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ME260
Diesel Generator Frame Block Damage
Technical committee

Ship type General cargo ship (with foreign crew)

Date of build July 1981, at a Japanese dockyard
Navigation route Tramper (Japan - North America / Asia)
Trouble machinery
Category Generator engine
Name Crankshaft with Balance weight
Type S185L-UT
Date of trouble Morning of February 1, 1995 (during voyage)

1. Outline of breakdown

The ship is equipped with two generators of A fuel oil exclusive combustion. It is designed to use one
unit while at sea, and to use two units in parallel when entering/leaving port and handling cargo (derrick
type).
At the time of this incident, when the No. 2 generator was operating independently, the engine suddenly
stopped. Inspection revealed that the cylinder block, crankshaft, etc. were damaged; the No. 3 cylinder
crank arm balance weight had come off. In addition, the crankshaft was bent.

2. Cause

It is presumed that the balance weight came off and damaged sections within the crank case.
Although two mounting bolts for the balance weight are provided with locking washers, either or both of
these bolts presumably began loosening while in use, and developed over an extended period to even-
tually come off or break. The balance weight then sprang and damaged the inside of the crank case.

3. Repair

As an emergency measure to ensure a safe voyage, a portable generator (rented) was arranged to be
delivered to the nearest port and installed on the ship there. Also, it was decided to request a dispatch for
the maker's engineer to have detailed checks performed while at sea and arrange repair method and
repair parts so that the problem can be addressed when the ship calls a Japanese port.
Furthermore, a chief engineer had reported that, a few months before this incident, balance weight
mounting bolts had been found loose and were tightened in another ship under our control.

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Fig. Diesel Generator Framework