During the routine testing of an offshore Caterpillar D3412TA fire pump engine, the operator reported that it was overheating.
They checked the seawater and jacket water systems, but there was no obvious fault with either, so they called us in to carry out an investigation.
We arrived, and our initial investigations showed that water was being blown out of the header tank after a few minutes of running.
If you’ve seen this before, then the chances are you recognise that it’s as a result of back pressure from the cylinders.
So, the next thing we did was check the cylinders to understand the cause of this back pressure, and what we found was that water was getting into cylinder 8 under static pressure.
We got our borescope out and worked out the root cause – the pre-combustion chamber.
It had corroded over time, along with the seal, so it wasn’t sealing and letting water in.
We changed the chamber and the seal, the back pressure problems were eliminated and the engine brought back on-line.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen issues with these parts, so if you’re using Caterpillar 34 series engines, or you have pre-combustion chambers, you need to make sure these are checked or changed at appropriate intervals to protect your engine.
If you’re not sure when this is, just call us on 01206 791552 or email info@bartechmarine.com with your engine details and we’ll let you know.
