As many of you know I work for Caterpillar. Mainly on Big bore diesle and natural gas engines. Today was a scary day.

It started off as a normal day. I got to work and my job was given to me... I went to a jobsite to check an 850HP Natural gas V12 engine. The complaint was smoke from the exhaust. When the engine was running with no load it had a moderate amount of white smoke comming from the exhaust. I spent about an hour t/shooting the unit and found the breather tubes that go from either side of the unit to the radiator compartment were blocked. A little investigation reveled that they had gotten rain water in the outlet and the 1" hoses had filled with enough water to block off the breather fumes. A blocked breather will force and engine to burn oil because the crankcase has no vent, hence the white smoke from teh exhaust. Thats where I belived the problem was originating from. I called into my boss and told him I thought the engine also had a slight vibratinon to it and possibly a misfire. After talking it over we decided to fix the breather and run it to see if the smoke cleared up. So I drained the breather hoses and repositioned them to prevent it from happening again. I started the unit and ran it for 30 min.

I decided I should check on it so I went into the enclosure and everything appeared normal... all reading on the metering was fine and all engine parameters were normal. I went back to my truck (parked 5 feet away on the side of the generator enclosure) and began to fill out my paperwork. The smoke from the exhaust was still there but was not 1/2 as bad as when I first arrived. While I was working on my paperwork I heard a distinct change in the tone of the engine. I paused for a sec and listened... thats when all hell broke loose. Suddenly I hear a pop from the exhaust... next came the sound I will never forget. I can only explaint it like this... it was the sound of a freight train derailing at 80mph..... Alot of crashing and banging... I jumped out of my truck and took cover behind the front of it while staring at the gen enclosure. The horible, defining sounds slowly came to a halt about 15 sec later. I approached the enclosure and all I saw was antifreeze and oil pouring from out of the seams of the enclosure and door.

I opened the door to find out the noise was just what I hoped would never would see... #2 cyl broke a connecting rod and launched it thru both sides of the block! The scary part is that no more than 10 min ago I was standing in that same spot. It knocked the oil cooler off the engine, and broke the waterpump housing. There was a clear hole from one side of teh engine right thru to the other. Pieces of metal were thrown out the sides and some were stuck in teh walls. a few dents in the 30ga steel walls would be masive damage to a human body. I just about crapped my pants. I cant belive that my paperwork was the only reason I was not standing there.

The next few hours were spent cleaning up the mess and hooking up a rental gen to back up the building power system. 50 gallons of coolant makes a big mess.

Its going to be alot of work to fix... the entire unit will have to come out. Not an easy task at 40,000 lbs and over 20 feet long.

I just thought i would share this with everyone... it realy makes you think... engines are machines... they can fail and you can never be prepared.

BTW, this unit was almost brand new. it had a total of 15 hours of run time on it.

 

Yes i know what metal can do to the human body... thank god you are ok Brian.. seriously thank God....

Be safe brother

Eric

 

i think you better change your career bri!!!

j/k bri..thank god your ok!

eric

 

Boo Hooo hoooo, ya big baby...

just kidding man glad you weren't nearby, then I wouldn't be able to hand you your *** at the track.

I can also appreciate the level of Fear you had. Last summer I was helping my dad with my grandmothers pool. We cleaned out the pressurized tank and when we put it all back together one of the lines wasn't opened and it created a vacuum. The pressure shot up so fast we didn't have time to shut the pool down and the top blew off it. went about 35 feet in the air and crashed down in the neighbors yard. The sound was the scariest part.

Keep clear of those loud grumbling noises and you'l be fine...

 

I'll tell ya guys, It really put a scare into me. You have no idea how lucky I really am. No more than 10 min earlier and I was standing right where the dents in the metal enclosure are. I took some pics there today for work. I'll let you guys see them too


http://community.webshots.com/user/projectz28


Just for referance... If you were standing on the floor you would be eye level with the heads.


edit: copy and paste it guys.

 

THIS JUST IN...

<<<YOU SUCK AT THE INTERWEB>>>

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WTLY

 

and this is new to you? Give me a car and I'll take it apart and put it back together bliondfolded. Give me a keyboard and I'll be here forever and still not know anything.


Sorry, I tried. I'll see if I can figure it out. I'm just computer and internet stupid.

 

Ok, I think I got it try this one...


http://community.webshots.com/user/projectz28

 

Do you mean "Blondefolded"?


Dude!!! The Carol and I say don't be getting yourself blown up. Cleaning that up is worse than the antifreeze. Then you be back as a ghost hanging around some stupid enclosure for a CAT machine. I think you would be better as a ghost driving your car on the dragstrip going in the wrong direction on Rice Day.
...and your car is all red and stuff, and belching the smoke and fire and stuff... ohohohohoh and the Riceman would freak out and bounce into the guard rail... that would be cool.

Glad you're okay. I'll send you a few bucks for some new whitey tighties...
ron

 

Yeah that too But I have a feeling Liz wouldnt like it if I were "blondefolded".... since shes a brunette!

I'd much rather be a ghost harasing you guys at the track!

The guys there said this place was built on an old indian burial ground. Merck spent $15.5 million on this building. Since it opened in December they have been seeing stuff like this all over. Computer systems, chillers, biolers ect... all failling with major problems that the manufactures say has never happened before.

I did a little looking around in the motor on Friday. From just looking up into the motor with a mirror and a flash light it looks like a wrist pin problem. The rod broke right at the top just before the pin. About 12" of the rod are just plain missing... my guess is it is laying somewhere in the oil pan.

We are pulling the enclosure off Monday and the unit will be out and back to my shop by Tuesday. Then the fun part begins... tearing it down find out what exactly happened. Then i get to rebuild it. Atleast I know where and what I will be doing at work for the next 3-4 weeks.

 

Glad you're okay Brian. Unfortunately, it often takes scary stuff like that to take a look around and appreciate what we have.

Where is this Merck worksite? My bosses wife and daughter work in the Hatfield one...

 

That must have been a horrendous event to witness.
Glad to hear your OK !!!

I work on UPS systems and they are sometimes powered by ATS units that are hooked up to a gen set. What size was that gen?

The largest one I saw was a 3 meg ! and it was about as big as the one you described. Huge diesel with an exhaust opening around 20 inches in diameter !

Heavy

 

Jacki its in West Point/North Wales, PA. 309N and shoot up Sumneytown pike about 5 miles. Its across the street from the main plant

Actually this one is relatively small compared to what we do work on. Its a 3412 Cat (12 cyl version of what you would find in an over the road rig) running on Natural Gas so its low HP, its only 500KW on gas. On diesel versions they are upwards of 850-900kw with this same series of engine. The exhaust on this unit is relatively small, only 8"-10".

 

Yo B, Know whats funny. I was there on friday working in there cafe. They are a big acount of are's. I was working in there new building they just built. When you go in the throw secuitry goto the right and make another right back by that building.