Marine Diesel Class - Level 2 by Cap10 Tom

Toward the end of Level 1 class, Scott asked who was staying for the next two days for Level 2 class. He identified the lucky 7 people, then told us he wouldn't be very nice to us. In fact, he said we would hate him after the first day. He was right. We spent the first day trouble shooting two engines, both of which were severely "bugged". This guy was diabolical, he must have stayed up until dawn working in his bugs. Once we thought we were closing in on a problem, he would just give us a cold stare and shrug his shoulders. The idea was to be systematic and verify the function of each component. We would ask for a new part, and he would say "prove it doesn't work" - you get the idea. I won't give any clues about how he planted his bugs since that would spoil the fun if any of you decide to take the course. We mangaged to get both engines running and he finally turned back into the nice guy he really was. The lessons we learned that day were hard fought and I doubt I'll forget them soon.














The second day we worked on adjusting valves without looking at the timing marks on the flywheel - since you can't usually get to the flywheel in a cramped engine compartment. We learned how to check and adjust injection timing, plus we spent quite a bit of time messing with the injectors. We pulled them out, took them apart, tossed them around, and even rebuilt a few. We learned to use a Pop Tester, a really cool bench tool which measures the pressure needed to activate an injector. This tells you if your injector fires at the correct pressure, plus you can also see the spray pattern. Basically, this tool tells you if your injectors are screwed up. So here we had an engine where we all took turns adjusting valves, messed with the injection timing, and yanked out all the injectors. We put everything back together, bled the fuel and the motor fired right up! I learned that diesels pretty much have to run if there is clean fuel, air, and enough cranking RPMs.

Next, we worked on a "project" engine in the courtyard. This was a big Westerbeke taken out of a powerboat used by John, the owner of the school. Seems this engine was acting up so he thought it would be great if each class could work on it until it was fixed. Sort of a low-cost overhaul under the guidance of a real diesel mechanic. We got it running, but it still made a strange noise at 2200 RPM. Too bad he needs the engine back in the boat in a few weeks for a Seamanship class. I guess he'll just run it at a higher speed.














Level 2 was well worth the time and effort since confidence in engine room is a really good thing.


















After day one of Level 2, nourishment for the brain was needed.


















Success!