- Joined
- Feb 14, 2018
- Messages
- 713
- Location
- United States
- Vessel Name
- Wanderlust
- Vessel Make
- 1999 Jefferson Rivanna 52'
Some generator/engineering/diesel mechanic guru thoughts would be appreciated.
We have a Northern Lights 16kw generator with about 6000 hours on it. It was well-maintained by previous owners, starts easily, and will power our three a/c zones, two refrigerators, and hot water heater simultaneously with no problem.
About three weeks ago, we did a week-long cruise in Florida waters and ran the generator to power the a/c during most of the trip. It ran normally.
A week ago, we filled up our fuel tanks at our marina. They pride themselves on clean fuel. As is our usual procedure, we gave each tank a maintenance dose of Biobor JF before fueling.
A few days later, I changed the oil in the generator, changed the oil filter and the fuel filter. Afterwards, I started and ran the generator for about 20 minutes. All went normally. The oil level is between the marks on the dipstick.
Last weekend, we did an overnight trip. The generator started easily, had good water flow out the exhaust, and was running when we left the dock. About an hour later, we discovered it had shut itself off while we were underway. I checked the strainer and it was clean. It restarted easily and the gauges showed normal loading, normal temp, and normal oil pressure. The exhaust water flow continued to be excellent. About an hour and a half later, it spontaneously shut itself off again.
The spontaneous shutdowns continued at random intervals throughout the evening and through the night, never running more than 3.5 hours before shutting itself off. It always restarted easily and the gauges always showed as normal. There was no pattern to the shut down timings. The next morning, we restarted the generator and it ran normally for the six hours or so that it took us to get home and docked.
The mains ran normally so we weren't really suspecting dirty fuel. The Racors are clean.
From an engineering perspective, diesels need clean air, clean fuel, and compression and they'll pretty much run forever. Of course, it gets more complicated when you start adding electronic sensors and such. We have good water flow and good coolant temps. The amp meter shows it's under a medium load around 12 kw. I suppose it could be a loose or bad connection at a sensor... maybe?
We're stumped. This weekend, I plan to pull off the water pump cover to check the impeller and pull off the heat exchanger end cap to look for anything unusual but, honestly, I'm not expecting to find any surprises.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
John
We have a Northern Lights 16kw generator with about 6000 hours on it. It was well-maintained by previous owners, starts easily, and will power our three a/c zones, two refrigerators, and hot water heater simultaneously with no problem.
About three weeks ago, we did a week-long cruise in Florida waters and ran the generator to power the a/c during most of the trip. It ran normally.
A week ago, we filled up our fuel tanks at our marina. They pride themselves on clean fuel. As is our usual procedure, we gave each tank a maintenance dose of Biobor JF before fueling.
A few days later, I changed the oil in the generator, changed the oil filter and the fuel filter. Afterwards, I started and ran the generator for about 20 minutes. All went normally. The oil level is between the marks on the dipstick.
Last weekend, we did an overnight trip. The generator started easily, had good water flow out the exhaust, and was running when we left the dock. About an hour later, we discovered it had shut itself off while we were underway. I checked the strainer and it was clean. It restarted easily and the gauges showed normal loading, normal temp, and normal oil pressure. The exhaust water flow continued to be excellent. About an hour and a half later, it spontaneously shut itself off again.
The spontaneous shutdowns continued at random intervals throughout the evening and through the night, never running more than 3.5 hours before shutting itself off. It always restarted easily and the gauges always showed as normal. There was no pattern to the shut down timings. The next morning, we restarted the generator and it ran normally for the six hours or so that it took us to get home and docked.
The mains ran normally so we weren't really suspecting dirty fuel. The Racors are clean.
From an engineering perspective, diesels need clean air, clean fuel, and compression and they'll pretty much run forever. Of course, it gets more complicated when you start adding electronic sensors and such. We have good water flow and good coolant temps. The amp meter shows it's under a medium load around 12 kw. I suppose it could be a loose or bad connection at a sensor... maybe?
We're stumped. This weekend, I plan to pull off the water pump cover to check the impeller and pull off the heat exchanger end cap to look for anything unusual but, honestly, I'm not expecting to find any surprises.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
John