Help with a marine diesel

Hi all, one of my other crazy hobbies besides the MG is sailing. Well right now I am anchored out at Little Farmers in the Bahamas. Just so happens that there is a single handing woman herer that is having a problem with her diesel engine and I thought I could try and help. It is a small 2 cylinder and it is blowing the dipstick out. My guess she has real problems with a broken ring but I thought I would ask you guys as you know a lot more about engines than I do.

p.s. although I am sailing in the Bahamas I sure do miss my MG

Possibly, while running it check the breather and make certain it is not plugged and is venting crankcase pressure. Does it vent to the intake manifold/air cleaner or to the atmosphere, does it have excessive blowby when disconnected, if so the ring lands may be broken down and or the rings may be broken as you stated, has it been started alot with ether, or run hot in the past? This is the most likely cause of the symptoms of a broken ring/piston ringland.

What make?
Generator or inboard drive?

Yeah - make of diesel & HP.

Is she cute? ;)

Hey guys, she is a friend of a friend that I met last evening. My friend went over to take a look today and came back to ask me about it. I'll try to drop by tomorrow morning and get some more details but I am pretty sure it is a Yanmar 2GM20 which I think is a 18-20hp 2 cylinder. The boat is a 29' Island Packet. It has about 4000 hours on it and a few hundred hours ago sunk a few thousand into the engine. I'll need to get more details on that when I see her in the morning.

Is she cute, well I did not notice since my wife was standing there B-)

Yeah - I had a 18hp Yanmar 2GM20 on my Hunter. They are pretty bullet-resistant. I no longer have the engine book, and am working from memory.

How was the engine performing in the "few hundred hours" since "sinking a few hundred" into it? What maintenance was performed?

On the Port side of the engine should be the air cleaner/fuel intake. See that the filter, etc. is functional. Follow the plumbing and see if there is something along the lines of a PCV valve. While the engine is at running temp & idling see if there is pressure coming from the crankcase. If there isn't, or little, the breather might be plugged.

Run the engine - see if the oil cap is under pressure; open the oil cap to see if it has a lot of pressure or flow of "air" out. If it does not i would lean towards valve seals, or head gasket, both of which can be done with some simple tools if you know what your doing. If it has a lot of pressure, it's most probably rings especially when taken with the dip stick action. This, of course, is a bit more involved.

If you can find out what she spent money on in the last few hundred hours, that might help more; I hope this helps a little.

I'm sure your wife is cute, too. ;)

Best wishes to your new friend. Island Packets are just beautiful boats.

Thanks Jim, I'll try what you are suggesting in the morning. Cruisers try and help other cruisers as mechanics here are not available. I guess sort of like MG'ers.

Since you have some sailing experience, we have a Tashiba 40 and if you are bored check out our blog at www.sailblogs.com/member/slowsailing. I just completed my first engine swap. Unfortunately it was not in my MG but in our boat. A nice new 55hp Yanmar. The MG would have been a lot more fun!

Great Pictures!

I had a 28' Hunter which was a "nice" boat - yours are beautiful! I sailed Prince William Sound & the Gulf of Alaska.

This is the only picture I still have. :(

One day we want to sail up there. Currently our plans are to head towards the Panama Canal, then to N.Z. We have sunk a lot of time into the boat getting it ready (I try to do all the work myself).