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bowten

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I sold a widebeam to a customer some 5 years ago and she has lived on the boat for all of this time.I have known she has had problems with the cylinder head a couple of times,however when I contacted her recently she told me the cylinder head had gone again for the fifth time.Anybody had similar problems with this engine,I think it is the 52 or 55bhp model.

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Personally I have not had this with our 42 (Cue impending gasket failure on the Dog House) - nor have I heard of it on others - I think these engines are regarded pretty much bomb proof if looked after.

 

Is it overheating??

 

and is somebody competent fixing it for her each time?

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Personally I have not had this with our 42 (Cue impending gasket failure on the Dog House) - nor have I heard of it on others - I think these engines are regarded pretty much bomb proof if looked after.

 

Is it overheating??

 

and is somebody competent fixing it for her each time?

Competency is probably the problem here.

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Personally I have not had this with our 42 (Cue impending gasket failure on the Dog House) - nor have I heard of it on others - I think these engines are regarded pretty much bomb proof if looked after.

 

Is it overheating??

 

and is somebody competent fixing it for her each time?

 

I have had over 4,000 hours from mine with no problem. I do however have it serviced every 250 hours including changing all the filters.

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When I had suspected head gasket probs a couple of years ago JGMarine said that there were known HG issues with the Isuzu 55s and they ended up changing the engine pattern because of them.

 

I'd link to the thread but it's a PITA on this tablet.

Edited by Smelly
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The only times I've known engines suffer repeated head gasket failures are due to either poor cooling, design fault, poor quality repair or there's a fault with the engine.

 

Poor cooling could be lack of coolant in the system caused by a leak etc (neglect and lack of maintenance) or poor cooling system design (inadequate skin tank etc). An engine design fault's a possibility but you'd have expected all of the same engine to fall over in the same way. The other option is a poor design of head gasket or a pattern part used instead of OEM quality (there can be huge differences, especially if the manufacturer has included a special feature to fix a known problem)

 

The other possibility is that there is a problem with either the head or the block. I had an MG that had a scorch on the head that got through 2 head gaskets before I got it skimmed (bodged repair to get to work next morning). There's also the possibility of something like a crack etc.

 

If it's been repaired properly and the engine cooling installation is correct and in good order then it shouldn't keep blowing head gaskets.

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I have contacted my customer about the Isuzu 55 and the cylinder head problem.She has contacted HMI Marine and they clearly do not want anything to do with it.The engine problems started at around the 800 hour mark and she has had remedial work done several times and the cost to her is mounting.I have been reliably informed that HMI have had serious problems with the ISUZU 55 to the extent that a large Hire Boat company had all their 55s replaced with the 42hp engine.If they know they have a problem with this engine surely she has some redress.

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She should have redress for up to 6 years (even if HMI didn't know about an inherent problem).

 

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20081023212052/berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38311.html

 

My Isuzu 55 used to regularly overheat (up to 95 C for short periods) because of an insufficient skin tank, but I never had any head gasket problems (touch wood!).

Edited by blackrose
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The changes can often be subtle between installations yet make a huge difference. The Triumph Stag V8 was a known problem engine with many failures in use. When I worked in power train a colleague of mine booked the test facilities at the Rover proving ground at Gaydon and put his fully instrumented Stag through the full series of modern cooling tests. The results were that 1 of the pipes in the cooling system was under sized and by increasing the pipe size slightly it was possible for the Stag V8 to pass all of the modern tests without the slightest problem using the original engine design. Unfortunately the bespoke nature of narrowboats means that this type of testing and development never takes place and that design "quirks" / issues are left to the end user to sort.

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We have had problems with Isuzu in a forklift at work. Kept blowing gaskets at about 700 hrs.

 

I checked with the mechanic, who cured the problem in the end. He did the following

 

stripped out and had the head skimmed and the block tested. there was a 3 thou deviation from flat. He got a mobile engineering firm in the skim head and block onsite. He replaced all studs and bolts with new. Plus a new head gasket (A genuine one not a pattern.

 

Ran the engine until thoroughly hot, and stopped and left overnight. Re-torqued the head, and put back into service. After 4 months (about 500 hrs), he again re checked the torque settings. So far (900 hrs), it seems ok. He does think that the engine misfiring for a week or so before failure probably aided the head gasket to finally let go.

 

Apparently the head studs/bolts stretch in service and it is vital to change them for new ones. The head warp remains a mystery though. None of the users have said it overheated at anytime.

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We have had problems with Isuzu in a forklift at work. Kept blowing gaskets at about 700 hrs.

 

I checked with the mechanic, who cured the problem in the end. He did the following

 

stripped out and had the head skimmed and the block tested. there was a 3 thou deviation from flat. He got a mobile engineering firm in the skim head and block onsite. He replaced all studs and bolts with new. Plus a new head gasket (A genuine one not a pattern.

 

Ran the engine until thoroughly hot, and stopped and left overnight. Re-torqued the head, and put back into service. After 4 months (about 500 hrs), he again re checked the torque settings. So far (900 hrs), it seems ok. He does think that the engine misfiring for a week or so before failure probably aided the head gasket to finally let go.

 

Apparently the head studs/bolts stretch in service and it is vital to change them for new ones. The head warp remains a mystery though. None of the users have said it overheated at anytime.

Yes, this is exactly what as happened.The head was skimmed and new head bolts used,however the block as far as I know was not checked.I think this where the problem lies.

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  • 7 years later...

I have an Isuzu 55 and so far it has been without problems. My understanding that it is based on either the isuzu 4LE1 or 4LE2 engine, the 4LE2 being slightly smaller. There also seems to be some confusion as to direct or indirect injection. I was thinking of picking up an industrial engine, that are available at a reasonable price, as a spare just in case. Does anyone know if all the marinisations were of one type and what to look for?

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Isuzu are or were the largest manufacturer of diesel engines.  For some reason after taking a large share of the inland marine market they abandoned it completely for some reason. Their small trucks are renown as being smokers after a fair mileage.  Could be the same engines?

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HMIsuzu abandoned the marine market because their biggest customer at that time stopped building narrowboats. Liverpool boats had an annual demand of 400 Isuzu marine engines.  Liverpool boats then became Collingwood boats with a annual requirement estimated to be about 80 engines per year. This left HMisuzu with a huge quantity of stock engines and a greatly reduced market in which it could sell them.

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19 hours ago, Boater Sam said:

Isuzu are or were the largest manufacturer of diesel engines.  For some reason after taking a large share of the inland marine market they abandoned it completely for some reason. Their small trucks are renown as being smokers after a fair mileage.  Could be the same engines?

I had an Isuzu truck...that was badged as a Vauxhall...it went along in a permanent diesel smokescreen from new!...never used oil so was just incomplete combustion...

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Cylinder head went on my 42 this year. Just over 8,000hrs not considered a lot for a 42

Over £1300 to CRR for so called repairs (We were SILVER)

Then a further £8,000 to put a new engine in from a reputable boatyard. 

Not our best year on the cut.

 

 

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29 minutes ago, Martin@75 said:

Cylinder head went on my 42 this year. Just over 8,000hrs not considered a lot for a 42

Over £1300 to CRR for so called repairs (We were SILVER)

Then a further £8,000 to put a new engine in from a reputable boatyard. 

Not our best year on the cut.

 

 

You mean RCR?  Another boater caught out, its an ongoing saga.

I'm always intrigued by the diagnosis "it needs a new cylinder head". In all my years in the motor and boating trade I can remember only 3 occasions when it had to be a new head and one of those was because the wrong pistons were fitted and it was expedient to change the head.

What exactly was wrong with the original head? I've even had cracked ones repaired and they have been fine.

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19 hours ago, Boater Sam said:

You mean RCR?  Another boater caught out, its an ongoing saga.

I'm always intrigued by the diagnosis "it needs a new cylinder head". In all my years in the motor and boating trade I can remember only 3 occasions when it had to be a new head and one of those was because the wrong pistons were fitted and it was expedient to change the head.

What exactly was wrong with the original head? I've even had cracked ones repaired and they have been fine.

Engine started losing water, no oil in water, had new gasket and head skimmed by RCR (as you say) when on the Lancaster. Week later still losing water. After call out No3. Final straw was when we went back up the Douglas (horrendous trip) and just as we got back to the Sea Lock the engine alarm went off.

Got a tow into the lock and up to the transit moorings. Where we found a nice little mix of oil and Water.

Now she who must be obayed has refused to go on tidal water, and after that trip I can't say I blame her.

So back in the main system we bit the bullet.    

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22 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

What are the known cylinder head problems exactly?

A hire fleet operator had Isuzu 55 engines that were overheating and causing cylinder head issues throughout their fleet. HMisuzu tried to put the fault back with the fleet operator claiming their skin tanks were to small. This was proven not to be the case. HMIsuzu were unable to find a solution to the engine failures. The hire company became very dissatisfied and claimed the Isuzu 55 was not fit for purpose and threatened to take legal action if the issue was not resolved. HMIsuzu replaced under warranty every Isuzu 55 engine (4LE1) in the fleet with an Isuzu 42 (4LC1). 

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