseph Shirley]

Check your air intake. The black smoke with no power sounds like you may have sucked in some of your air filter. Just a shot in the dark.

Joe S

 

[Hermit Scott]

I'm sure you will find the problem. I wish diesels were easier to check the compression, but it is what it is.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Good luck, Phil. I was just reviewing our C34 site, and someone who'd removed his head found the gasket stayed on and was re-usable.

 

[wonkodsane]

Good luck, Phil. I was just reviewing our C34 site, and someone who'd removed his head found the gasket stayed on and was re-usable.

Now that is just asking for trouble.

 

[kloudie1]

MAN.. some snakes around ... ya got snake bit!
Sorry to hear that, Easy..
If she sounds normal up to some throttle and at idle, restricted intake, like Joe is talking..sounds reasonable.. A compression check (as I am sure you know) can be done by turning it over slowly by hand and feeling for differences in the cylinders..make sure the fuel stop is pulled .. Could be an exhaust side restriction too..
Good luck on that one, Easy..

 

[Dan Johnson]

N&E...

do you have compression relief levers that you can cycle one at a time to take a cylinder out of service to see if it makes any difference. May help you narrow the problem down to one offender...

 

[Douglast]

Re: N&E...

generally black smoke is overfueling which can be simulated as well with intake air restriction

 

[sailaway78]

Thanks for the replies. I did most of the suggestions in the process. It was a bad injector on #2 cylinder. I had for no known reason suspected an injector. Just more or less a feeling. But here is the process I went through to find it. First, as a couple of you suggested, I pulled the air cleaner, checked for any intake restrictions. NADA Next I cranked the engine up, and tried to tell by feeling the temp on the manifold which cylinder was not firing. Couldn't be sure with this method. So, I then opened the compresson release one cylinder at a time. It was then obvious which on was not firing. As I had done a valve adjustment just before leaving, I thought maybe I had failed to tighten a lock nut sufficiently, so pulled the valve cover and checked that. All were fine. Next, I did the extremely scientific compression test. Opened the compression release on #2 and #3 and cranked over by hand crank. Then closed #2 and opened #1. No difference that I could tell, and certainly didn't seem like low compression that would not allow it to fire at all. This left the injector, which fortunately I had a spare new one. Changed out the injector, and all is well.
Now if the weather will just co operate. Currently hanging out over by the Alabama, Florida line, waiting on these thunderstorms to go away. Looks like another couple of days before venturing on. Not real bad, but would be no joy in traveling in them. Got sorta lucky crossing Mobile Bay yesterday, and missed a bunch of them rolling on off the gulf. Only got into the tail end of one.

 

[Mike Holibar]

Easy, I saw the same problem on a local boat last year. When the over fuelling has been that bad there might be some dilution of the lube oil with fuel. It might be wise to change your oil just in case.

 

[higgs]

Great diagnosis Easy! You get a gold star on this.

 

[Rich Stidger]

Easy, just curious..... How many hours did you have on your diesel and how do you typically run it? Do you motor frequently at 80% power or do you just motor out to catch the wind.

I've got a four-cylinder Volvo with about 1600+ hours on it. I find that I motor (with or without sails) on average about half the time, and when motoring I tend to run at 70-80% of WOT. I carry common spares, but no spare injectors. I'm wondering if this is a mistake and that I should invest in one of these gold-plated items.