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Author Topic: Catastrophic failure  (Read 47759 times)

fabricator

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Catastrophic failure
« on: August 02, 2012, 02:27:53 PM »
I got up this morning and felt a disturbance in the force, went out in the shop and noticed there was no lister noise, mine runs/ran 24/7, so I opened the door on it's room and noticed right away the belt was off, then I noticed the IP side flywheel was at about a 25 degree angle to the center line and the main bearing casting was shattered.
Then I looked at the other side and noticed the same thing.
I shut the door and came back in for some breakfast, I'll get some pics later today and possibly start the tear down, it does not look like the block is broken.
BioDiesel Brewer

OKFarmer

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2012, 03:36:04 PM »
Ahhhhhh!!!!!!  There is a rift in the Matrix! 

How many hours on it?

Don_Edwards

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2012, 04:46:21 PM »
Ouch! Curious to hear what happened.
Don Edwards

fabricator

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2012, 05:19:18 PM »
There are about three to four thousand hours on it, nobody is more curious than me as to what the cause was, it's still full of oil, and the little messing around I've done shows the IP side main bearing is not seized up, here are some pics.










BioDiesel Brewer

OKFarmer

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2012, 05:29:27 PM »
crank broke? subsequent deacceleration of intact side of motor (flywheel, 2/3 of crank, pisont, and connecting rod) let moving parts hammer the broken side until the cast piece broke alllowing it to slop out of the way?

I'm curious if you rolled the good side through if it doesn't hit anything now that the cast is broke.

OKFarmer

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2012, 05:32:14 PM »
Those pics are ugly!  :-\

Tom

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2012, 06:48:49 PM »
Yes they are. What a drag. Are those bushed mains? Since you'll be buying a new crank perhaps it's time to switch to TRB mains.
Tom
2004 Ashwamegh 6/1 #217 - ST5 just over 3k hours.

Quinnf

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2012, 07:05:32 PM »
Yowza!  I've always liked the idear of bushed mains because they support the shaft better than TRBs.  However, TRBs are easily oiled by a splash system, so you're not at the mercy of a 3rd-world oil pump. 
This is the first failure of that type I've ever heard of.  It'll be interesting to see whether it was the bearing carrier that cracked, breaking the c-shaft, or whether the crankshaft failed, breaking the bearing carrier. 
Ashwamegh 6/1, PowerSolutions 6/1 "Kit" engine, and a Changfa R175a that looks like a Yanmar I once knew

OKFarmer

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2012, 07:18:04 PM »
Another observation from the pics is the side that gave way was the side pulling that little alternator. Is this all the motor was doing? I don't see a big Gen head. So this was the only pulling it was doing?

Just how tight was that belt????  ;D  ;D

BruceM

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2012, 07:28:00 PM »
Ugh!   First time I've ever read about such a catastrophic failure on single.  I hope you can sort out the bearing vs bad crank as cause.   It feels like viewing a body at the morgue.


Thob

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #10 on: August 02, 2012, 09:14:29 PM »
You're not the first to break a crank:

http://www.utterpower.com/sunday-morning-a-report-from-fantancy-island-gm90-failure/

If you read through the comments, you'll find that this engine ran for some time after the crank broke, they noticed the noise and shut it down manually.

Your engine also looks like it ran for a while after it broke, judging from the hammered appearance of the crank.  What else is messed up?  It looks like the idler gear may have a few broken teeth.  Also, is that a bent rod in the 5th picture?  I'm not sure what I'm looking at there...  Any chance it swallowed something, like the air cleaner?  What make/model is this?

My wild guess is that the crank broke due to fatigue at some stress point.  Just a wild guess at this point.

Maybe we need a "loud noise shutdown", in addition to the over temp and low oil shutdown?

Witte 98RC Gas burner - Kubota D600 w/ST7.5KW head.
I'm not afraid to take anything apart.
I am sometimes afraid I'm not going to get it back together.

bschwartz

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #11 on: August 02, 2012, 09:53:33 PM »
See....... ya shoulda painted it green....
-Brett

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dieselgman

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2012, 12:19:36 AM »
Wowsers!!! Broken crankshaft is a rarity. If block is OK, then the rest is not excessive to replace though. Spares stocks are good here. Just an unexpected mess to clean up and repair.

dieselgman
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fabricator

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2012, 12:59:51 AM »
Well folks there is news from the front and it's all BAD, on the IP side the block is cracked in three places, and the skirt on the cylinder that goes in the block has a big fingernail shaped chunk partially busted out of it, it goes up into the machined part of the cylinder, I'll get some pics.
After having removed the crank and cleaning it up it looks like area that broke had a large inclusion and was only about half cast iron and the rest was not solid, this may be the end of my roid experiment.
BioDiesel Brewer

Tom

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Re: Catastrophic failure
« Reply #14 on: August 03, 2012, 01:05:49 AM »
What an inglorious end it is. Sorry this happened. Buy the "compressor" and you be all set to go. You'd have a good stock of spares too.
Tom
2004 Ashwamegh 6/1 #217 - ST5 just over 3k hours.