Why Does It Always Happen To Me

[Assassin]

Another phone call from a friend, "port engine starts and idles but will not run at speed, it cuts out, any ideas, you're a genius with engines so i thought i would call you first", so out with the tools to see his boat. On the way there all the obvious causes ran through my mind, air, fuel, electronic failure, what could it be.

Arrived at his craft, sure enough the engine started and idled fine, no smoke, plenty of cooling, no obvious problems, so head scratching time. Revved the engine and sure enough it cut out, started straight away and idled fine, eliminate the obvious first, plenty of fuel, just been serviced so new everything, and everything had been fitted correctly. "Must be electronics" came mates shout so out with the diagnostics kit, no fault codes logged so all appeared well, oh well, back to basics. Checked everything obvious, and the not so obvious and noticed the air filter on the port engine had been relocated to make it easier to change the air filter, is this the suspect?

Removed the filter and it was new, asked him to start the engine with the filter removed, sure enough it idled nicely and cut out when revved, nice. Asked when he had the filter relocated, and sure enough it was when it was serviced a couple of weeks earlier, and apparently the boat had been running fine after the filter relocation, so interrogation time. This revealed thet the filter housing had been relocated, and a new filter to turbo pipe had been fitted as the original was too short, sure the air filter was now accessible and the filter housing was nowhere near the trouble it used to be to remove.

The brain engaged, i asked him to start his engine and rev it, sure enough the culprit was found, i asked him down to the engine room to watch what i was watching, and he did. Got his wife to start the engine, then rev it, while we both watched the air filter to turbo pipe suddenly go oval and suck itself in, totally starving the engine of air.

"Whats causing that" came the scream from my friend, my reply was simple, "the pipe is on the suction side and its not a reinforced pipe as it should be", so we ran the engine with the pipe removed, Eureka moment. The engine ran perfectly.

mnaged to get another mate to match another pipe up, fortunately it was a reinforced pipe this time, so no issues.

Why does it always happen to me??????????????????

 

[Sultans_Kapitein]

It didn't happen to you, it happened to your mate, who now thinks you are the dogs bollox. Don't be shy you did a good job of investigating the problem and you solved it. It it the bunch of cowboys who moved the filter around that 'it' should happen to, how they have the gaul to charge people good money to bugger them around!
But be happy, you were the solution, not the problem

Mal

 

[oldgit]

"Why does it always happen to me"


Just remember you are now his "go to Guy" and the next time the tiniest thing goes wrong ...further as the "last person to touch the engine" anything that does go wrong will be your fault.

 

[tinkicker0]

"Why does it always happen to me"


Just remember you are now his "go to Guy" and the next time the tiniest thing goes wrong ...further as the "last person to touch the engine" anything that does go wrong will be your fault.

Oh yes, learned that years ago. When I was a keen apprentice techie, used to do jobs "on the side", servicing peeps motors and carrying out repairs over the weekend.

If they got a puncture three weeks later, it was your fault because a "mate" told them there must have been something wrong with the tyre when I serviced it.

One, a ford escort MK2 was the last straw, old bloke me mum knew wanted it servicing, got the car and it was rattling its head off, revving at 2000rpm on idle and generally rough running.
Did the plugs points, condenser, set the valve clearances, changed the lubes and filters, set the carb up properly, got the CO readings spot on and had it purring.
He came back complaining that he wanted it putting back to how it was cos he kept thinking it had cut out at traffic lights because it was "too quiet".

6 months later he brought the car back wanting it servicing again and got all huffy when I told him I wasn't interested.

Also, most peeps approached you to do the job after their "expert" mate had given it a go and stripped / rounded / broken off half of the bolts, making the job a right pain in the ass.

Only used to charge a tenner plus parts for the best part of a days work, which even in the 1980s was not a lot a dosh, just a few pints on the saturday night.

Don't get involved anymore, not averse to standing watch, advising and pointing, but actually doing the job on the side is really not worth the hassle.

 

[oldgit]

"Oh yes, learned that years ago. "

Took me years to work it out.

 

[Kawasaki]

Also, most peeps approached you to do the job after their "expert" mate had given it a go and stripped / rounded / broken off half of the bolts, making the job a right pain in the ass.

Tee Hee, that brings back memories
Had 25 years in the Motorbike mending job
'Me bike won't start
Me mates had a look at it, says there cant be much wrong, he,s checked the plugs, carb, compression, electrics, timing , petrol and the valves'

'Oh' says I 'so it still won't start?'

'Yeh, me mae says there can't be much wrong'

'Oh, I notice the exhaust on the left hand side is loose by the manifold'

'Yer-- the bolt snapped'
'How come' I asked
'Err um, it snapped when me mate took it off to decoke ' said me man
'Like -- whats yer Mates trade then'? I ask
'Oh-- He is a First Class Butcher on the High st in Prestatyn'!

 

[vas]

Got his wife to start the engine, then rev it, while we both watched the air filter to turbo pipe suddenly go oval and suck itself in, totally starving the engine of air.

"Whats causing that" came the scream from my friend, my reply was simple, "the pipe is on the suction side and its not a reinforced pipe as it should be", so we ran the engine with the pipe removed, Eureka moment. The engine ran perfectly.

well done!

took me a lot of head scratching and a few months to figure out a similar case in my heavily modified Fiat Coupe a couple of years ago, due to relocation of the mushroom air filter to the (for you NS).
Mind you for an extra level of difficulty this was only happening in DRY conditions (i.e. most of the time in Greece) but wasn't happening when it was damp or wet. Apparently the damp air was "slipping" through the 3inch intake smoother than in dry conditions plus the pipe was deforming less being cooler and hence harder.

It's ALWAYS an issue of tracking changes and imagining what idiotic mod has been performed...

V.

 

[jfm]

Intriguing stuff Assassin. What model of engine and boat was it?

 

[Latestarter1]

Comes as no surprise that friends would rather run a mile than ask me to look at their boat!

Last time I was asked to endorse pals latest purchase it ended up in a fire fight. I was shown with pride the comprehensive service records from new, listing new turbochargers and replacement injectors. I said 'why'............?

Took a look at exhaust system which was attempt to defy gravity, and a fuel system which had undersized pipework and marginal filteration. A sea trial also revealed exhaust back pressure way above installation guidelines.

Surveyor was nailed who argued that it was original unaltered builders installation. Engine suppliers survey confirmed my observations and following some serious wrangling installation was corrected. Pal was so pi55ed over all the aggro with surveyor etc he put the boat back on the market when it was fixed. Needless to say I was not asked to look at his replacement!

 

[Talbot]

The standard "shoot the messenger" syndrome. Never understood why people act that way, but it must be hard wired somewhere.

 

[Assassin]

I an interesting twist i found out the engineer who moved the air filter and replaced the pipe had actually ordered a reinforced pipe, the part number is correct as is the part number on the box. It transpires that the wrong part was in the box, the engineer has sent a lovely apology and offered to reimburse both our costs.

He has chased his supplier, and they are now investigating how an un-reinforced pipe became packaged in a box which should have had a reinforced part in it.

 

[Latestarter1]

I an interesting twist i found out the engineer who moved the air filter and replaced the pipe had actually ordered a reinforced pipe, the part number is correct as is the part number on the box. It transpires that the wrong part was in the box, the engineer has sent a lovely apology and offered to reimburse both our costs.

He has chased his supplier, and they are now investigating how an un-reinforced pipe became packaged in a box which should have had a reinforced part in it.

Mmmmmmmmmm.

I remember many many years ago, when writing technician training packages 'check the part # on the unit against the # on the box' was always the golden rule.

 

[aquapower]

Comes as no surprise that friends would rather run a mile than ask me to look at their boat!

Last time I was asked to endorse pals latest purchase it ended up in a fire fight. I was shown with pride the comprehensive service records from new, listing new turbochargers and replacement injectors. I said 'why'............?

Took a look at exhaust system which was attempt to defy gravity, and a fuel system which had undersized pipework and marginal filteration. A sea trial also revealed exhaust back pressure way above installation guidelines.

Surveyor was nailed who argued that it was original unaltered builders installation. Engine suppliers survey confirmed my observations and following some serious wrangling installation was corrected. Pal was so pi55ed over all the aggro with surveyor etc he put the boat back on the market when it was fixed. Needless to say I was not asked to look at his replacement!

I can never understand why people ask for expert advice then dont like it when the truth is given, how would your pal have felt if you said it was all perfect and then it all went wrong and cost him thousands to sort out ?

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Excellent story, assassin, and well spotted

 

[Assassin]

Latestarter:

He did check the part, apparently it had no cast number on the component so no way of checking it against the part number on the box. It now transpires that a number of these components were packaged incorrectly and there have been a couple of other complaints.

 

[boguing]

I can never understand why people ask for expert advice then dont like it when the truth is given, how would your pal have felt if you said it was all perfect and then it all went wrong and cost him thousands to sort out ?

I learned, a fair while ago, that it's best just to say that you'd rather not give your opinion.Whether it's for a friend or a potential customer it's the same. Engine-wise, there are times when you open the bonnet/hatch and see scotch blocks everywhere around a grubby oil filter and you know that this is a job you do not want.

 

[jfm]

Latestarter:

He did check the part, apparently it had no cast number on the component so no way of checking it against the part number on the box. It now transpires that a number of these components were packaged incorrectly and there have been a couple of other complaints.

So which brand/model of engine are we talking about ( in case anyone on here might become victim of same incorrect labelling)?

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

out with the diagnostics kit, no fault codes logged so all appeared well

So which brand/model of engine are we talking about ( in case anyone on here might become victim of same incorrect labelling)?

I'd be interested to know the answer to this as well, and in particular I'd be interested to know of any after market electronic diagnostic tools available, I'd love to be able to interrogate my d6's but I think you need the Vodia tool, and it seems that these are only available to the dealer network.

Assassin can you clue us up please?

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[Latestarter1]

Latestarter:

He did check the part, apparently it had no cast number on the component so no way of checking it against the part number on the box. It now transpires that a number of these components were packaged incorrectly and there have been a couple of other complaints.

If you were ever involved with Leyland trucks you would be on your guard........When the Bathgate plant was due for the chop, staff in the PDC turned putting bits into the wrong box into an art form. Likewise at Ford's Langley Truck plant, part of work to rule policy was to cross thread wheel nuts with great care, them bang them up hard with big CP air gun with regulator whacked up to 150 psi!

 

[jfm]

Assassin can you clue us up please?

He won't Jimmy.

Why does the eingine maker make the "air filter relocation hose" kit in both reinforced and non reinforced rubber? (This isn't just a straight bit of hose chopped off a reel: it's moulded to shape and has a part number). Why would they make the non reinforced version at all? As some kind of practical joke?