Witte 120

[Brent Espil]

I have a witte 120,two cylinder diesel engine,with an 18 k.w. generator.It started seeping water out of the blowby,which eventually turned into something looking like vanilla pudding.The crankcase oil looked fine.It did have a milky color in the dip stick tube.I put in new liners,rings,rod bearings,and liner '0'rings.It started and ran with a white smoke coming out the exaust.I adjusted the valves as per the owners manuel,put in two rebuilt injectors,and timed the injection pump.It still runs rough with more white smoke than before.It now looks like water is starting to seep out of the blowby again.I think I may have more than one problem.Can somebody help?Is it possibly leaking water past the liner "0"rings,or maybe a crack in the block?With the white smoke,does it have a fuel problem?Any advive or help is appreicated.

[Ray Cardoza]

If i remember right white smoke is oil getting into the cylinder. maybe too much oil or oil blowing around the rings.

[Patrick McNallen]

It may just be running too cold. Especially cool weather, the engine may not be getting hot enough to drive the normally occuring water vapor and condensation completely out of the crankcase and areas like the valve covers, dipstick pipe, oil filler pipe, and crankcase ventilation tube. The fact that your crankcase oil stayed good indicates that you are getting only a very small amount of water, such as will condense in the cooler areas of a cold-running engine. I would try installing a thermostat to get the coolant temperature up to around 190-195 F, then change the oil and filter and load the engine and run it for several hours. If it is very cold where you are running the engine, some condensation and white crud in the crankcase vent pipe may be normal, especially if the engine is only lightly loaded.

[Patrick McNallen]

The white smoke could be a fine mist of unburned diesel going out the exhaust. If it is, it will smell just like diesel. If it is steam, it will smell like hot water, and if it is antifreeze steam, it will smell kind of like coca cola or a hot toddy. The rough running could be some kind of injector pump trouble, or it could be an engine valve problem causing low compression and misfiring. Something like a sticking valve or a weak or broken valve spring could cause this. Dirty fuel can cause all kinds of trouble, even with new injectors...

[Andrew Mackey]

It could also be one of the following: 1)Bad head gasket 2)Cracked block or cylinder 3)Fuel contamination - junk in pump and or injecters 4) items mentioned in previous posts. Have you done a compression check Have you looked at the engine coolant/radiator? (discoloration/bubbles in flow are indications of compression leakage into coolant system)Loss of coolant indicates block/intake or exhaust manifold problems(for liquid cooled/heated manifolds)
Andrew

[Brent Espil]

Originally Posted by Patrick McNallen

The white smoke could be a fine mist of unburned diesel going out the exhaust. If it is, it will smell just like diesel. If it is steam, it will smell like hot water, and if it is antifreeze steam, it will smell kind of like coca cola or a hot toddy. The rough running could be some kind of injector pump trouble, or it could be an engine valve problem causing low compression and misfiring. Something like a sticking valve or a weak or broken valve spring could cause this. Dirty fuel can cause all kinds of trouble, even with new injectors...

Thanks Patrick,I'll try changing the thermostats,and I think I'll get a couple injectors worked over and cleaned.Keep in touch if you can think of anything else.I did change the fuel filters and put on new head gaskets.

[Brent Espil]

The coolant seems fine.I tried to do a compresion check but the tester i have would'nt fit snug in the injector hole,will try again.Thanks,Brent

[Patrick McNallen]

You may have to use a screw-in type compression tester on a diesel that can read to maybe 300 psi, since diesels often have compression ratios from around 17:1 up to around 24:1. Also, if your engine has the typical steel injector lines from the pump to the injectors, they may have had a little bit of old rust or whatever inside them that got loosened when you changed injectors and did the other engine work. If that is the case, any freshly-loosend crud would have wound up in the injectors as soon as you started the engine.

[ronm]

Not politically correct, but take a drop of the water dripping out of the breather, & touch it to your tongue. Glycol anti-freeze will taste sickeningly sweet, water will taste basically like...water, with maybe a hint of oil. If it's just water, it's prob. condensation from the engine running too cool, like others said. If it's glycol, you have possibly a cracked head, or head gasket leak, like somebody else said. New liners & o-rings should have eliminated bad o-rings or cavitated liners. Light loads are the downfall of a diesel generator, diesels need a load to get warmed up...You might try blocking the air flow thru the radiator to get it warmed up, your new rings may not have seated yet. If you can get access to a load bank, that will put enough load on the engine to seat the rings.
HTH-Ron in CO...

[D. Johnson]

White smoke can also be a sign of low fuel injection pressure.(engine running too lean) This can be caused by improperly adjusted fuel pressure at the injector or clogged injector nozzels. The Witte 120 requires the nozzel opening pressure of 1800, 1950 lbs, if your pressure is 1700 or lower you will need to adjust or rebuild your pump and or injectors.

I also try checking the following possible causes:

Low grade fuel. (Minimum 45 cetane number)
Water in fuel.
Low compression.
Leaking valves.
Improper valve adjustment. (Intake .003 Exhaust .014 COLD )
Dirty or clogged air cleaner.
Incorrect injection timing.
improper injector spray pattern.
Bad head gaskets.
Leaking valves (intake, exhaust).
Imperfect combustion of injected fuel.

Regards,

David Johnson
Witte Mania
wittemania@cox.net

[Brent Espil]

Thanks David,I have put new air filters on this engine.I have ran it under a load,[I use these engines for my only source of electricity, as I live 30 miles from the nearest electricity.]I'm running another 120 now,so I think the fuel is o.k.,there is one filter at the tank and two filters at the engine,all have been changed.I have timed the injection pump.It is timed to the EOI-B mark on the flywheel,which I'm sure is the right mark.I'm going to send the injectors and the injector pump to town and have them gone through and cleaned up.I did change the injectors and it ran with a bad clatter,then it cracked a head,any idea why this happened?I changed the head,put another injector in and it runs as I said earlier,a lot of white smoke.Let me know if you can think of any thig else to try,thank you,Brent

[Jud]

well, what ever happened???---was the enine ever repaired??? -=and what was the source of all your problems??
jud

[Brent Espil]

Engine was repaired. I replaced the sleeves and sleeve O rings, this did the trick. I also replaced the rings and rod bearings at the same time.