Fuel treatment BK-44...

S

sir jasper

Member
Joined
2 Aug 2009
Messages
28
Location
Devon
Visit site
Has anyone used the fuel treatment / additive BK-44 (containing polyether-amine) on a marine diesel? My TAMD31P has started to smoke, thought it may be worth giving the BK44 ago before going to the expense of servicing the injectors.

It proved to be very effective on my VW diesel Golf – no more clouds of white smoke, improved fuel efficiency & improved cold starts.
 
sir jasper said:
I haven't noticed any drop in performance. I'm just getting fed-up cleaning the transom after every trip!

Is there a common cause of a smokey Tamd31?
Click to expand...

Yes, the most usual cause of smoke from the 31/32/40/41/42/43/44 series motors is that they're made by Volvo. If you can get one of the non-Volvo TAMD31's it won't smoke, it won't vibrate and it will be virtually silent and use almost no fuel. ;)
 
OK, so ther is no 'bug' or blokage of the fuel system then.

First of all I would renew all the fuel filters/ check also the air filter elemnt and the engine breather.
There should be a tiny 'cleanable' gauze filter elemement in the top of the lift pump.
If you have the 'racor' type pre filter you will see from the state of the filter bowl what has been going on .
Thats a help too
If the filt bowl is full of nice clean diesel or full of muck that tells a tale.

She will smoke when starting and during warming up
She should go to a leaner whiter smoke when cruising

If you do have to remove the injectors get the special tool
Not a lot of money.
Because the way the injectors are held in its a beggar without it.
 
Forgot to say!
Try the above first before adding any additive.
You could then try a 'snake oil' !!!! of your choice.

Don't worry too much if the injectors are the cause
Its not that difficult to remove them yourself (with said tool) then pop them off to the local injector man
Last ones I did cost about 40 quid a pop!
 
Thanks for the advice.

Air & fuel filters are new, but I’ll recheck & then check the breather pipe & gauze in the top of the lift pump.

What are your thoughts on running without an air filter? I know a couple of guys that run without (even with all the recent volcanic fall-out!) – they claim it improves economy / performance.
 
I have tried running without an air filter, just to see if it made any difference to the following cloud!

I wouldn't recommend this action permanently however.
There is a difference but very very negligable.
What vessel is the lump in by the by?
Plus what type of pre filter system have you got?
 
Kawasaki said:
I have tried running without an air filter, just to see if it made any difference to the following cloud!

I wouldn't recommend this action permanently however.
There is a difference but very very negligable.
What vessel is the lump in by the by?
Plus what type of pre filter system have you got?
Click to expand...

The boats a Nimbus 280, can't remember what the brand of pre filter is, but it does have a sight glass.
 
OK if She is a Nimbus no doubt it will be a Racor or similar

In my old 27 I run at 3200 cruising maybe 3400 if there is a rush on.
This equates to roughly 14 kts sog

Tother thing I found on a similar vessel with the TAMD31 was degradation of the fuel lines but that vessel was a lot older than your 280
This left muck in the prefilter bowl and clogged said filter then She smoked quite badly
Funny enough I think I have to see to that snag on mine!!

So back to my origianal thoughts
Now you have explained the system I would definately go down the route mentioned.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top