Marine Diesel Engine Maintenance

• Home
• About
• Marine Diesel Engines
• Understanding A Marine Diesel Engine
• Marine Diesel Engine Fuel
• Privacy Policy
• Privacy Policy

20 Tips To Beat High Marine Diesel Fuel Costs

May 14th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Gas and diesel prices are rising fast and that is affecting the boating industry. Recreational boaters around the country are faced with either spending more money or spending less time on the water. According to the National Marine Manufacturers Association 3 percent of boaters in 2007 didn’t put their boats in the water, this year only 1 percent plan on not wetting their boat. So what can we do to help squeeze more miles out of every dollar we spend at the pump? Plenty!

Click Here For Marine Diesel Engine Maintenance Guide

After doing my own research and drawing from my own experiences, below is my top 20 list of ways to improve your boats fuel efficiency.

1. Many of today’s boats have electronic fuel injection or direct fuel injection which need more injector cleaner detergent than is typically in commercially available gasoline. Use a good injector cleaner to clean-up injector deposits and help your engine run its best.
2. Marine diesel additives will upgrade the typical No. 2 diesel fuel to a high octane premium diesel. It is documented in laboratory tests to significantly improve engine performance, increase fuel economy to just over 13 percent, and reduce exhaust emissions.
3. Lighten the load whenever possible by taking along only the gear and supplies you’ll need. If you’re going on a one-day trip, don’t pack enough gear and supplies onboard for a six-day cruise. Clear your deck of clutter and lower canvas tops. You’ll reduce the weight and drag of your boat, and you’ll not only burn less fuel, you might see improvements in handling and performance as well.
4. Distributing onboard gear evenly. If your boat is listing to one side or the bow is weighted down and plowing through the water due to poor placement of onboard gear, your fuel efficiency is going to drop. So, be sure all equipment and other stuff is balanced through-out the boat. This helps give a smoother ride and increase your mileage.
5. A quality onboard fuel computer will help you efficiently manage what you have in your tank by supplying accurate readings of how much fuel you are using at any given moment. This is a highly desirable alternative to the notoriously inaccurate fuel gauges that come standard on many boat models.
6. Regular marine diesel engine maintenance and tune-ups will contribute greatly to your boat’s overall fuel efficiency. If your motor is not operating the way it should, chances are the system will be working overtime and eating up more fuel. You might have a professional marine technician overhaul your engine. Also be sure you are running your boat within the RPM range recommended by the manufacturer for best fuel efficiency.
7. Installing a quality trim-tab system on your boat (if appropriate) will not only improve the ride of your boat, it will help you go farther on a tank of fuel. Trim tabs allow you make necessary adjustments to the way your boat cuts through the water, planes and handles. By Adjusting your trim according to boat speed/load and the current water conditions you will help optimize performance and save fuel.
8. The hulls of boats kept in the water often have overgrown jungles trailing from their bottoms. If you are carrying a small eco-system of algae, barnacles or other marine growth on your boat, you will definitely have fuel-consuming drag when underway. So check often your boat’s underside and brush or scrub off any unwanted visitors.
9. Talking about the bottom, when was your last haul-out? Is it time for new bottom paint? This too can help you improve performance.
10. If you fish, water in your boat’s bait tank and live wells can add a surprising amount of weight to your boat (about 8 pounds per gallon). Instead of heading home at the end of the day with all this extra weight, empty your tanks of both unnecessary water and bait before making that long run back to the docks.
11. I suppose we should also mention the ballast sacks for wakeboarding. Maybe it’s time to rethink the huge wake and cut back some. If you don’t want to cut back then maybe rethink how you use them. In the past, my buddy filled up in the morning and didn’t empty until the end of the day. He’s thinking about only doing so many runs this year with his ballast sacks filled and dumping back out before cruising off to catch up with the rest of the group.
12. When you fuel up, do it in the mornings before the heat starts up. This assures you’re getting the most fuel for your money.
13. When fueling your boat, run the pump slowly. Many nozzles have a design that recaptures and you may not be getting all you’re paying for. Never ‘top up’.
14. Another reason to fuel slowly is some pump nozzles don’t have a shut off and you end up dumping fuel into the water. This hurts not only your wallet but the water you love to play on.
15. Don’t wait until your tank is nearly empty, try to refuel at the half way point. Gas evaporates quickly and open space in the tank can steal your play time.
16. Use the appropriate size propeller and check for damage. Using the stock propeller may not be best suited for your type of boating. By experimenting with different props, you may find one that saves fuel and improves performance.
17. Check your prop, a damaged prop, even just a slight “ding”, can negatively affect fuel efficiency and performance - get it fixed! While you’re having that done be sure they check the balance of the prop. An unbalanced prop can cause more problems than just loss of miles.
18. Throttle back to cruising speed or the “sweet spot”. Chances are that your boat does not get her best mileage at full speed. Once you get up on a plane, throttle back slightly to find the best speed. Your boat will ride smoother, more level and performs her best.
19. Avoid excess engine idling. Even in neutral, your boat is consuming fuel, it takes less fuel to restart the engine than to idle for one minute, plus idling can produce potentially deadly carbon monoxide (CO) fumes.
20. Use the proper fuel to oil mix for your engine (if you have that type of engine). If you must mix your own fuel, follow the manufacturer’s recommendations. Too little or too much oil can harm your engine, affect overall performance and reduce fuel efficiency.

Don’t let gas or diesel prices keep you off your boat this season. The tips above will help improve your miles per gallon and allow you to enjoy your boat without fearing the gas pump.

This article written by Debbie from Pacific Northwest Boating. Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Debbie_Salituro

Marine Diesels Servicing

March 15th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

What type of marine diesels servicing can you do yourself? There are several components in marine engines that can be serviced by the boat owner and in this article author John Routledge looks at the gap between the rocker and the valve …

There are few things that an amateur mechanic with a limited tool kit can (or should) do to the major components inside marine diesels apart from making sure that it has a good supply of fuel and air and clean lubricating oil.

Click Here For Marine Diesel Engine Service Manual

You can, however, check and adjust the gap between the rocker and the valve. There has to be a gap - usually about the thickness of a fingernail - to allow for the different rates at which the various components expand and contract as they warm up. Without it, there’s a very real risk that the valves won’t shut completely: they may even come into catastrophic contact with the pistons. If the gap is too large, the valves may not open as far as they should, and the engine will certainly be noisier than it should be.

1 Read the engine manual to find out what the valve/rocker clearances should be, and whether they should be adjusted with the engine cold or at normal running temperature. Note that the clearances for inlet valves may be different for those for exhaust valves, because exhaust valves get hotter.

2 Remove the rocker cover - a relatively thin metal box on top of the engine, usually with the oil filler cap in the middle. Some engines have a separate rocker cover for each cylinder, or for each of two or three groups of cylinders.

3 Check the gap on each valve in turn, when the valve is completely closed and the gap is

its widest. There are two ways of finding out when this happens. On a multi-cylinder engine, the best way is to find the ‘magic number’ for your engine by adding one to the number of cylinders. For a four-cylinder engine, for instance, the magic number is five.

4 Turn the engine slowly by hand , if necessary using a spanner on the crankshaft (big nut on the lowest of the pulleys at the front of the engine). Watch the rockers moving as you do so, until the two rockers for one cylinder are ‘on the rock’ - that is, when one is rising and the other falling - signifying that this particular cylinder is at the end of its exhaust stroke and just beginning its induction stroke. Subtract the number of this cylinder from the ‘magic number’ to find the number of the cylinder that is ready to have its valve clearances checked. If, for instance, you have a four-cylinder engine and number 2 cylinder’s valves are on the rock, number 3 cylinder is ready, because 5 - 2 = 3.

5 On a single-cylinder engine, the clearance for one valve should be checked when the other valve is fully depressed. You can use this approach for a multi-cylinder engine, but it will take longer!

6 Slacken the lock-nut on the rocker whose clearance you are about to adjust, and then unscrew the threaded adjuster about one or two turns.

7 Set a feeler gauge to the clearance specified in the engine manual, and slip it between the valve stem and the rocker. Gently wiggle the feeler gauge whilst tightening the adjusting screw, until you can feel the feeler gauge being nipped between the valve stem and the rocker.

8 Leave the feeler gauge in place, and hold the adjusting screw with a screwdriver while you tighten the lock-nut. When it’s tight, wiggle the feeler gauge again to check that you haven’t upset the adjustment: you should feel a slight resistance, but it shouldn’t be jammed tight.

9 Repeat the process for each valve in turn, then replace the rocker cover, making sure that the cork or rubber sealing gasket is smooth, undamaged and properly seated.

Marine diesels servicing? boatpartsdatabase.com has lots of resources for the boating trade and public alike. The web is a vast source of information. Boatpartsdatabase collects the leisure marine industry into one huge database of contacts. Boat engine servicing is something you can do yourself with the help of boatpartsdatabase, lists of suppliers of spares and parts.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Routledge

Electronic Fuel Injection in a Marine Diesel Engine

December 9th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Fuel injection is fuel injection, whether direct or electronic. The difference is that the latter is controlled by a computer, known as the electronic control unit or module (ECU or ECM), which also controls various electronic components and sensors. In direct fuel injection systems, the injectors are supplied with the fuel through individual high-pressure fuel lines. In electronic fuel injection engines, they are supplied with fuel from a common fuel rail at the cylinder head.

On acceleration, the throttle valve opens to permit more air to enter the engine. The ECM responds by opening more fuel. Sensors monitor the amount of air entering the marine engine and the amount of oxygen in the exhaust. They allow the ECM to fine tune the delivery so the the air-to-fuel ratio is just right.

Click Here For Marine Diesel Engine Maintenance Manual

The Caterpillar HEUI (Hydraulic Electronic Unit Injection) system supposedly goes one step further in the delivery of ‘just right’ fuel to the marine diesel engine. The fuel injectors are operated ‘electronic-hydraulically’ instead of ‘electronic-mechanically’. The engine lubricating oil (sump oil) is utilized to generate the hydraulic pressure by boosting it with a high-pressure oil pump. It is delivered to the injectors through a manifold between the cylinder head and valve covers. The ECM regulates the oil pressure, which determines the pressure of the fuel to be injected.

Being more fuel efficient and lower in emissions, EFI has become almost universal in modern marine diesel engines.

This is an excerpt from Dick Gandy’s Australian Boating Manual

Inboard Marine Diesel Fuel System

December 9th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

It can be argued that the diesel and petrol fuel delivery systems are entirely different. It can equally be argued that in modern marine engines the difference lies not in the delivery of the fuel, but in the engines they deliver to.

In marine diesel engines the fuel is injected directly into its combustion chambers (cylinders) where it mixes with hot air and ignites by compression. In petrol engines it is delivered to one or more pre-combustion chambers where it mixes with cold air and then enters the cylinders to be ignited by spark plugs.

Click Here For Marine Diesel Engine Manual 

The pre-combustion chamber is traditional petrol engines is the carburettor. In the modern EFI engines it is the intake manifold, which is located just before the intake valve of each cylinder. petrol was pumped into the carburettor, but in the EFI engines it is injected by a fuel injection system similar to diesel engines.

Marine Diesel Fuel Delivery – Tank To Engine

In its simplest form, the fuel flows from the tank, through the primary filter, to the fuel lift pump. It then flows through a secondary filter to the fuel-injection pump, to fuel injectors, which squirt it directly into the combustion chambers (cylinders).

The fuel injectors are usually delivered more fuel than is required for combustion. The excess is returned to the fuel tank, taking with it small amounts of air entrained in the supplied fuel.

Buy Sperry Topsiders Online And Save

December 1st, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Good boat shoes like Sperry Topsiders will prevent you from slipping on a wet deck. They are constructed from water resistant material – often oiled leather – and have a flexible, tightly rippled sole. They have a low profile so they can be slipped on and off easily and you don’t require socks for comfort.

When buying Sperry Topsiders online always visit a retail outlet first to ensure a good fit unless you are certain of your size. Ensure they are comfortable and fit your foot well. Good quality boat shoes can be quite expensive so the fit and comfort is important. However, they will last for several seasons if cared for well.

Over recent years boat shoes have become fashionable for casual wearing off the boat deck. They can be both stylish and comfortable and worn with smart casual wear by both men and women.

You can Buy Sperry boat shoes including the popular Sperry Topsiders online at Shoebuy.com at very reasonable prices. You’ll save money and receive free shipping.

Next Page »

Copyright © 2008 Marine Diesel Engine Maintenance

Credits: Work From Home | Matteo Turchetto | Andreas Viklund