Warning Horn and low RPM – New Longblock

[tod]

Sbmar Forum –

I had a new longblock installed on the Port engine in my 2005 Tiara (QSB 5.9 380) last November. There are two ongoing problems that the installer has been unable to resolve.

1 – The Port Engine won’t reach the governed WOT rpm of 3050. This engine shows 99% load at 3010 and stops there. The starboard engine moves right up to 3050 per design and shows 91% load. I just pulled the boat to check the port running gear. It all looks good including the trim tab positions. Even though the yard thought a visual on the prop was enough, I am having the props scanned just to take that cause off the table.

2 – The DieselView Warning Horns go off at cruise rpm. After about 10-20 minutes at cruise (appx 2400 rpm) the DV piezoelectric warning horns sound continuously on both DVs. No actual alarm information showed on the DV screen or in the alarm log. The alarm shuts off when we drop to lower rpm. I can disable the horns to run the boat but it comes back on occasionally on the port side only . Not a great way to run a boat.

I had several mechanics on the boat during our summer cruise along Vancouver Island to look at the warning horn problem and they tried several things without success:
– The ECM was queried and it shows 60+ low oil pressure alarms on the port engine (zero on the starboard side)
– A new oil pressure sender was installed on the port side but there was no change.
– A mechanical oil gauge was installed and watched during a sea trial. There port engine oil pressure was steady at 38 psi when the alarm sounded.
– An attempt was made to refresh the port ECM but it was unsuccessful. The tech was unable to get the ECM to take any programming.

I continue to work with the company that installed the long block which is complicating the investigation however I believe the next step is to concentrate more on the ECM either via a reflash using a different process or a replacement.

Any thoughts from the experts on this forum are appreciated.

Topic

[tod]

Fixed?

It seems like the two problems on my port engine have been resolved.

1 – WOT RPM – I had the boat hauled and the props checked. They both looked good but an actual scan showed the port propeller to need some significant work. Afterwards, the engine reaches 3050 rpm. The load is still about 4% higher than the starboard engine but I believe this variance is within spec. Seems to run great.

2 – Warning Horn – Cummins Northwest came to the boat and reprogrammed the ECM. A half hour long sea trial running between high cruise and WOT resulted in ZERO WARNING HORN EVENTS. This is the first time in over 100 hours without the alarm sounding.

Thanks to Tony and Corey for their thoughts.

[tod]

Tony and Corey –

I understand that the DieselViews are obsolete and should be replaced but I have been struggling with other issues. I have a spare DieselView unit that has been on the starboard side and worked fine except the data flashes at a rate of about 3-5 cycles per second. I will switch it in for the problematic port side and see what happens. I will also start collecting some $$ to replace these units in the near future (your J1939 units?).

Regarding the WOT rpm problem, I have attached an Excel spreadsheet that shows data from a sea trial we did in April. It has data for both engines at 600. 2500 and 3000 rpm. At idle, all data is pretty consistent. At the higher rpm conditions, the fuel flow rate, boost and load are all higher on the problem port engine.

One thought of interest – About two years ago I had the port engine turbo rebuilt while investigating the problem on the original port engine (high oil consumption). Can the turbo be a cause instead of an effect here?

Also, I never had an alarm until the R&R of the longblock last December. Afterwards, I get an alarm every time I run the boat. Can ECMs or DieselViews get damaged during an engine R&R?

Anyway, take a look at the data and let me know what you think. There are four tabs on this spreadsheet including “Plan”, “Data”, “Fuel Flow” and “Load”. The tab marked “Data” has all of the raw data for the various conditions.

Thanks for the help and I know I need different displays!!

[Corey Schmidt]

I would consider scrapping the SmartCraft stuff at some point since the gremlin has seemed to want to visit you. These issues are NOT easy to troubleshoot… you’d be better off with a Ouija board and some incense. The panels themselves have sometimes been know to cause the alarm as I believe it’s driven by an internal analog power component like a relay or something similar which sometimes goes wonky. I do know for sure that the VV 1.5 displays had that as a systemic issue… the alarm would ALWAYS sound no matter what you did.

Re: the engine loading… are you monitoring FUEL BURN? If so, what are the fuel burn numbers compared from P&S as you run up through the RPM range?

[Tony Athens]

Sounds to me more like SmartCraft” issues and other other sensor issues… Your Diesels view are ancient besides..

Swap OP sensor 1st—–Then ECM’s , would be my 1st thoughts.

Smartcraft, especially the older versions like you have, is just about impossible to deal with anymore.

[Author]

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