Perkins diesel randomly stopping

[Sailnav]

Remove the mixing elbow and inspect the inside for corrosion buildup. On my Perkins M30 at the same age, the clog was so bad it choked the engine.

The part is a heavy casting; beautiful on the outside and prone to heavy rusting on the inside.

[embibb]

I would suspect fuel tank bio growth is clogging the intake. I have experienced this on several vessels. After having the tank cleaned and/or the fuel polished or replaced, I never had an issue since.

[dw1979]

Could also be that critters got into the tank vent. Crack the filler cap next time this happens and if you have a rush of air, that might be your culprit.

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by Sailnav

Remove the mixing elbow and inspect the inside for corrosion buildup. On my Perkins M30 at the same age, the clog was so bad it choked the engine.

The part is a heavy casting; beautiful on the outside and prone to heavy rusting on the inside.

But then would it start again straight away?

[anotherT34C]

Check that your fuel tank is venting properly.

[lordgeoff]

Originally Posted by Yangyangyyy

My 20 year old 30HP Perkins diesel sometimes just stops. It was running fine, and then just the engine noise goes down/revs lower, then after about 5 seconds come to a stop.

Firing up again usually makes it run again, at least after 2 tries.

What could be the reason? Where should I start to trace the problem?


On cold start it has no problems, just firing the glow plug for 20 seconds and then firing it, it starts up all the time


Thanks

Is your fuel tank clean? You may have bug growth in the tank that is intermittently blocking the man pipe between the tank and your filter. The fuel bug grows to a thick black tar like substance. It gets drawn into the fuel line starving the engine of fuel. When the engine stops the suction drops and the Blob comes off the fuel pipe.

[singlespeed]

Ever have your diesel tank cleaned? We had a similar occurrence and finally pulled the fuel pickup/fuel access plate off the top of the tank. Apparently, motoring in calm seas was fine, but motoring in any sort of chop would disturb the junk on the bottom of the tank and it would plug the pickup screen. We found algae, wood fibers and various unidentified material in the filters after screening the entire tank. Lots of third world fueling stations apparently do not routinely replace any inline filters between their storage tanks and their pumps, either due to local unavailability or cost. The filter housing is in place, only for looks. A Baja filter is a must when cruising in the third world.