Another Volvo EC15 engine blown up

[Muz]

Becoming a habit now. This machine uses a Mitsubishi L3e engine. Just had another one drop the guvernor connector off the pump rack, causing the engine to race , looks like Ive a shed load of troubles to look forward to with this one Currently it has no power so starting with the obvious and doing compression tests.

Contacted Diamond diesels who are the importers ..... £1800 for a crank shaft ... and 90 days ex japan fecking robbery

[alancaddy]

Have you tried masterfarm.co.uk they are mitsubishi tractor dealers that are fitted with same engine depots in scotland too you could also try uk construction parts .com

[v8druid]

Have you tried masterfarm.co.uk they are mitsubishi tractor dealers that are fitted with same engine depots in scotland too you could also try uk construction parts .com

been advertising a lot lately ..... constantly getting cold sell emails from them

[Mattir]

Becoming a habit now. This machine uses a Mitsubishi L3e engine. Just had another one drop the guvernor connector off the pump rack, causing the engine to race , looks like Ive a shed load of troubles to look forward to with this one Currently it has no power so starting with the obvious and doing compression tests.

Contacted Diamond diesels who are the importers ..... £1800 for a crank shaft ... and 90 days ex japan fecking robbery

How many hours on it? Did the engine take too high rpm and then broke the crank shaft?

[Muz]

How many hours on it? Did the engine take too high rpm and then broke the crank shaft?

No Crank shaft is not broken

[Muz]

Well I did some pressure tests, and all the cylinders read 200 psi. I got a print out from John @ www.diamonddiesels.co.uk and it suggest pressure should be 324 psi at a lowest of 300 .. so I pulled an injector from a good working engine and it read exactly the same so I assume the crank and shells are ok ?

Next step was to swap the injector pump from my donor engine to see if that would fix it

IMG_1472[1].jpg

so .. out came the injection pump for a swap over

IMG_1477[1].jpg

But no Joy ... engine just ran the exact same .. so I'm suspecting a guvernor fault, time to haul out the engine

IMG_1474[1].jpgIMG_1473[1].jpg

Stripped and ready for the lift out complete with bottom tray

[Muz]

So whole engine plus tray out

IMG_1480[1].jpgIMG_1481[1].jpgIMG_1483[1].jpgIMG_1482[1].jpg

You can see how the exhaust is integrated into the tray frame , and the starter inside it all an absolute pig of a design to work on. Thats why the exhaust has to come off when you need to get at the starter, and remember all this is sandwiched between the engine bay and the back of the cab with NO access hatch, so enjoy this pic EC15 owners , its the only time the back of the engine will ever see day light

Theres a bottom radiator hose you will struggle to get at, because its right at the back unless you strip the rad out first, but in practice its just easier to take the whole engine tray out heres the back of the hose here
IMG_1486[1].jpg

And here is the engine stripped from its frame which involves removing the exhaustIMG_1489[1].jpgIMG_1488[1].jpg

Next job is to get the crank pulley off and water pump and alternator, and see what joy lies within and compare engine bits

[Mattir]

Muz,

the EC15 (L3e) manual says 23:1 compression ratio and that results in 333 psi.

thanks for nice pics, really helpful when in real trouble .

still dont quite get it: what actually happened? Runs poorly? Weak? What ?

[Muz]

The engine starts and runs but sometimes wont pick up revs when you open the throttle, and when it does, any load kills it stone dead. At higher revs, it also runs slightly unevenly, varying in revs slightly. The guvernor system is a series of centrifugal weights, so I'm guessing something has come adrift in there. The machine was running 100% before it raced.

Thanks for the info re compression, I measured both these engines cold at cranking speed, not sure if that would have any effect ?

[Mattir]

The engine starts and runs but sometimes wont pick up revs when you open the throttle, and when it does, any load kills it stone dead. At higher revs, it also runs slightly unevenly, varying in revs slightly. The guvernor system is a series of centrifugal weights, so I'm guessing something has come adrift in there. The machine was running 100% before it raced.

Thanks for the info re compression, I measured both these engines cold at cranking speed, not sure if that would have any effect ?

Ok, now I understand. Have you checked that it is not a fuel issue? The L3e manual can be found here

http://navalmotor.com/generacion/mit.../modelos/pdfs/

check page 48 for the compression.

Luck with the investigations

[Muz]

Ok, now I understand. Have you checked that it is not a fuel issue?

It is a fuel issue AFAIK .. but not from any external components that I can see .. Ive had a look with the timing cover off .. the guvernor looks ok , but I have my suspicions about a spring that latches onto a control arm for it .. it seems to have rather a lot of slack in it when there is no demand .. this would explain the behaviour of the engine, but I wont know till I get the cover off the other one to compare. Theres also a lot of play in another part of the mechanism, which, at first glance makes you wonder how it works at all, there maybe a bush missing ? Its hard to tell without a very careful study of the mechanism. Fortunately I have the luxury of a spare engine for comparison .. a by product of owning some 20 or so of these machines over the years

[Mattir]

IMG_3901.jpg

Excerpt from the manual,

quess another stamp size pic.... dunno why

[Muz]

At least something has now become clear.

This faulty engine is a replacement for another engine (my spare) that ran a big end, after someone tipped the digger over and didn't shut the engine off fast enough. At the time, volvo couldn't sell you a new crank and the old one was too far gone for grinding, so the engine had to be replaced.

Ive always felt it was somewhat lacking in power, and was advised by Diamond Diesels that it was meant for a marine application, so I had to modify some bits before fitting it into the digger, but it was still an L3e as they said... well not quite as it turns out. Heres the guvernor assy from the old digger engine

IMG_1499[1].jpg

And heres the one from the replacement engine

IMG_1498[1].jpg

Firstly, apart from an extra gear and bearing set to power some extra service, or gear angle cut, you can see the balance weights are totally different on the guvernor, which explains why the engine has a very different response to engine load. I think the supplier should be a bit more up front on this one that they are not really the same

[Mattir]

Yes,

the one with an extra gear seems to be the L3e-AEUM1, marine version. The extra gear powers seawater pump. In some versions the seawater pump is attached in line with the crank shaft.

[Mattir]

IMG_3905.jpg

https://www.det-mitsubishi.com/en/mi...assingen/volvo

Yes,

the one with an extra gear seems to be the L3e-AEUM1, marine version. The extra gear powers seawater pump. In some versions the seawater pump is attached in line with the crank shaft.