yup i didnt catch the fact that the generator was diesel...thought he was talking about the boat engines...
On Jun 1, 4:18 am, waterguy <[email protected]> wrote: > One thing, HBH - no spark plugs or tune up needed on a diesel > generator (see first line of Keith's original post). > > Keith - on a diesel, the very first place I'd suspect is clogged > filters and/or water in the fuel. What kind of filters do you have? > Diesel fuel injectors are *exceedingly* intolerant of contaminants; > they're built to hundred-thousand inch tolerances, and any crud will > make them run bad or not at all. Virtually all problems with diesel > engines are traceable to fuel -- that is, unless the motor is soooooo > tired that it won't make enough compression to ignite the fuel. But > you'd have had a lot of warning that you were getting to that point - > lots of smoke, unburned fuel smell, etc. > > First and foremost, you must determine what kind of genset you have. > Odds are you have an Onan or Kohler. What color is it painted? Look > around on the set, there should be a plate that gives manufacturer, > model number and serial number. Is there a generator owner's manual > that came with your boat? > > I don't mean to sound like a schmuck (which is what someone says when > he's about to), but I'm surprised you don't know what kind of > equipment your boat has -- especially since I infer from your post > that you've had the boat for a while ("it had been a trusted and > rather dependable unit for a long time"). Anyway, find out what > you've got, and find a service manual for it (eBay is a great > source). If the manufacturer plate is missing, start poking around > and look for decals, tags, even a name cast into the cylinder block. > > If you totally can't ID the generator, take a bunch of photos from > different angles and post them. Oh - post them somewhere that people > can access them. I tried to look at your link and got a "403 - Access > Denied" error message. I'm supposed to be signed in to look at that > photo, and of course, I can't sign in to your account. I did a search > for "Ramlin'" in Webshots, and got somebody's wedding; then I searched > for "Uniflite" and found a boat up in the San Juan's that might be > yours, but it's called the "It'll Do." So I couldn't tell. > > Once you ID the generator, pick up a service manual for it. Even > though there are fewer things the average owner can do on a diesel > without specialized tools, the service manual will tell you how to get > things apart and back together, which can save you some dough. Like > if you need to have the injectors or injector pump tested, you can > pull them and take them to a shop rather than paying someone to do > it. However, if you're not confident of your mechanical abilities, do > NOT screw around with a diesel engine. Gas engines are much more > forgiving of ham-fisted repairs than diesels are, and the financial > consequences of screwing up are much more serious with a diesel than a > gas motor. > > The most important thing you can do yourself is to replace all your > filters, and if the filters are original, consider replacing with a > high-quality Racor or other name brand water separator/filter. > Remember to re-fill the filters with fuel and try to get all the air > out of the lines. You'll have to crack the lines to the injectors and > purge all the air before it will run. > > That's about all you can do without specialized equipment - the next > step is to pull the injectors and take them to a diesel repair shop > and have them checked for spray pattern and clogged nozzles; you need > a special test bench for this. Don't try to bend the metal fuel tube > from the injector pump to the injector, it's not designed to bend > much, just enough to pull the injector out. If the injectors are > okay, you may have a problem with the injector pump itself, if it got > some crud in it. > > Water in a diesel fuel system is extraordinarily bad; you should have > a water separating filter that needs routine replacement or a > separator bowl on the filter that needs routine draining. One water > gets to the injector pump or injectors, it's only a short time before > they're ruined. On a diesel, filter replacement and water draining is > the equivalent of the spark plugs/tune up on a gas motor: routine > maintenance that cannot be overlooked. > > Good luck --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/UnifliteWorld?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
