Mack Boring Diesel Course

[sharffj]

Just got back from the 3 day hands on diesel course given by Mack Boring. Great course, full of information, and I would think a must do for yanmar owners who are not mechanics. Will help me in doing routine maintainance on the engines, and hopefully keep me from doing things I'm not qualified to do and leave those to a mechanic.
Jeff S

[jprohan]

Where was course given, and what was the cost? Would it apply to Cummins owners?

[jleonard]

Awesome, so we now have a Yanmar authority amongst us?
Seriously though, I know the copyright police won't let you post the course materials, but perhaps you can add your class notes to the library.
I know I have notes from someone who took the Bob Smith Lehman course and they are invaluable.
Your notes will likely help someone.
Just a thought

[sharffj]

Course is given in Union NJ, and repeats several times a year. Go onto Mack Boring website and all the information is there. There was a Cummins owner there, but the course is fairly specific to Yanmars, and he did not have a specific Cummins to work on. All of us had our specific Yanmar engines to take apart and put back together. Mack Boring does all the Yanmars rebuilds for the country so they have plenty of engines.

I'll post some of what I've learned much which is probably review to others.
This is all Larry Berlin's (the instructor) opinion and other mechanics may differ somewhat
1. Check your engine mounts for black dust as the rubber can detriorate and will allow shaft to get out of alignment.
2. If you paint over rust spots on the engine use either plain old rustoleum or Yanmar paint, don't use paint for auto engines.
3. He recommended 30 micron filters in the racors, I've always used 10 micron filters with no problems.
4. Use the recommended antifreeze. If you use green antifreeze it is silicone based and if the engine overheats the silicone will come out of solution and coat the inside of the bloc which will cause engine failure. So no green antifreeze.
5 Turbowash the engine every spring. This is not too hard to do. But first time do this have a mechanic or someone who has done it before to help guide you through it.
6. If you have to crank the engine more than 30 sec (continously over time) must shut off the seacock or possible to bend a rod. Has to do with seawater build up when crank the engine and too much pressure .
7. When you turn the key to on the preheating coils heat up. When the engine starts up they turn off after 5 sec or so. If you turn the key on but do not start the cold engine the coils will not turn off and may overheat and then crack sending small pieces of coil into the engine. This is not a problem when the engine has been run and is warm as the coils won't come on
8. Recommends changing the preheating coils every 2 years, which I've never done
9. Keep the oil full or slightly below the add mark
10 Need to run the alternator at 1600-1800 rpm to charge the batteries
11. Use a CF grade or higher oil.
12 Don't idle or troll for more than about 3 hours without running at higher rpm to blow out carbon
13. On my engine the 315 LP only have an electonic solenoid to stop engine. If solenoid fails (which
happened on another boat) need to open injectors to stop engine. Could shut off fuel futher away, but then would require more bleeding to restart.
14 Know how to bleed fuel lines of air. Use the pump on the secondary filter, and crack injectors and crank x 10 seconds to bleed air then retighten injectors and start engine.
15. Only fuel additives recommended are FFPF profucts or Stanadyne (cetane). The Stanadyne cetane may help smokey engines.
16 Change seawater impeller yearly. Use olive oil to help lubricate to get it in
17 Periodically take filler cap off fresh water tank and take into an autoparts store to get it pressure tested. the proper pressure reading is on the cap. Should be about 12--13 lbs.
18. Valves on 315LP are beyond my ability to adjust, but on other Yanmars are doable, but all bolts need to be torqued to a specific pressure. Good Luck for this.

There was much more, the best part was identifying everything on the engine and removing most of it and then putting it back on the engine. I removed the heat exchanger, intercooler, alternator, starter motor, seawater pump and impeller, fresh water pump (hard to get at) mixing elbows, turbos, injectors, valve covers, fuel filter and oil filter and then put everything back on. Motor ran fine when I was done, but things are much much easier to accomplish in the middle of a room rather than in the bilge of a boat. Showed me what I can do and can't do.
Note the instructor was great, never boring, but is rather obessive in his approach.
Jeff S

[afrayedknot]

Great info. Thanks for sharing some of what you learned. I would appreciate anything you picked up regarding timing belt changes on the 6LPA-STP, 315 HP engine. Would you now attempt it yourself?

[sharffj]

Asked the question about timing belts, and got the same answer as in the owners manual 1250 hrs or 5 yrs. However, 3 other Yanmar certified mechanics I 've asked have based it entirely on the hrs and have not been concerned with the years. There is a thread on this either here or it was on Boatdiesel.com. I would not attempt it myself on the 6LPA-STP 315 engine.
Jeff S