First time trawler owner

[Christopher.Morris]

Perkins turbo/ engine problem

Hello everyone,

I have recently taken ownership of my 1979 Californian 34 sedan. Spent the last 5 months picking away at maintenance items. I have found on my port engine, Perkins T6.354 that the screen for the turbo intake is oil saturated, actually dripping. Thought worse case first, turbo oil seals. After looking closer it appears the problem has been there awhile. On the elbow of the turbo intake that the hose from the valve cover attaches to it has 7 very small holes drilled into it. I can only assume that the turbo is pulling the oil vapors out or even oil itself out and someone thought this would relieve some of the turbo vacuum maybe. I attempted to remove the valve cover to no avail. Seems the back corner is catching under the exhaust manifold on the aft end. My salon floor is really close and I was running short on time. Any thoughts as to why so much oil out of the valve cover. My starboard engine is clean but the turbo was replaced last year about 6 months before i bought it. I return home next week and plan on trying again at the cover. Might find the oil gallery sludge up and holding oil. Who knows. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

 

[ghost]

So in summary you have a sizable amount of oil coming from the breather condensing on the air intake screen?

Could be a number of things. Could be normal, hard to quantify from a description. Some amount of blow by is perfectly normal, especially if the engines have been run cold and not fully warmed up under load as is pretty common practice in the winter. If those screens have not been cleaned in awhile I would not be surprised at all to find some amount of condensate.

I’d clean it up and monitor first. A bit of an Italian tune up might not be a horrible thing either. After running the engines and getting the rings a respectable workout, remove the oil cap and get a feel for the amount of blow by and see if either engine is not like the other.

The core Perkins engine is pretty solid. Lots of reasons to not go overboard at first. The bothersome parts of these engines are more typically the bolt on’s.

Boatdiesel is a good web forum to be acquainted with. I have not had t6.354s for years, but that would be a core place I would be looking for advice or “typical” problems.

Best advice I can give really is not to get too alarmed just yet. Clean it up and run it. See how quickly it returns. If you had serious level blow by, you would likely have other symptoms, such as high exhaust temps (pyro gauges are never nice to have), or even problems keeping the dipstick in its tube and not throwing oil around the engine bay.

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard and congrats on your new boat.

 

[C lectric]

--Take a good, hard look at the crankcase oil level. Some engines are touchy about even a hint of overfilling and very often do better with the level maintained somewhat below the FULL mark. Even the installation angle can play into this causing a higher level at the back end of the oil pan. Crankshafts can whip the to high oil turning it into a mist that will become part of more normal blowby and overload the crankcase venting system.
Try lowering the oil level 1/2 way between the high and the low marks. Just check if a bit more often.


--Maintenance of the filter may not have been adequate before you got the boat. Clean it up or replace and watch it.

--Engines don't always wear at the same rates so a difference between engines is not surprising.

If i understand correctly the drilled holes after the air filters will partly defeat the filter function. Although less of a problem than in land vehicles, on most boats it can still be a problem as dirt now has an entry into the engine bypassing the filter. Consider plugging the holes. I can't see your setup but small machine screws into tapped holes in the elbow would plug them. Use a length no longer than needed to effect a plug and use the Loctite 222, to ensure they stay put. 222 is for small screws without high vibration. THese are not critical as they cannot get into the engine so if lost not a big deal.
Do the tapping with the elbow OFF the engine as no chips should get int.



Off topic a bit.
QUOTE(pyro gauges are never nice to have)QUOTE END

I think he meant Pyros are nice guages to have. An understanding of them will tell you if you are running the engine to hard.

Have fun with the new boat.

 

[Christopher.Morris]

Well thanks for the information guys, I have slept a little better. From what I can tell the Perkins T6.534 only runs screens on the intake and no filter. If anyone has another set up please let me know. One engine is original ‘79 and the other is ‘84. I am looking into a EGT kit now. I was looking at only one sensor per engine. Anybody have recommendations for which cylinder to put it in? Also with the above mentioned oil mist, dripping from the intake would it be a good idea to look at the charge air cooler? Thanks again

 

[jleonard]

I ran a T6.354 for several years in a 78 Mainship. The intake always "drooled" the oil mist it was trying to put back into the intake system. My solution was a small piece of oil diaper strategically placed to absorb it.
Yes it does make a mess in the intercooler, but easily cleaned out.
And I also had just the course screen over the air intake.