Back in my Merchant Marine school days, during a diesel engine maintenance class a video was shown detailing what happens when a large displacement diesel engine runs away, uncontrolled by the governor as it fed on lube oil through the supercharger seals. Just before it failed (exploded) you could see fire shooting out between the block and head.
When attempting to stop a runaway diesel do not place your hand over the air intake. Use foulweather gear or similar sacrificial air blocking material that will conform around the air intake. If you have a Halon (Calypso’s engine space has a 7.5lb auto-deploy Halon system in place) or a larger CO2 extinguisher on board they may be used to slow the engine slightly to make the stopping easier. This sort of failure is rare in small auxillary diesel engines, but more likely with turbocharged engines. If a pleasure boater (power and sail) does basic maintenance (do not over fill the lube oil) and every few years calls in an expert to check the more complicated systems (especially the injection pump, head bolt torque, and turbo seals) the risk of runaway should continue to be small. Martin Calypso 1970 C&C 43 Seattle ________________________________ From: CnC-List [cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] on behalf of Josh Muckley [muckl...@gmail.com] Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2013 7:16 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List Fwd: Stopping a diesel So let me get this straight: Run away engine - gonna blow. Decompress - gonna blow Sounds like a dammed if you do dammed if you don't. So don't decompress. Good to know for the normal "non-emergency" shutdowns. I'm still gonna do it when shutting of the fuel and air don't kill the engine. Thanks for checking me and the books, Josh --
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