Where would you start if one of your engines was down on power?
This is the question we were posed with the other day when a rebuilt engine was not performing on test.
Against an expected output of 608 BHP, the engine was only delivering 413 BHP.
The logical starting point for investigation is the fuel and air systems because without them operating properly, combustion will be inefficient and you won’t get the power.
If your engine is underperforming, carry out these checks:
• Are the injectors (not necessarily all of them) atomising the fuel correctly?
• Has the fuel rack been set up correctly?
• Has the timing been set correctly?
• Have the governor linkages been set correctly?
• Is the governor restricting the flow of fuel?
• Are there any other devices which could be restricting the fuel supply?
• Is the supply of air to the cylinders being limited?
• Are the air filters blocked?
There are other checks that can be carried out, but these will cover the usual causes.
The cause, in this case, was the governor settings restricting the amount of fuel getting into the injectors.
