Fluka's sick :(

[Treebeard]

Well.. at least we made it to Keansburg.. After leaving Kingston on Friday to run down the Hudson, the boat ran great for the first 90 miles or so.. We hit NY harbor at rush hour.. Ferries and water taxies had the harbor chruning with wakes, so it was a bouncy ride thru, with lots of on/off of the throttle.. After getting just below the Statue of Liberty , I push the throttle to get back on plane.. and it ain't having any.. gets to 2000 rpm, and thats it.. engine tacking up, and falling back.. like it starving for fuel..running smooth at idle, never stalling..  Of course I'm in the worse place possible for engine trouble.. like getting a flat in the middle of the turnpike.  Its acting like a clogged filter, but I'm in no posiiton to stop the boat and look..fearing it won't restart, and not relishing the idea of being adrift in the Harbor.. so I limp down to below the Verranzano,  get myself shallow enough to anchor if needs be, and shut it down.. Being a good boy scout, I had a spare fuel filter on board, and we proceeded to change it.. After a bit of cranking to re-fill the new filter, she fires up, and lo-and behold, takes throttle and off we go across the bay.. woohoo! Well my satisfaction was short lived.. about a 1/4 mile from the K-burg pier, I notice the I'm losing RPM's again, and by the time I get to the pier, I fall off of plane, and we back to 1-2k rpm max..  .. well at least we're at the home sticks now, and we limp into the marina and tie up in the slip.. So now I'm in the situation I've tried very hard to avoid.. a broke boat 100 miles away..    Not being much of a mechanic, and even less so with Diesel, I'm kinda at a loss as to what could be wrong.. I was thinking bad fuel, but then why would it take 50 hrs to clog the old filter, and 30 minutes to clog the new? Plus I topped off at the same place I've been getting my diesel all spring..and then ran almost 100 miles before it acted up..  Unless all the chop in harbor stirred up some muck in the tank    At any rate.. thats my long, sad story.. My next step is to contact Cummins service Mon. morning, and hopefully they can send a tech to the boat and get us up and running without losing too much more of the season.. Failing that, I'll be looking for recommendations on a good mobile diesel mechanic. 

[Pfishingruven]

That stinks!  Hopefully it will be a quick and easy fix for ya.

Good luck.

 

[kezsr]

Mark,that's a rough one,at least you got into your slip,hopefully it's an easy fix.   Kez

[IrishAyes]

Hope it's a quick, easy fix Mark. Good luck.

[Andys Delight]

I'm clueless when it comes to Diesel, but this happened to me last year and it turned out that the fuel vent was clogged and was starving the engine at anything more than idle speed one the starboard tank.  It was an easy fix, hopefully yours is too.

[Luna Sea 5]

wow.. get well soon Fluka... can't wait to see ya out there.

[Still Running]

Mark,
When you took the old filter off was it full of fuel? If it was, chance is it’s not a fuel problem. How long did it take for you to restart the engine after you shut down? Was it like a few minutes or longer? Was it long enough for the engine or sensor to cool? Some sensors will expand and give the ecu a false reading. Such as a cam or crank sensor will be too close to the exciter and mess things up and once it cools some it will shrink and give a good reading again. Most times but not all when this happens you get a stall or no start. Also if the coolant temp gets too high the ecu will cut power back so not to over heat. Did you notice your coolant temp? What engine do you have? I don’t have Cummins software, So I can plug into the engine to look. I would look into the cooling first if you can’t find a way to pull codes.
You need anything. You know how to get a hold of me.

Rick

[Treebeard]

Thanks guys.. Rick, the engine in a Cummins 4.2L ES 320hp.  The old filter was full of fuel.. We did'nt take too long to do the change and get the motor re-started.. maybe 5-10 minutes tops.. It started right up, then died as we expected due to the new filter being dry...then re-started after cranking about 1 minute or so..   My temperature gauge never exceeded between 1/4 and 1/2 of its range (no #s)  Actually, I've never seen it get as high as 1/2 way..in any of my long runs..  maybe that too needs to be checked  One other thought we had was as Andys  suggests, maybe some kind of venting /vapor lock issue.. we did notice that when the seal on the fuel filter was broken, it made a distinct sucking noise.. like it gulped some air.. I appreciate all the help and suggestions.. When I talked last to a Cummins tech familiar with this model (aout another issue), he told me that as this engine is all electronic, they can plug it into their laptops and trouble shoot things pretty easy.. so we'll see..all keep ya's posted..  thanks again   

[hiking]

good luck with the fix, and I hope your out there fishing soon.

[Still Running]

Mark,
The engine is all electronic, but if you have something going on the fuel it may not show it. From what you said, I would get it to have the problem and then just open the fuel fill. That will vent the tank and tell you that your vent is clogged. This happens a lot due to bugs building crap in the vent. It may not be closed up completely but could be chocked off. I don’t know if that engine has a fuel return. Most new diesels don’t, but I am not sure on that one. If you heard a noise when you took off the filter, sounds like you are on the right track with a fuel problem. Good luck with it.

[Salty Dog]

Ouch ! Sorry to hear.

[L.T.]

Sounds like a bad load of fuel, Water, etc.  Especially with the engine running at low RPMs. 

[PeggyLee]

Hope its a quick fix.

[Bucktail]

Just wanted to chime in and say, I have no idea what it could possibly be.  

Just hope you get it fixed soon so you can get back to fishing!

[Hotrod]

 

[Pops Soul]

Good Luck Mark, you made it to the slip with out getting mowed over in the harbor and you didn't have to call SeaTow. Hopefully a simple and Minor fix

[Maritime Matt]

My guess is fuel. Had this happen to a customer of mine with Yammie Hpdi's. As soon as he hit the ruff stuff the Port motor started surging and not getting any kind of rpms. We did a complete fuel filter change including the VST and high pressure ones and that took care of it.
Sounds pretty similar to your symptoms.

[wb]

good luck with the diag and repair Mark.

call if you need to get out

[Art Berkman]

Bummer !

[Treebeard]

Thanks again for your support and kind offers  everyone.. Called Cummins in Newark yesterday.. They will be sending a tech to have a look.. hopefully this week.. stay tuned