You know how important it is to have a maintenance schedule in place for your assets, but there are certain times I’d advise you to ignore the schedule.
Tell-tale signs from your engines of such occasion include:
• Excessive breathing
• Excessive crankcase pressure
Now if you are noting either of the above with your engine, you could be due an overhaul whether the schedule says so or not.
This was highlighted by a recent call out we had for a Cummins Generator Genset.
We were informed the engine had suffered from loss of oil (enough to shut the engine down) and had been refilled, however it was then reported to be shutting down every 30 mins on low oil pressure.
Our engineer Will attended site to look over the engine and on inspection he found that, although the engine oil level was correct, oil was being blown out of the dipstick (see video below).
The reason? Excessive crankcase pressure.
The lack of oil had dramatically increased internal engine wear, which was likely brought about by, for example:
• Piston rings no longer sealing – being picked up and scored
• Broken piston rings
• Piston ring clearance out of tolerance
• Excess liner wear
Without an overhaul, it will continue to shut down and will eventually cease altogether, with the amount of damage rendering it uneconomical to repair.
