Yanmar 4jh3-TE stopped with a bang!

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by k7cej

To close the loop on this story:
It turns out the bang and hiss were the sounds made by my new Fireboy MA0100NVC engine room extinguisher going off. It discharged in less than 1 second and killed the engine, probably by displacing the oxygen. When I had tried to restart the engine, the rough running and voluminous white smoke were no doubt unburned fuel.
It was certainly my fault for not catching that it had discharged. It uses the new 3M chemical Novec 1230, which is claimed to have absolutely no negative environmental affect. It works by first rapidly lowering the temperature (they claim it will give you freeze burns if you are nearby) then further breaking down to compounds that inhibit combustion. I opened the engine access within 5 seconds of the event and saw no trace of chemical, fog, or dust.
There is no way the engine room was at a high enough temperature to trigger the bottle (175F) so I have concluded that its mechanism somehow failed and I will be submitting it for warranty replacement.
The mechanic who inspected the engine said it is possible the injectors might have been damaged, so we will pull them for testing and do a compression test while we're at it.
Follow up on the power train: the transmission is a KM4A, 2.63/1 ratio. Fortunately I don't think I will be having to replace the engine!
Craig,
s/v Sequoia

Thank you for the follow up, nice to get the final explanation.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by k7cej

To close the loop on this story:
It turns out the bang and hiss were the sounds made by my new Fireboy MA0100NVC engine room extinguisher going off. It discharged in less than 1 second and killed the engine, probably by displacing the oxygen. When I had tried to restart the engine, the rough running and voluminous white smoke were no doubt unburned fuel.
It was certainly my fault for not catching that it had discharged. It uses the new 3M chemical Novec 1230, which is claimed to have absolutely no negative environmental affect. It works by first rapidly lowering the temperature (they claim it will give you freeze burns if you are nearby) then further breaking down to compounds that inhibit combustion. I opened the engine access within 5 seconds of the event and saw no trace of chemical, fog, or dust.
There is no way the engine room was at a high enough temperature to trigger the bottle (175F) so I have concluded that its mechanism somehow failed and I will be submitting it for warranty replacement.
The mechanic who inspected the engine said it is possible the injectors might have been damaged, so we will pull them for testing and do a compression test while we're at it.
Follow up on the power train: the transmission is a KM4A, 2.63/1 ratio. Fortunately I don't think I will be having to replace the engine!
Craig,
s/v Sequoia

When properly installed the Fireboy stops the engine by ekectrically triggering the engine stop solenoid. Then it dispenses the fire retardent.

[Bellinghamster]

That's fantastic news, and good to know, as I have a fire protection system as well... And probably wouldn't have suspected it initially either.

I can't see any possible way injectors could be damaged.

[argonauta1]

We had a YANMAR 4JH-2E DIESEL which was trouble free throughout a circumnavigation. Transmission was a Hurst Model KBW 200, ratio 2.62. Max-Prop was 3 bladed 18 inch set at 20 degrees. I was pleased it was naturally aspirated, one thing less to go wrong and as a 44 foot Beneteau, it needed no more power.

[sailcrazy]

FWIW, our 4JH-TE has had turbo issues for nearly 10 years. We're on our 3rd turbo, which failed, again, last year-just seized up! All three previous turbos have been non-OEM. trying to save a buck.....this year we're replacing with a Yanmar Turbo, even though it's 3x as expensive! But all season we operated without the turbo, and as long as we kept the RPMs below about 1/2 throttle (2300-2400rpms), the exhaust was normal and the eng ran perfectly. Above that, though, the black smoke was significant.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by sailcrazy

FWIW, our 4JH-TE has had turbo issues for nearly 10 years. We're on our 3rd turbo, which failed, again, last year-just seized up! All three previous turbos have been non-OEM. trying to save a buck.....this year we're replacing with a Yanmar Turbo, even though it's 3x as expensive! But all season we operated without the turbo, and as long as we kept the RPMs below about 1/2 throttle (2300-2400rpms), the exhaust was normal and the eng ran perfectly. Above that, though, the black smoke was significant.

On any turbo engine that's had issues like that, check all of the oil lines to the turbo thoroughly and consider replacing them. Make sure there aren't any screens anywhere in the system that may be clogged. It's not unheard of to have a screen in the return line from the turbo. First turbo fails, sheds some junk and clogs up the screen. Then the replacement turbo doesn't get enough oil and lives a short life, etc.

[nmccubbin]

Originally Posted by k7cej

I was told by a dealer today that the current successor to the 4jh3-te is the 4JH80, which has a common rail system. I have no idea if it uses the same location engine mounts, or if the transmission geometry is the same. He also said that my KMH4a transmission was lightly built and designed for a 2000 hours lifetime. News to me.
>>Actually it may be a KM4A2 transmission; I'll have to check<<

I do not know about the specifics of your engine, but when I reviewed the full technical specs on our ZF transmission of our Beta 60, I learned that same box could be rated anywhere from about 50 HP to 200, depending on desired life.
Beta gave us a very conservative transmission, but I can see how a vendor could install a wimpy, short life one, and still claim it was rated for 60 HP. Our late and unlamented Volvo transmission was tiny relative to that supplied by Beta, so probably was a short-life one (It did fail)

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by k7cej

Our Outbound 44 s/v Sequoia just suffered an engine failure while motoring down the Columbia River. There was a loud bang, about 1 second of a hiss (sounding like a punctured pressure vessel) and the motor stopped dead. There was no smoke, fire, or obvious external damage. After getting the boat under control (mid-channel, no wind, but fortunately no traffic)., I tried starting the engine, which to my surprise started. NO obvious clatter, but ran rough with lots of white exhaust smoke and wouldn't throttle up very far. The oil looks clean with no sign of water.

The engine has about 4300 hrs, wasn't burning oil.

I am waiting for a mechanic to have a first look, but I would love to hear your experienced speculation of the possible failure mode.

ps. We have over 40000 sea miles, both Pacific and Atlantic crossings inSequoia and this is the first time we've had any engine problems except a blocked heat exchanger. Also the first time to be towed!

Does not sound good since the engine stopped dead.
A broken valve might have dropped and jammed/destroyed a piston...
A broken con rod?
Take off the head and go from there.

[RF ExNavy]

Japanese engineers have a pride in their work...
Yanmar engines are not a Westerbeek (or whatever) garbage...
When Yanmar engine stops, then one should start troubleshooting with analyzing his own inappropriate input rather than making attempts to find the problem with the engine, it's
more efficient and less stressful ...

[longtermcruiser]

A similar experience.
Sailing near the island of Elba, Italy, we started the engine to enter the anchorage. Within a couple of minutes, billows of white smoke. Oh no, we're on fire! Shut the engine off and looked in engine compartment, - no smoke, no fire, no heat. Sailed into anchorage and dropped the hook.
Time to evaluate... Started the engine, everything appeared fine. Started the fridge, no go. It turned out the smoke was the engine ingesting the R12 freon from our engine drive refrigerator. This was due to a broken copper pipe that wasn't obvious at first
And then the impossible happened. While hiking on the island, we found a small pice of copper pipe along the trail (on the ground). It fit and we were able to repair and recharge the fridge!
Honest to god!
PS, this happened back in the late 90's.

[Uncle Bob]

Aint literacy a wonderful thing, simply reading the whole thread, or at least the last page or two would show that the problem was resolved and exactly what it was, (an excellent learning experience for us all), but NOOO, lets keep responding to the original question.

[longtermcruiser]

Just relating an additional experience that had an similar cause/effect. Hopefully others can contribute positive contributions for everyone's benefit. I don't think there is an end to such contributions. Have a nice day!

[Horus]

At the moment your heat exchanger was blocked, the engine has probably over heated!
This can be the reason of head gasket damage. First it looks fine but after hours the gasket blows!
Succes!

[Ericson38]

Originally Posted by sailcrazy

FWIW, our 4JH-TE has had turbo issues for nearly 10 years. We're on our 3rd turbo, which failed, again, last year-just seized up! All three previous turbos have been non-OEM. trying to save a buck.....this year we're replacing with a Yanmar Turbo, even though it's 3x as expensive! But all season we operated without the turbo, and as long as we kept the RPMs below about 1/2 throttle (2300-2400rpms), the exhaust was normal and the eng ran perfectly. Above that, though, the black smoke was significant.

I just changed ours on the 4JH2-HTE. I used the IHI Turbo sourced from Fontana, Ca.

https://turboturbos.com/collections/ihi/yanmar

I could have saved the original one (was frozen) if I had removed the mixing tee once in a while (once a year) and cleaned the turbine wheel. R&R'd it myself, can't find competent mechanics very easily, and good ones are booked out. Mine was just under $2K for the part - New IHI-Clover RHB52HW
Turbocharger. Its a water cooled type. This on an engine with 3K hours.