Last week we got a call from an operator facing some major downtime issues, the situation provided a good example of how well-managed strategies can prevent these emergencies. The engine drives a safety-critical pump, and when a fuel pipe failed, they were looking at shutting down the site. I’m sure you have reviewed critical spares holdings and from my experience, there are usually plenty of discussions between technical, operational and...

Our engineers were on-site recently, carrying out a top-end overhaul on an emergency generator engine when they came across an issue that is often overlooked. But if left unchecked, it can drastically impair your engine’s performance. As part of the works, our team inspected the magnetic speed pickup… You can see from the picture below that the flywheel magnetic pick-up was covered in a 1mm depth of black dirt. The dirt on the probe was...

We’ve just started supporting a new marine operator, and the other day they were getting some concerning noises following the overhaul of their Caterpillar 3406 engine by another firm. As it turned out, a fundamental setting had been missed. Once on the vessel, we checked the backlash of the timing gears and found them to be out of tolerance, and the result was this damage to the teeth on the gears: The engine arrived in our workshop, where we...

If you are reliant on “heritage” engine models, or those simply not made anymore, then chances are you will have experienced supply problems for ongoing maintenance or repairs. Sourcing of spares can usually be overcome with a bit of digging, but when it comes to major assemblies, it can be a lot more complicated, not to mention expensive! One of our clients found themselves in that position recently with two Sulzer LAG46 Turbochargers that had...

During the overhaul of a generator package, we came across an issue that could’ve been costly to our client. As standard, we removed & dismantled the cylinder heads, including the valve seats. However, the process for the seat removal (to heat each head to 220°C, then remove the valve seat & install the new one before the head can cool) doesn’t allow time to measure the valve seat bores. With aluminium heads, the new seats...

A couple of weeks ago, we were asked to survey some Blackstone engines. The engines are an emergency power system, so they’re absolutely vital for the site’s safety system.  All three engines had various issues, but there was a familiar one which had gone unnoticed and came to light as soon as we started engine 1. As soon as the engine turned over, fluid started leaking from the top of it. We stopped it straight away, and checked the fluid,...