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CR heritage #8098 ES44AC crankcase failure?

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Posted by Paul Milenkovic on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 3:24 PM

BaltACD

Today's locomotives are expected to run their 92 days between inspections with little more being done to them than adding fuel and sand, cleaning the toilet and changing brake shoes as necessary. 92 day cycle after cycle after cycle.

Yes, I heard complaints from locomotive crew on this forum that the toilet gets cleaned once each 92 days . . .Laugh

If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 12:24 PM

Randy Stahl

A loose crankcase cover causes other issues, not crankcase pressure. When crankcase pressure is excessive the GE engine will blow the dipstick and the oil filler cap off, a loose crankcase cover would likely be the symptom , not the cause. Lettting pressure out of the crankcase makes detection impossible. Overfilling the lube oil is one cause, moisture and or water in the crankcase is another cause ( steam pressure) . A failed piston crown , failed rings, cracked liner, hot bearing, exhaust stack restriction. The causes are numerous.

Any electrical issue on a modern locomotive is a major issue. Computers Lie, unless you know what you are doing they will run you around in circles.

 

Randy

My criticism of today's modular card based electronics/computers is that most of the mechanics/electricians have become 'board replacers', rather than mechanics/electricians.  While individual components of boards may fail of their own faults, many times the root cause of the failure is up stream and just replacing a failed board with a new one only causes the new board to fail prematurely if not immediately.  Without diagnosing the problem to it's actual root cause all that happens is continuing premature failures, or as my carrier refers to it as 'infant mortality'.

Today's locomotives are expected to run their 92 days between inspections with little more being done to them than adding fuel and sand, cleaning the toilet and changing brake shoes as necessary. 92 day cycle after cycle after cycle.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Randy Stahl on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 8:51 AM

A loose crankcase cover causes other issues, not crankcase pressure. When crankcase pressure is excessive the GE engine will blow the dipstick and the oil filler cap off, a loose crankcase cover would likely be the symptom , not the cause. Lettting pressure out of the crankcase makes detection impossible. Overfilling the lube oil is one cause, moisture and or water in the crankcase is another cause ( steam pressure) . A failed piston crown , failed rings, cracked liner, hot bearing, exhaust stack restriction. The causes are numerous.

Any electrical issue on a modern locomotive is a major issue. Computers Lie, unless you know what you are doing they will run you around in circles.

 

Randy

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Posted by oltmannd on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 7:23 AM

I few nuisance crankcase overpressure false alarms are much better than one real crankcase explosion!

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by Lyon_Wonder on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 12:22 AM

... and today the Facebook NS heritage loco forum  claims Interstate heritage #8105 is now suffering major electrical issues too.  

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Posted by edbenton on Monday, May 7, 2012 7:05 PM

Could just be the Sensor itself when they cause a shutdown at 1 PSI overpressure to prevent Crankcase Explosions in the GEVO engine.  Sorry called a buddy that has Knoweldge on them from them at IAIS sytem as a Conductor.  Now as for the cause loose cover on the Crankcase Cover letting in to much air Don't laugh it happened to him.  Plugged Sensor it can happen.  Who knows it will get fixed. 

Always at war with those that think OTR trucking is EASY.
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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, May 7, 2012 6:51 PM

Crankcase Overpressure is a common malady associated with the GEVO prime movers - there is a specific sensor to detect the condition and shut down the engine.  What it's actual cause may be is beyond my technical competence.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Lyon_Wonder on Monday, May 7, 2012 4:50 PM

Now they're saying the problem with #8098's crankshaft is software related and not the physical crankshaft itself.  Something about a problem with the crankshaft's overpressure sensor.

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CR heritage #8098 ES44AC crankcase failure?
Posted by Lyon_Wonder on Sunday, May 6, 2012 9:33 PM

I heard on the NS heritage forum over on Facebook that CR heritage ES44AC #8098 has suffered a major crankcase failure.  So I'd say 8098's off the mainline for now.  I wonder how series a crankcase failures are for GEVos?  Would it be serious enough that this ES44AC would have to be fixed and serviced by GE itself since it's still under warranty, even though NS has it's own loco maintenance, overhaul and rebuild facilities at their Junitia shops in Altoona?    

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