QSB5.9 shows intermittant fuel pump fault

[Ian C]

44′ Tollycraft. We removed the original BTA5.9 M2 engines and replaced with two QSB5.9 380 HO, ZF gears, and Smartcraft instruments. We reused the ZF/Mathers controls and added a 7″ display on the flybridge and two 4″ displays at the lower station. The alternators are now controlled by Balmar regulators, with the stbd engine charging the 1150 cca start battery and the port alternator charging the house bank.
The port engine fuel pump was replaced before initial startup, but that engine had sat on the sales floor for 3 years. The sea trial went well, and passed all it’s perameters.
Now the engines throws a 2265 fuel pump fault on occasion. It’s usually the port engine, but not always. About 5 to 1 port to stbd. No other faults occure. The affected engine does go into guardion, but can be shutdown and restarted to operate normally. Again, no fuel pressure or low voltage faults. My local Cummins distributor sent someone up, and he couldn’t find anything he could really point to. He ended up blaming it on the start battery dispite the engines cranking normally and the lack of any low voltage faults.
I’m running low on ideas, and my customer would like to have his boat. Any ideas?

Topic

[David Hays]

I know nothing but…

Unless you have already eliminated this as a potential problem, I would recommend trying to disconect the Balmar controller on the alternator to see if that makes the problem go away.

[Anonymous]

Or if you want the issue to go away Permanently, Call Cory over at SeaBoard and have him set you up with 2 of the SMX panels and enjoy your boat. I have a Brand New 5.9 QSB that will have an SMX when it goes in a boat, although it came with the complete smartcrap gauges and harness (JUNK)

[Tony Athens]

You DID NOT read my post carefully……………

“Set up both engines as if you had 2 x single engines in your boat with one exception– tie all the battery negatives together.. . Only then can you start to isolate these type of issues”.

Look at the attached DC POWER DISTRIBUTION drawing, study it for a few hours, and then you will understand what I am saying..

Tony

[Ian C]

Seperation

Progress, good. I went ahead and drew up the system as currently installed so I could keep it straight. If you can read my chicken scratch drawing…

The only crossover points are the VV 7″ cable and a 3971973 junction cable between the main helm j-boxes. The two VV 4″ displays at the second station feed off of the stbd J-box. The only other common part is the start battery.

if I’m understanding this, I should dump the j-box tie cable. Can the cable that feeds the 7″ display stay or are we going to have to do something different? I presume I’ll have to drive the 4″ displays from seperate feeds back to the two different main station j-boxes. Finally, does the single start battery present a problem?

I really appreciate all the help.

[Tony Athens]

Ian,

I started dealing with “Smartcraft” in mid 2004-ish………It only took me about one year to start calling it “SMARTCRAP”………………………….I have, literally 100’s & 100’s of hours in dealing with all of the glitches that could be sorted out, and many times that dealing with glitches that could never be sorted out……………You now know exactly what I learned———————–Your Cummins tech, basically walked away.

With that said, there is only ONE WAY to deal with SmartCrap if you want it or have it on your boat…………..Set up both engines as if you had 2 x single engines in your boat with one exception– tie all the battery negatives together.. . Only then can you start to isolate these type of issues.. I maybe watch over 100+ Q-engines with early SmartCrap stuff on them.. most are twins and most all are high-annual hour commercial passenger carrying vessels–Yes, I keep them alive and working– HOW? By doing it this way..

In your case, you have one engine and and the house as one, and then have the two engines tied together and they talk with each other……………Until you do I as I do, you are at the mercy of the SMARTCRAP GREMLINS that will never go away and are close to impossible to troubleshoot……………….IMO, a completely impossible set of electronic software systems designed for outboard motors that has no business being part the Cummins engine.

Just so you know, Cummins knows that too, but are much more gracefully trying to walk away from it– In their situation, it takes time but the wheels have been in motion for 4 yrs now and real progress has been made…

As to the other suggestions, try time, you may get lucky..

Tony

[Ian C]

Troubleshooting tree

Thanks for the response, and the comment. It’s a nice fit.

I did go thru the troubleshooting tree. All checks out, and the pump does run normally.

On the second comment, good call however the Balmar regulators are already set for AGM batteries, lowering the charge rate slightly. Also, I’ve never seen the fault show up under way. It either shows up on initial start up or not at all. So far at least…

And I still can’t figure out why the failure is always on the engine you can’t get to…

[Chris Dahl]

Per Corey’s document 2265 is high voltage or shorted to high source voltage. Don’t think you’re looking for a low voltage issue, quite possibly the opposite. First step in the checklist is to check for voltage regulator on the lift pump. Any chance those Balmar regulators can be toned down in voltage output?

[Corey Schmidt]

The install looks clean… I would disconnect and re-connect the 2-pin plug to the lift pump to make sure everything is clean and tight.

I have attached the troubleshooting guide for that fault… hopefully that will help provide some guidance.

Let us know…

[Author]

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