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D6 330 hp 2014 motors

J

Jasoncop

New member
Hi guys
I have twin D6 motors in a 54 westcoaster, we generally cruse at 1800 to 2000 rpm max . My question is : should I now and then give them a squirt for 5 min to clean them out or is there no need ? They have about 1800 hrs on them and we want to get the max life we can out of them ... other tan regular servicing, any other advice on keeping them in good condition as long as possible ? We do anodes every 4 to 6 months .
cheers
 
Get a factory service schedule and follow all recommended periodic maintenance procedures. Have you cleaned the heat exchangers or scrubbed the fuel? Bugs in the fuel tanks can be a issue you need to be aware of. BTW those are engines definately not motors.
 
. Also check your oil cooler, it is possible to pull the cap off and check, along with the heat exchanger. If the CAC is plugged you to have to remember where the water flows first. If you can pull the sensor on the intake and look for signs of water intrusion, resealed many CAC.
 
What speed are you at when @ 1800 - 2000? When you are at these low to intermediate rpms you want to make sure that you aren't running at faster than hull speed but still not planing. This can be a high load point for the engine which you normally just transition past as you rise onto the plane. Common rail diesels do a lot of compensating for the high load points as they meter the fuel better than a traditional diesel and hence you don't get the good old black smoke' indication that you are overloading. That means of course that they also handle the overload situation a bit better as well since they don't over-fuel or carbon as much.

I have a pair of 5.9l 330hp common rail Ivecos so similar size and HP to your Volvos. I do 80% of my time at 1200 - 1300rpm trolling for game fish. For me this is 8 - 8.5knts and within the displacement speed of the hull so lightly loaded. Engines burn around 2gph each at those rpms. Fuel burn at a given rpm compared to the manufacturers charts can give you some idea of whether you are overloading or not at your favourite speeds. Even though it is more an issue for mechanically injected diesels than common rail electronic ones I still give them a good 15 to 20 minute run at 2400rpm (rated cruise is 2400 - 2500) at the end of each day to make sure they get properly up to temp right through the block and of course the oil gets hot enough to evaporate any condensation etc. Not sure if you really need to do this but having spent only $250 for a sender unit on unplanned maintenance in 4500 hours (9000 combined hours) of running I am pretty happy following this old school wisdom.

With regard to the Heat Exchangers and Aftercoolers you are probably close to or maybe even past the recommended cleaning intervals. Gearbox oil cooler also probably and you should check the maintenance intervals for the exhaust mixer/elbow. Heat is often your biggest enemy for a marine diesel so I monitor mine to the nearest couple of degrees. If I am running 2 degrees (as little as I can reasonably notice) hotter than normal at the same rpms and I can't explain it through heavier loading etc I start inspecting my cooling system. If you are 5 degrees over normal then you should be deloading the engines until you sort it out. When running really heavy at the start of our longer trips my speed is governed by my engine temps. I normally cruise at 18 - 20knts but if my temps move off normal at all I just pull back the speed until they go back to normal and that is my cruise speed until I burn off some weight. A 5.5 - 6.0l engine making 310 - 330hp is a long lived engine if treated right. Maybe a bit less if it is painted Green though :eek:
 
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