Turbo Wash

[Widowmaker]

This past Spring, on first run of the season, loose bolt in heat exchanger allows free flow of water intake to engine (at around 30psi, so I am told by my certified Albin mechanic) to shoot out of top of engine while underway. Bilge pumps keep ahead of water (and there was a lot coming in under pressure), but she starts blowing heavy black smoke when above 2000 rpms as we are racing back to port. Below 2000 rpm, she is fine. No noise such as piston slap or rod knock. Return trip was short, no problems otherwise. Just chest pain ..... and a wide-eyed crew who were made to put on life vests.

Turbocharger intake sleeve got wet (water was shooting in that direction). Engine itself checks out perfect, but little power above 2000rpm and mechanic states "boat looks like a locomotive with the thick black smoke".

My mechanic is awesome, fully certified Yanmar, and has been the top mechanic at an Albin dealer for many years. Very competent. Diagnostics say turbo output is way below specs. My mechanic uses a "turbowash" product by Yanmar to clean out the turbo while under power, it immediately comes up to output specs, and I have more power than ever. Mechanic tells me I am living a blessed life, engine is unharmed, and points me out into the Gulf of Maine....

No smoke or issues for the rest of the year. She actually ran better than ever, and with more power. Anyone ever use this product or have a similar nightmare ?

[Capt Paul]

I am actually going through a little of that right now. Last Sunday I took the boat out for a little ride with the family. After getting the engine up to temperature and getting down the Oakland Estuary, I decided to open it up some and right about 2500 RPM I felt the engine lag and saw allot of black smoke. Put it into neutral and gunned the engine a few times and the turbo unstuck itself. The Yanmar service manual says you can try cleaning the turbo charger using the turbo wash from Yanmar or liquid dish soap. There are specific amounts to use called out by the manual. I did this about two years ago before a multi-day cruise. I plan on doing again this coming weekend. Does not take long, you just need a way to measure the proper liquid amount. It's all explained fairly well in the manual. Glad to hear no issues for you, it could have been real $$$$. Hoping it does the trick for me as well.

Paul

[OldDemps]

I had this info in my folder, not sure my source and performed the process on my 6LP-STE. It's a two person job but easy to do.

Also bought the wash here along with annual filters, parts. Excellent Yanmar vendor.
http://bayshoremarineengines.com/turbow ... ewash.aspx

Turbo wash
If the engine begins to smoke while underway firstly check the hull and propeller for fouling, the injectors for condition and the turbocharger for damage. If these are all OK, TURBOWASH the turbocharger.
TURBOWASH is a genuine Yanmar part, dont let any ignorant dealer tell you otherwise. The dealer should be repacking the TURBOWASH from the large container and selling it in 250cc / 8oz bottles, not fitting you up with a lifetime supply!
• Thunder down the harbour with the engine at 75% load and spray up to 25mls of TURBOWASH into the air intake over about 15 seconds.
• Wait a bit
• Spray an equivalent amount of clean fresh water into the air intake
• If it doesnt come clean, try up to 4 times.


In some manuals Yanmar recommend using dishwashing liquid if TURBOWASH is not available. In my experience it doesnt do the job whereas TURBOWASH cleans right around the bend. I can only recommend the proper product, it really works!

[jleonard]

The boatdiesel turbowash formula is a tablespoon of Dawn or Joy per 8 oz of water.
You are cleaning not only the turbocharger, perhaps more importantly the remainder of the intake plumbing for the compressed air. Since you have raw water cooled aftercoolers the oily mist in the intake condenses (from the cols raw water) and cruds up the passages and piping. The detergent cleans the oily stuff off the walls of the plumbing.

[Widowmaker]

Thanks guys. I trust my mechanic, but it certainly is nice to hear from others that have had good experiences with the product.

Good luck Paul ...... hope the wash does the trick. My turbo required 3 doses of the wash, and it was done while underway, cockpit open, hooked up to the Yanmar diagnostic computer. They could see an incremental increase in output with each wash, and came up to specs after 3. Black smoke was gone after 1st wash though .....

[jleonard]

Well, now that you know how to do it, it should become an annual PM item for you. Hit it with a quick turbowash once a season and keep the performance up.

[whwells]

This is great advise. I intend to follow the formula this season and each spring thereafter. Assume this mixture can be put directly into the perkins strainers?
whwells "Howard"35 TE Sportfishrer
Twin 315 Yanmars

[jleonard]

This is great advise. I intend to follow the formula this season and each spring thereafter. Assume this mixture can be put directly into the perkins strainers?

??
It is "misted" via a spray bottle into the turbocharger air inlet after the air filter is removed. Followed a minute or so later with a mist of plain water.

[RobS]

Assume this mixture can be put directly into the perkins strainers?
whwells "Howard"35 TE Sportfishrer
Twin 315 Yanmars

Reading what happened in the first post of this thread, this method might actually work!

[Capt Paul]

Just a quick update on my black smoke problem. I did the turbowash using dish washing liquid and water as documented in the Yanmar service manual. Worked like a charm. I didn't check the boost , but I could sure feel the difference. I did the turbo wash at the dock per instructions and then took the boat for a ride. One puff of black smoke with a surge in power and then just the usual steam... Verry Happy
Brought it up to WOT with no issues.

Paul

[RobS]

Not all fixes come cheap but we are entitled to one here and there, thanks for the update!

[sweetwater]

Capt Paul, I plan on doing my turbo wash in the spring... You stated that you did it at the dock as required, I thought it was done under way and under power. Can you explain what you read?

[Capt Paul]

Hello Sweatwater,

Just to be clear I didn't say as required, the manual gives instructions for doing it in neutral. The Yanmar mechanics may know something that I don't or it is just and alternate way of doing it. In any case doing it under way gives you direct feedback as to whether it is working.
If you have a Yanmar engine get a hold of a copy of the service manual. It is listed step by step there. I'm no expert but it seemed simple enough to try. From memory ( manual is on the boat ) It basically said the following:

Using the Turbo wash ( Dish washing Liquid):
A) remove air filter
B) drain the after cooler and leave the drain plug off. Take a oil absorber pad and leave it under the drain. at high RPM its going to be spitting out stuff.
B) start engine and take engine up to 2500-3000 RPM in neutral, i actually warmed up the engine before doing this.
C) Take 500ML of the wash and slowly pour it into intake over about 10 seconds: the suction will just suck it in, i just poured form above the filter carrier.
D) after about 10 minutes slowly inject 100ML of water into the intake
E) let engine run another 10 minutes.
F) stop engine and replace drain plug on after cooler.

I then took the boat for a ride to see how it performed. I just did this once and it made a big difference, it says you can repeat up to 4 times.

Paul

[jleonard]

When under load the turbo will produce heat and boost that will clean the crud faster. The engine can also handle lots more water under load than it can at idle.

At idle you have zero boost and no heat (since you are not compressing air).

[sweetwater]

Thanks Capt Paul...If the drain is out of the after cooler when running...wouldnt you get a lot of raw water being pumped out? Cant wait to try this in the spring..