Things Ain't Always What The Seem! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

OK, you got a problem with the diesel engine in your boat. well, every one, and I mean everyone, begins the litany of how to solve the problem. they list the very obvious, rational, step-by-step diagnostic procedure to discover the cause so that it can be remedied and get you back on the high seas. The only problem with this approach can be that it focuses your attention in one area and keeps you for considering other causes. As a result, you don't solve the problem and the frustration mounts.

When the engine on ABISHAG quit Saturday, it was the most natural thing to think it was a fuel problem, so I started with the diagnostic litany:
1.) Was there fuel? YES!
2.) Were the filters clean? Primary- no, so the sediment was removed and the filter element replaced. Secondary - Clean.
3.) Was fuel getting to the injectors? Yes!
4.) Did the engine crank sufficiently hard and fast to start? Yes?
5.) Was the air filter clean? Yes, er . . . . well it is hard to say in that there was no air filter element in the air filter housing.

I got clean fuel, more than sufficient air, fuel to the injectors and a hard cranking starting motor, so fire that sucker up! ! ! Nice in theory, but nothing happened. And this is where the focus got us all messed up. The reigning opinion, when the engine would crank was that it was the injectors . . . that they were dirty, needed adjusting, or were bad and needed to be replaced, none of which options were other than expensive. To test them, we went on a hunt for the mythical lever on the fuel pump that would allow the pump to manually pump fuel to the injectors so that they could be observed to see if the fuel was spraying out properly or just dribbling with insufficient force and in insufficient quantity to be compressed into firing.

Cliff crawled all over engine, Chuck crawled all over the engine, I crawled all over the engine and all we got was dirty. No lever, no lifting fuel pump. Nada! Bupkis! Nothing!!!! So on Thursday, we were planning to do it all over again.I brought down to ABISHAG every maintenance book I had on diesel engines, using the illustrations to find that bloody manual pump. As we sat there scratching our heads, I asked a simple question. To stop the engine, I simply turned off the key. Sounds natural for you car owners but then cars need the spark from the ignition system to fire the fuel that runs the engine. A diesel engine does not. A diesel engine compresses the fuel and air mixture in the cylinder to such an extent that it gets hot and explodes without a spark plug, indeed without electrical ignition. The ignitions system on the diesel engine is basically used to crank the engine until it starts and that's it. In most boats, there is a manual shut-off valve that is operated by a handle in the cockpit that "shuts off" the fuel to the engine to starve it and stop it. ABISHAG has that handle but it is not connect to anything. I always thought that it would be a good thing to re-attach and so I asked Chuck who was staring at the engine with bad intent, "If this is the throttle on the injector pump, where can I connect the fuel shut-off cable?"

Lights went on! The damn fuel injector pump was electrical and so was the damn fuel shut off valve. Testing the wires bringing power to the fuel shut-off valve produced no joy! When the ignition was turned on, the fuel shut-off valve was energize and open and allowed fuel to flow to the fuel injector pump. Without electricity to this valve, fuel never got to the fuel injector pump and the little we were reading was simply what had been in the line before the shut down. Running a by-pass brought 12 volts to the valve and the engine roared to life.

Somewhere along the wire, the insulation cracked or wore away and the wire had shorted or broken and cease to sense the voltage necessary to the valve, shutting down the engine. We tired to trace the wire but couldn't. The problem was solved by simply running a new wire. True this sort of flies in the face of that 50lbs of wiring I tore out of the boat 2 years ago as I grumbled against sloppy boat owners who didn't remove the old before putting in the new, but at least the effort was made and it was only when the wire disappeared into Neverland that I made the move of last resort.

For some reason, the refrigerator started up all by itself during Thursdays electrical hunt. That's the next project and since it involves the magic called electricity, and since the electrical system was installed by LUCAS Electric, it means another encounter "LUCAS, Prince of Darkness!"

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Things are not always what they seem. Don't get hung up on what you think is the answer, keep looking until you find the answer. Be open to all possibilities. What you think is the answer might not be. Don't be afraid to ask a question. A couple of interesting lessons from the Almighty. I am glad that God inspired me to get help from Cliff and chuck as I never would have found the problem with the engine. Electric fuel shut off valve! Go figure. I didn't even know there was such a thing. It was an interesting week, a growth filled week, a frustrating week - at times, but ultimately a good week. Bill the Hurricane is do to pass by this weekend, hopefully way, way, way out to sea. If the worse happens, at least I can move ABISHAG!