[C320-list] Perkins Perama wont start

[mark]

Peter,

I too have the Perkins in my No. 232.  It's a pretty simple engine, and if
the Perkins is turning over but not starting, it has to be either lack of
fuel and air, or lack of compression.  Compression is unlikely to be
affected by replacing your exhaust elbow or heat exchanger, unless you had
to remove the cylinder head or the rocker arms for some reason, which seems
unlikely.  And air is pretty much a no-brainer unless something fell into
the intake while you were working.  So I'd focus on fuel.

The Perkins has a camshaft-driven lift pup on the right side of the engine,
near the oil filter.  There is a little lever on the bottom of the lift pump
to pump fuel manually.  If you used that little lever to pump fuel when you
bled the system, then that pump is working.  But if you used the pump on top
of the Racor filter to bleed, try using the little lever on the lift pump,
and see if it pumps fuel out when you loosen the banjo bolt on top of the
secondary fuel filter on the back of the engine.  If not, you may need a new
diaphragm for the lift pump.  (To be sure, you need to turn the engine over
manually half a turn.  The lift pump won't pump manually if the engine
happened to stop with the eccentric part of the cam pushing the pump
diaphragm.)  

If you are getting fuel at the secondary filter, keep pumping until you
don't get any bubbles, then tighten the banjo bolt while you are still
pumping.  (Not too tight - you can strip the bolt if you do, and make
yourself more trouble.)  The Perkins is actually pretty forgiving about fuel
bubbles, and that's usually all I have to do to bleed mine.  It may run
rough for a few minutes, but then it will eliminate any air that's left in
the system, and smooth out.

If you have fuel coming out at the top of the secondary filter when you pump
the lift pump, then I'd look at the injector pump.  It's on the top right
side near the front of the engine (to your left if you're facing the engine
from the main cabin), and has the metal tubing going from it to each of the
injectors.  The Perkins uses an injector pump shut-off to kill the engine.
(That's what happens when you pull the kill handle up at the helm.)  Try
having someone move that handle in the cockpit while you watch the lever
move on the front of the injector pump.  If the kill handle is moving the
lever back and forth that's probably not your problem.  But it's possible
you might have dislodged the cable that controls the kill lever while
working on the elbow and heat exchanger.

Next I'd try bleeding the high pressure side, where the fuel lines from the
injector pump go into the injectors, at each cylinder.  This requires
turning the engine over with the starter, and with the throttle opened above
idle speed, so be sure that you are clear of the moving belts and pulleys
before you try this.  Also, I'd close the seacock on the water intake while
doing this step, so you don't fill the muffler and risk back-filling water
into the engine.  While the engine is turning over, slightly loosen the nut
where the metal fuel line goes into the injector.  Fuel should seep out
around the fuel line when the engine turns over.  Once again, watch for
bubbles, and re-tighten the nut once the bubbles stop.  Do this for each of
the three injectors.  As you complete this part, the engine should start
firing on each cylinder as you tighten the nut on each injector, so stay
clear of the belts, and remember to open the seacock on the raw water line
once the engine starts.

If you don't get any fuel at the injectors, or you get fuel with no bubbles,
but the engine still doesn't start, you may need to have a compression test
done, or to have the injectors or the injector pump rebuilt.  But hopefully
you won't have to go there.

Good luck, and let us know what you find out.  I am always willing to learn
from someone else's experience.


Mark Seyler
S/V Reality,
Catalina 320, #232
New Orleans, LA



-----Original Message-----
From: C320-list [mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com] On Behalf
Of nibj
Sent: Monday, May 30, 2022 8:34 PM
To: c320-list at lists.catalina320.com
Subject: [C320-list] Perkins Perama wont start

Our Perkins Perama M30 suffered a rusted out mixing elbow during our last
cruise in fall 2021 (not bad considering it was the original item from
1995).  The engine got very wet as a result.

I sourced a new elbow but accidentally damaged the heat exchanger housing
trying to remove some carbon buildup.  So I replaced replaced both the
housing and the elbow (as well as assorted hoses) over the winter.  Now the
boat is in the water and the engine will not start. It turns over fine, but
there is not a hint of combustion. We are not sure how to proceed to get our
Perkins running.  

Friends have said it must be a fuel problem. So we have tried to bleed the
fuel system (first time for us so maybe we succeeded...).

Any suggestions of other potential solutions, quirks of Perkins, or other
suggestions for our next step would be very gratefully received.  We want to
get out sailing!

Peter
Tangled
#226