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Sailmonkey · 06-02-2010, 18:07

As cheif says, no air should escape the injectors......Is it coming out the top where the fuel line connects or around the injectors?
and if you swap the injectors do they exhibit the same behavior?

Jetexas · 06-02-2010, 19:15

If we turn the engine over with the fuel lines disconnected, the air is coming right up through the injectors - both of them. We ran to Ace and bought two tiny corks, stuck them in the injectors and then reconnected the fuel lines to hold the corks in. The engine went from being fairly easy to turn by hand to being almost impossible to turn. We then pulled the injectors one at a time to make sure each cylinder was making compression.

The good news is that the injection pump is working.

YouTube - Westerbeke Injection Pump Test

But this is all we got out of the injectors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eoc2MpjYMC8

Since the compression seems to be ok we're going to drop the injectors off to be rebuilt on Monday.

On the upside, we did get our boom hung - I hit my head on it three times before the day was over. lol

Sailmonkey · 06-02-2010, 19:18

I have never seen an injector so bad that compression was coming back out of it!!

Did you mean to post the same video twice?

Jetexas · 06-02-2010, 19:39

It's hard to see the spray in the wide angle video, so I zoomed it in on the two injectors and re-rendered it as separate videos.

YouTube - Westerbeke Injector Test 1 of 2

YouTube - Westerbeke Injector Test 2 of 2

Jetexas · 06-02-2010, 19:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

I have never seen an injector so bad that compression was coming back out of it!!

Did you mean to post the same video twice?

I thought I caught and changed it fast enough nobody would notice. lol.

never monday · 06-02-2010, 20:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jetexas

It's hard to see the spray in the wide angle video, so I zoomed it in on the two injectors and re-rendered it as separate videos.

YouTube - Westerbeke Injector Test 1 of 2

YouTube - Westerbeke Injector Test 2 of 2

looks a lot like water miked in that fuel

Jetexas · 06-02-2010, 20:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by never monday

looks a lot like water miked in that fuel

We pulled and cleaned the tank, blew out the lines, changed all the filters, and put fresh diesel in the tank before we started trying to start the engine. There's definitely no water in the system.

**Boracay** · 06-02-2010, 22:51

My engine manual warns that diesel fuel from injectors can go below the skin and cause gangrene. Please be careful.

I know you've probably done it but why not crack the feed line into the injectors (or whatever the manual says to bleed the system) just to do one more check.

sigmasailor · 07-02-2010, 03:05

If you are going to have the injectors rebuilt anyway (good idea) why not break them open and try to clean them. You will find that the critical part (the nozzle) consists of a body and a center punch like insert; just above the pointy bit is the sealing area which should be clean. I would even risk using copper polish (or similar) to try and re-seat the nozzles. Just make sure you do not lose shims or adjust the spring setting (I do not know the type of injectors) in the process.

Chief Engineer · 07-02-2010, 16:20

Do not try to save money and do them yourself...unless you are in East Bumfarrago/

Jetexas · 08-02-2010, 05:20

I had originally thought I would attempt to give the injectors a cleaning myself as I'd found this DIY a couple weeks ago.

vincewaldon.com - HOW-TO: Rebuild Diesel IDI Injectors

However, as I mentioned before, I couldn't even get the injectors open using a table vice and a breaker bar. Then I had about a million warnings not to attempt to clean them myself, so we're taking them to a diesel shop this week.

Personally, I'm leaning toward just paying the $1500 for the clean, known-running Volvo since we don't know what other issues are going to arise once we do get this Westerbeke to fire. Then we could rework the Westerbeke at home in the garage at our leisure. However, my brother still believes in the Westerbeke since it only shows 750 hours at the control panel. Since he's half the money, we're going to try rebuilding these injectors first.

The most frustrating part of this project is having to wait a week at a time to go work on it. I'm tempted to just take a week of vacation and get it done, but then I wouldn't have any time to take off for sailing trip this summer. It's a catch 22.

Boracay, thanks for the warning about the gangrene, but we only let the injectors shoot into our mouths, not our hands. (jk ... thanks for your concern. We're being careful.)

sigmasailor · 08-02-2010, 06:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chief Engineer

Do not try to save money and do them yourself...unless you are in East Bumfarrago/

Normally I would agree with Chief. Since you are considering a rebuild anyway wouldn't it be fun to have a go at them yourself? You do not have much to loose. If you get them cleaned and re-polished try if they pop cranking your engine. The instruction vid is good.

I forgot you broke your vise trying to get them open. Find a bigger vise?

The safety warning is valid; keep you skin away from the nozzles; it is a lot more powerful than a water jet cleaner.

Jetexas · 08-02-2010, 08:55

We called the diesel service referred earlier in the thread, but the guy on the phone had never heard of Westerbeke. While I know they probably just need a part number and a spec sheet to rebuild the injector and set the proper pressure, it worried me a little. We called another place called M & D Diesel Service. They gave an estimate of around $75 each for a rebuild, so Ben's dropping the injectors by at lunch.

It amazes me that you can get a full rebuild for $75 when the cheapest replacement nozzle I could find was $88. From what I can tell the dealer markup on Westerbeke parts is seriously ridiculous.