DIESEL GENERATOR HUMOR

[Joker555]

I was helping our Captain of our local volunteer fire station that I am a member of on a generator problem....It would not start.
It would slightly fire up at first crank for a second then nothing.the fuel looked like it was varnished,so we changed both filters,put new fuel,checked the valves,and still nothing.
I noticed that the intake was not sucking like it should,but could not figure out why??
Not knowing much about diesel engines,I left the station and told the Captain to let the Battery cool off and try in about half an hour.
He called me back in about half an hour on his cell phone with the generator running in the background.
I thought at first that what we did worked,but no!!
Another older and wiser member showed up to get some ice to go fishing.
He asked our Captain what he was doin with the generator.
Tony says that it won't start and that Christian(Joker555) said that the intake was not sucking like it should.
He walked over to the generator and flipped a switch/valve assembly and said go head and start it.
Tony says yeah right,you just touch it and it is gonna start,I don't think so!!
So Tony hit's the start button and WALLA!! It runs great????

The auto emergency air intake shutoff was tripped!!
I had no idea that there was one on the engine.
But I knew the reason was something to do with the air problem..
I just wish he had showed up 1 hour sooner,It was #@$% HOT in that generator room

[Carm]

A little knowledge and experience goes a long way. BTW How's that Gulfstream doing?

[George Willer]

Joker,

That emergency shutoff is a very good thing. Everyone should become familiar with it... it's more effective than throwing your jacket over the intake if the engine ever "runs away". That can prevent shrapnel damage to the rest of the equipment when the engine explodes from overspeed.

Running away happens when the diesel runs on it's own lubricating oil and is catastrophic. Shutting off the air supply is the only safe way to stop it and it must be done QUICKLY!

[Joker555]

That definately makes since George. I am not familiar with diesal engines at all.
But now I know!!!
Carm,how's it goin??
The G400 is doing great so far,nothing major.
While at Long Beach facility,they installed the wrong p/n socks in the a/c system and caused the cabin to look like a disco tech with the humidity vapors in the vent system.
That was an interesting thing,but I remembered from Flight Safety talking about that problem.
Changed the socks and back in business,It will probably be in the Breakfast Minutes.
See Ya

[Carm]

Aww, that was just Long Beach humor as a cheap cabin entertainment system! Glad all is well. I still need a good etouffe recipe!

[Jim Becker]

Running away happens when the diesel runs on it's own lubricating oil and is catastrophic. Shutting off the air supply is the only safe way to stop it and it must be done QUICKLY!

A blown seal in a turbo can provide a good oil supply for a runaway.

[Patbretagne]

Running away happens when the diesel runs on it's own lubricating oil and is catastrophic. Shutting off the air supply is the only safe way to stop it and it must be done QUICKLY!

A blown seal in a turbo can provide a good oil supply for a runaway.

That, Jim, is a horrific thought, yes I've always been careful with the engine oil in diesels, but never even considered turbo oil seals
Thanks for the timely warning
Pat

[Joey]

Carm:

Can you get crawfish in Baltimore? Most people I talk too from northern states shudder at the idea of eating 'fish bait'. There are tons of etoufee recipes on the internet, but we don't get that fancy with our cooking. As they say, "First you make a roux....." The roux and the seasonings is the key. If no crawfish, can use shrimp. Let me know if I can help.

Hey Joker: what part of Louisiana are you from?

[beaconlight]

Joey i think you walked into the middle of a private joke between two friends.

Bill

[cowboy]

Oh boy

My Uncles valve seals went out on his diesel VW rabbit. It was run rabbit run.

[beaconlight]

That is self destruct for a diesel. For the life of me I can't remember if we had an air cut off on the prime power diesels we had for the radar stations in the Aleutians. They were 6 cylinder in line White Superiors and each cyl was large enough to get your head into. I can picture the Air intake box and filters I can picture the shut off on the fuel rack, but I can not remember one on the air. There has to have been becuse we were hundreds of miles from comercial power and with 60 gallons of oil in the crankcase as well as another 20 in the oilcooler system it would have just runaway. Funny 40 years later you can't remember all the details. Each site had 4 of those big suckers except the main site which had 6.

bill

[Joker555]

Joey, I live in Bourg, just south of Houma. Great place to live other than the flooding we are fixin to get this hurricane season.
Carm, I have not forgot about you.I'm still doin sum research around the family to see who makes the best one.

[Carm]

Joey...I catch them in the stream all the time!....Just not enough to cook....I can get store bought ones though!


Christian....All of your efforts are appreciated!

[cadetpwr]

You can get a older non turbo to runaway by just adding oil while its running, had a buddy do it to his 6.2, engine sucked it up the crankcase breather tube and away she went. had to stuff a large beach town down the intake, they are not real big on a 6.2, to shut her down. Cheers MIke

[Brent]

Another problem can be spilled gas at a filling station. I didn't realize it but I parked my old 93 Dodge over a puddle of gas someone before me had spilled. I filled up and when I started it to leave it startted to run away.Thank gosh I had read the manual and remembered it had an emergancy shut off.