Common Rail Experience?

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

This is misleading. Beta complies with category 1 tier 3 standards which was a voluntary standard in the late 90s. The testing regime for category 3 tier 3 compliance is difficult and expensive. Beta gets by because their largest engine is under 100hp.

Its a good engine. Would be my choice I'm current offerings. But it's not the same tier 3 engine as the big boys adhere to.

Peter

Ahh good point

[tunnelvision]

As the owner of an automotive repair shop where we specialized in diesel repair I wouldn't trade our old Yanmars for new CR versions. We had all the latest testing equipment and I can tell you the average tech is in way over their head diagnosing these engines. Sensors wiring and computers were part of the problem but by far fuel quality issues were the most common. I can't tell you how many times we had to replace entire fuel systems due to water and debris in the fuel system. Because CR engines operate at close to 10 times more fuel pressure than mechanical engines the tolerances in pumps and injectors are extremely small and easily damaged. Ultra low sulfur diesel has removed much of the lubricity normally in diesel fuel. I do all my own repairs on our boat and I would have nightmares heading to remote areas with poor fuel quality and few if any qualified repair facilities. CR is awesome until it breaks. If yours breaks somewhere remote plan on being there a while.

[southatlantic]

My personal experience with CR diesels has been:
Twin Volvo Penta D4s in my previous boat (which I owned fro three years): with regular servicing, no issues.
Twin Cummins QSC 8.3 600 hp in my current boat (which I have owned for 10 years, so far): Again, I have been very diligent about regular maintenance and have had zero problems with the engines so far. Since I occasionally boat in out of the way places in Brazil and worry about fuel quality, the fuel goes through 3 filters before is gets to the injectors: A filter between the tank that gets refueled and the main tank; regular Racors (in duplicate, in case one gets clogged I can just switch to the other one), and finally, the engine-mounted filter. There was a time when I had recurring trouble with plugged Racor filters, but never with the engines or even with the engine-mounted filter.
A common source of water in fuel is actually a little rain water seeping through the O-rings in the fuel filler cap. I always cover mine with a round piece of contact paper every time that I refuel. It seems to work very well.

It is true that the maintenance needs to be carried out by a very qualified technician.