Never monday.... thanks for your help, I do appreciate it very much.
At the old prop pitch settings I was able to achieve 3400rpm at least before and I never saw black smoke at any cruising speed. We never had any issues, until leaving the Marina 2 weeks ago when this mess started.
Even at cruising rpm and speed at this point we are still getting lots of black smoke and sooty exhaust water. Something is definitely wrong with the engine. I have a very hard time just ignoring such a thing and it seems that if in fact the engine itself is not the problem (compression is good) then running it with whatever is wrong with it still wrong would surely seem to shorten what life it has left.
IF I am going to have to face the horrid reality of a
repower, why not bite the bullet now and commit financial suicide but at least get the benefits of a new engine rather than cancel the
cruise (and go do what? Its not like I have a career left or anything) or wait to replace the engine later (it would certainly have to be replaced to sell the boat for anything approaching a decent price).
Basically, we are screwed. WE have an engine that cannot be correctly diagnosed and thus cannot be repaired. We already have $3,500 into attempts to
repair it and nothing to show for that at all. Where does one draw the line? $5K? $10K? It seems to me that continueing to throw
money at this is a waste. Perhaps the best approach to
diesel engine
repair is to simply skip straight to the last step and replace the engine at the first sign of a problem.
This really sucks.
The guys who have worked on it so far will NOT be working on it any more, I wouldnt let them back aboard on a bet.
Marine Consulting Services based at
Jacksonville Boat Yard.....
parts changers extraordinaire but mechanics they are not.
Right now, the
weather is not conducive to heading south. WE cannot go down the ditch due to
mast height and a cold front is rolling in. It actually looks like it could be mid next week before we have a
weather window for sailing south. I am going to watch it close... if there is any hint of a good
passage past Cape Canaveral we will be out the inlet and on our way south. Perhaps a decent
mechanic can be found south of here....
Anyone have a strong recommendation for a
Yanmar specialist who can handle a
repower in South
Florida? Anyone wanna buy some new injectors and a new turbo for a 4JH2-HTE?
Terry