[C320-list] Fuel System Status

[Dave Hupe]

Fantastic Jeff.  Don't feel bad about the fuel shutoff.  As you read .... Many admitted the same blunder.
Now ..... Get out there and sail!

Dave Hupe
1994 C320 (#32)

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android 
 
  On Mon, Jul 27, 2020 at 8:10 AM, Jeff Smith<jeffreyssmith at live.com> wrote:   To all,

As you know I have been struggling to diagnose a fuel system issue on my Perkins M30. It appears that I have found the culprit. The injectors were bad. After confirming that I had good fuel flow up to the injector pump, I tried to start the engine and it was exhibiting the same systems (lots of white smoke and hard to start – by hard I mean successive cranking for extended periods of time while adjusting the throttle). A mechanic told me that, if I have good fuel flow at the rail and the engine won’t start, it can only be the injectors or compression (assuming the injector pump is good). I did not want to test compression, and there was no reason to suspect anything that would affect compression, I removed the fuel pipes and checked the injector pump. The injector pump spit good fuel (I can post a video in my photo album of me testing the injector pump if any are interested) as I turned over the engine. According to the mechanic, the problem is either compression or injectors. So, I pulled the injectors and had them cleaned and tested. Two tested completely bad (broken/stuck) and one tested intermittently bad (sticking). So, I had Industrial Diesel in Norfolk, VA rebuild all three injectors ($250 total, no charge for cleaning or diagnostic since they did the rebuild work). I installed this week and the engine started immediately. We sailed on Saturday and Sunday.

I did notice that it is idling higher than before. I also noticed that it feels like it wants to shut off at lower RPMs in gear. So, a general question: How do I adjust the idle speed on this engine? The Perkins manual states that minimum idle speed is 1,000 RPMs, but I did not see a process for adjusting the idle speed. It is hard for me to compare engine performance pre- and post-rebuild, because I am not sure what the motor should feel like (i.e. I do not know how long the injectors have been going bad, presumably for some time).

Full disclosure – on Sunday when we were returning it would not start. I usually start off my house bank, so I switched over to both. Much higher starting power but no joy. I shut the fresh water thru-hull so as not to flood the engine as I have to repeatedly crank the motor because I am expecting a return of the old problem. After a few more attempts, I noticed the Admiral had not fully depressed the black plunger when she shut down the motor, and it was obscured by the mic cable. Add us to the list that was circulating earlier this month. Pushed the plunger down and it started immediately.

Jeff
’94, #121