Stranded in Bradford-On-Avon

[ThePiglet]

After taking my boat UP a lock for the first time today all was going really quite well. No rain, a gentle breeze and someone else doing all the grunt work.

That is, until it came to turning around. She's only a 27' Springer so we turned between the lock and road bridge at B-o-A. Almost all the way round, the engine belches black smoke and dies Cue the rain... it rains.

 

We manage to moor and the engine (a Petter AC2W) will turn over and rev, giving white smoke on tickover and black on high revs. It stalls when put into gear, loss of power.

 

I checked we had fuel - OK

I checked the oil level - Normal

I checked the fuel cut out solenoid - OK

I checked the air filter - Seems OK

 

The engine has been a bit smokey ever since I've had it (quite a bit at high revs) and it was on my 'todo' list of winter jobs to take out and have serviced, but white smoke is new.

 

Having searched the forum, a good start seems to be the fuel for water and failing that, the injectors serviced.

Does anyone else have any other ideas?

 

Edit: Oh, and I forgot, where is the best place in Bath/Bristol/B-o-A to get injectors looked at?

Edited October 7, 2008 by ThePiglet

[LEO]

Hi,

 

Have you checked there's nothing fouling the prop?.

 

Albi

[denboy]

prop fouled

doh beat me

Edited October 7, 2008 by denboy

[ThePiglet]

It's something I'll check tomorrow morning, but the smoke is there when it's reved out of gear.

[Liam]

I'd also recommend checking your prop, but also, is it raw water cooled?

[ThePiglet]

is it raw water cooled?

Yep, and the block temperature is, and always has been cool to touch.

[denboy]

not familiar with your type of petter engine but my old pj used to smoke black smoke if i really reved it as they all did apparently, after talking with jim foster even when new.. I found wynns oil reduced any white smoke considerably

[Chris J W]

Post removed - not in the slightest bit helpful as I'd misread the OP.

Edited October 7, 2008 by Chris J W

[Liam]

Its just that I was going to suggest checking the mud box as well as the weed hatch which others mentioned.

 

I know you said that you checked you had fuel, but have you checked the filters and the fuel quality in general? Not full of water or other nasties is it?

[ThePiglet]

I'm going to check the fuel supply and filters tomorrow. I'll take a can of road white with me to try too.

I put the tank in myself new and it has had 25l of road white and 25l of red from Hilperton, that's since May. Condensation is a possibility as the tank is not kept anywhere near full.

It has a stern drive which makes checking the prop easy in theory, though it's not something I've needed to try yet...

[US Marines]

One possibility is a valve stuck open which would allow badly burnt fuel to create lots of white smoke.

 

The easiest way to check for this is to remove the rocker cover and have a look whilst turning the engine over (watch out for making a real mess with oil splashing around), watch for all the valves moving up and down under the tappets.....

 

Alternatively, the white smoke you're seeing could possibly be steam from a blown headgasket allowing water from the cooling system into the cylinder - and that might also explain the loss of power (because at least one of your cyclinders isn't firing properly).

 

The easiest way of determining this is to beg, borrow or hire a compression testing gauge and check the compression on each of the cylinders.....(which would also confirm a stuck valve, if you needed to)

 

 

Good Luck with it !

Edited October 7, 2008 by US Marines

[Liam]

If by Stern Drive, you mean what I think is sometimes called a "Z" drive it should be fairly easy to check. I know the Nauticus cruisers fitted with Z drives had a steel bar which fitted into the unit, which enabled you to wind it up, sideways. It all depends on how your setup is though.

[ThePiglet]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

I checked the valves at the time, I removed the covers as you said and manually rotated the engine over a couple of cycles. There appeared to be compression on both cylinders and all the valves were moving up and down.

 

I believe the drive (stern or Z) has a spring held clasp hook that you push down and this frees up the whole lot to rotate upwards. I played with it when it was out of the water. There is a square shaft poking out next to the drive shaft inside, I've no idea what this is for.

 

(Ignore the floppy hoses, cables and unlagged exhaust, this is an old image)

Edited October 7, 2008 by ThePiglet

[sueb]

I am happy to recommend Spencer Collins at The Boatyard Hilperton 07790017418. No connection we have known him for a long time and he has worked on our boat.

Sue

[saltysplash]

I think the clue here is that you suddenly had black smoke as if there was a heavy load on the engine and then the engine stopped.

you are then able to restart the engine and have no problem rev'ing out of gear, (except for smoke) then stall again when put back into gear.

 

Defo prop foul or some serious gearbox seizure.....which I hope not....but it certainly sounds like you have something tasty on the prop

 

 

 

Good luck

Edited October 7, 2008 by saltysplash

[RobinJ]

I believe the drive (stern or Z) has a spring held clasp hook that you push down and this frees up the whole lot to rotate upwards. I played with it when it was out of the water. There is a square shaft poking out next to the drive shaft inside, I've no idea what this is for.

 

(Ignore the floppy hoses, cables and unlagged exhaust, this is an old image)

You don't say what sort of leg, Enfield, Transadrive, Sonic etc.

There is usually a peg sticking out somewhere that you lift up to enable the drive to rotate (can be important to know which way).

Most also have a sort of cup into which you can stick the cranking handle!

[Chris Pink]

Edit: Oh, and I forgot, where is the best place in Bath/Bristol/B-o-A to get injectors looked at?

 

It does sound like a transmission fault - if it was fuel or injectors then putting it into gear would make no difference.

 

You can get your injectors serviced at Days in Keynsham - or TH White in Frome if you have transport.

 

As you are right by it might be worth having a word with Ben at the boatyard by the lock.

[stuart]

Do you still get the smoke if you rev the engine hard out of gear?

 

You mention that the engine doesn't get hot? That could also cause poor fuel burn.

[ThePiglet]

I went up bright and early this morning to play but the engine wouldn't start at all.

It would sort of run if I held the rear decompression lever up (i.e. it ran on the front cylinder) but would not do anything on the rear cylinder.

The rear cylinder appeared to have fuel leaking back out from the injector 'ole so I tightened up the two bolts but it made no difference.

I swapped the two injectors over to see if the fault swapped with them, but now they both 'puff' fuel as if they are not seated well.

The fuel quality appears to be fine. The prop is not fouled.

It was cold so I stopped looking after that.

 

Edit: I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering replacing the whole thing with something a little more modern with more available parts, the waterjacket for the exhaust is rusted/cracked through (bypassed) and it's too tall for the rear deck anyway.

Any suggestions on a small 10-15hp diesel replacement? No gearbox required.

Edited October 8, 2008 by ThePiglet

[Liam]

Piglet,

 

No promises, but I may have a twin cylinder engine available soon. PM me for details.