CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL

DES MACHINES A COMBUSTION ON COMBUSTION ENGINES

PAPER NO.: 95
Analysis of Reliability/Failure of Newly Built Diesel
Engines
Akira Kubo, NYK LINE, Japan
akira kubo@jp.nykline.com
Koji Okawara, K Line, Japan
Koji Iwaya, Mitsui OSK Lines, Japan
Kiichi Igari, Japan Marine Engineers’ Association, Japan
Naoyuki Ohno, NYK LINE, Japan

Abstract: We are thoroughly implementing the
maintenance, inspection, and operation of diesel en-
gines in order to maintain them in optimum working
condition.
However, despite the remarkable progress in tech-
nology, the number of failures in newly built diesel en-
gine has been increasing. Judging from a number of
instances, they seem due to design defects, material
defects, and manufacturing faults. Once a diesel en-
gine failure occurs, a ship owner not only loses profits,
but can also encounter other major problems, such as
the loss of life and environmental damage.
Over a period of several years (to make clear the
actual conditions) we have attempted to gather and
accumulate data on failures and on abnormalities in
regard to newly built diesel engines from 15 Japanese
ship owners/managers.
Our investigation shows that most of these failures
are attributable to poor engineering design and poor
quality control.
Because we (ship owners/operators/managers)
want to help improve the reliability of these high-
powered diesel engines, we are willing to work with
engine designers and builders.
We will, therefore, based upon our analysis results,
make constructive and positive proposals to engine
designers and builders to help them eliminate these
problems.

c
CIMAC Congress 2004, Kyoto
CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
DES MACHINES A COMBUSTION ON COMBUSTION ENGINES

ANALYSIS OF RELIABILITY/FAILURE OF NEWLY BUILT DIESEL ENGINES

PAPER NO.: 95

(2) MB&W - 20.5% failed.

! INTRODUCTION
We repeatedly experienced that the same failures
happened on the same parts, in the same places,
and for the same reasons on newly built diesel (3) SUL - 31.9% failed.
engines.
(4) UEC - 11.9% failed.
We suspected a uniform cause for these failures, a
cause that remains unrectified. In the face of these
design defects, material defects, and manufacturing
faults, the Japanese ship owners/managers doubt 2. We investigated the failure rate between engines
the reliability of the newly built engines. The engine and shipyards.
designers and builders, however, repeatedly
attributed the cause of these failures to the use of (1) The failure rate by B&W/Shipyards.
bad FO or LO, poor FO and LO management, and
so on. Therefore, we collected and analyzed the
following data from ship owners/managers, hoping 21 1-1
21 1-1 21 1-1 2 11 -1

the results would lead to improved engine reliability. 珙 : 1-1

9 1-1

8 1-1
There were 33 shipyards that built 341 vessels. 7 1-1 61 -1 6 1-1

Some of them built one vessel only. We picked up 6 1-1

the shipyards that built large number of vessels. 5 1-1

4 1-1
39 -7 3 9-7

3 1-1 6 -:

The shipyards are not builders. 2 1-1

1-1
IED I [D OLL I [D TBN TBT TTL UTL
tijqzbse
Gjh.3!C'X

! RATE OF FAILURE
(2) The failure rate by MB&W/Shipyards.
1. Data
珙玷珩 211/1 211/1
Of our 341 newly built engines, 86 reported 211/1

failures and poor reliability.! We classified these :1/1

91/1
86/1
77/8
failures according to shipyard and kind of engine! 81/1
71/1
(fig-1). 61/1
61/1 61/1

44/4
51/1
41/1 27/8 31/1
! ! We studied groups of 50 or more identical 31/1 6/4
27/8

engines, and obtained failure rates for each 21/1

1/1
EBX I ZV I [D LE D LIJ N FT N T D OLL OTD UT L VT[
engine as follows: tijqzbse

Gjh.4!N C 'X
(1) B&W - 12.5% of newly built engines failed.

CIMAC Congress 2004, Kyoto! Paper No. 95 1

 (3) The failure rate of SUL. (2) Between 2,000 and 3,000 kw/cylinder

(4) The failure rate of UEC The failure rate is much smaller than other outputs.

In fact, we had 46 newly built engines only, and we

expect that designers and builders test thoroughly.
珙

211-1 86-1 Then they made higher-powered engines.

91-1 58-7
61-1
71-1 44-4 44-4
36-1
51-1
21-1 21-1
(3) Over 3,000 kw/cylinder
31-1
1-1
JIJ

JTD

TIJ
NIJ

OLL

OTD

The failure rate of each engine increased greatly.

PTD

TIN Especially, the MB&W rate increased over 80%.

tijqzbse
Gjh.5!T V M[FS
4. The failure rate of the type of vessels

(1) Classified by type of vessels

珙 211-1

91-1 op/!pg!ofx mz!cvjmu!fohjof

71-1 op/!pg!gbjmvsf!fohjof
29-3
sbuf
51-1 32-2 27-8
25-4
31-1 251 239 46/1
232
1-1 231 37/5 3:/541/1
JT D N IJ P TD TLE
211 36/1
tijqzbse
Gjh.6!V FD 91 26/7 25/9 31/1
op/ 珙玷珩
71 56 26/1
51 41 4/4 43 21/1
3. We investigated the failure rate between 2: 28
engines and output/cylinder. 31 8 6 6/1
2
1 1/1
s

fs

fs

st
of

ml

ol

if
bj

QD

cv

ub

pu
ou
dp

211-1& 92-9& uzqf!pg!wfttfm

86-1&
91-1& 71-1&
73-6& sbuf
71-1& 53-:&
43-8&

51-1& 22-:& 24-6&

23-8& 28-8& 22-2&
31-1&
3-3&
塩 Tanker
1-1&
mftt!3-111 3-111砰 4-11 pwfs!4-111
Tankers had a 26.4% failure rate, which means
pvuqvu)L X *
that one in four vessels failed.
gbjmvsf!sbuf!cz!pvuqvu0dzmjoefs
於 PCC & Bulker
1) Less than 2,000 kw/cylinder
They had about a 15% rate of failure.
17.7% of such newly built engines fail.
汚 Container
The failure rates of B&W, MB&W, and UEC were
about 10% each. The rate was too low.

We have to look at the 32.7% SUL rate, for it is 甥 Others (Cruise vessels, Ferries, etc)
much higher than the others.
The number of others was too small for accurate
The number of SULV, PCV, and WAR engines was sampling and testing.
too small for accurate sampling and testing
(2) We investigated the relation between parts and
(. type of vessels.

© CIMAC Congress 2004, Kyoto Paper No. 95 2

 36
ubolfs cvmlfs qdd dpoubjofs puifst O p/ 21 61
sbuf)&* 9
op/

31 51

sbuf!)&
7 41

Op/
26
5 31
21 3 21
1 1
6

ipvs pvs pvs

6 -111! 6-1 11!i 1 -111!i
! 11.2 3
1
jo
f
po jo
h
pw
fs
mw
f
sj
oh
sj
oh joh
gu pe oh so fs ps jq
f
pm
fs wb
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w !w mftt 21-1 !pwf
s!
!m tu !s !d wb fb fb cfbs tib !s tj bouf cmpx fso vn
q
!q dp q! ztu
!' qj po fs u! !c !c po db !q sf up fo qj
fu tu !' !' e!'! !db
n tu m y/ hp
w
tv s! !t jd!
t pm d!
dl qj oe vt qj bv GP bj js !t uj
mj ib gu jo ' ft !b vnb
u jd nb
kb tz fy tib olq tifb bn! ! qs u u f v
l b d GP bs qof nb qo
bo ds dspt tu fv
ds qo

10 of 23 failures on jacket & liner had been

There were a lot of failures on jacket & liner, piston, reported at less than 5,000 hours, a rate of 43%.
piston ring, exhaust valve, crankshaft & bearing,
and FO pump. Tankers had many failures on all the 17 of them (73%) had been reported at less than
above parts except exhaust valves. Bulkers had 10,000 hours.
failures on exhaust valve and FO pump. PCCs had
failures on jacket & liner, exhaust valve, and ii) crankshaft & bearing
crankshaft & bearing two times each.
O p/
5. Failures on main diesel engine 21 61
sbuf)&* 9 51

sbuf!)&
(1) Running hours until failure 7 41
Op/

5 31
We had reports of 96 failures on parts of newly 3 21
built engines, and we investigated the running 1 1
hours until failure. pvs 1!ip
vs 1!ip
vs
11!i 6-11 1-11
ftt !6-1 1 .2 s !3
m 21-1
1 pwf
塩! Less than 5,000 hours

We had a 31% failure rate.

於! Between 5,000 an 10,000 hours

We had a 25% failure rate. 5 of 15 failures on crankshaft & bearing had been
reported at less than 5,000 hours.
Half of the failures happened before 10,000 hours.
9 of them (75%) had been reported at less than
(2) Running hours on main parts until failure 10,000 hours. It means they had failed while still
relatively new.
We had many failures on the main parts of diesel
engines, parts such as jacket & liner, piston, piston iii) piston
ring, exhaust valve, crankshaft & bearing, and FO
pump. Therefore, we investigated the running hours 21 O p/ 61
until failure as follows:
9 sbuf)&* 51
sbuf!)&

7 41
Op/

i) jacket & liner

5 31
3 21
1 1
s ipvs ipvs
!ipv
t !6 -111 .26-111! !31-111!
mft 21-1
11 pwfs

CIMAC Congress 2004, Kyoto! Paper No. 95 3

4 of 13 failures on pistons had been reported at
O p/ 21 61
less than 5,000 hours. That rate was 31%. 56
sbuf)&* 9 51
6 of them (46%) had been reported at less than 46

sbuf!)&
7 41

Op/
10,000 hours. 36
5 31
iv) piston ring 26
3 21
6
3 of 8 failures on piston rings had been reported at 1 1
less than 5,000 hours. That was 38%. pvs 1!ipvs 1!ip
vs
11!i
ftt !6-1 11.26-11 fs!31-11
m 21-1 pw
5 of them (63%) had been reported at less than
10,000 hours.

O p/
2 of 8 failures on FO pumps had been reported at
sbuf)&*21 61
less than 5,000 hours, a rate of 25%.
sbuf!)&

9 51
7 41
3 (38%) were reported at less than 10,000 hours.
Op/

5 31 Another 3 (38%) had been reported between

3 21 10,000 and 20,000 hours.
1 1 2 of them (25%) had been reported after 20,000
vs t t
1!ip ipvs ipvs hours.
t!6-11 26 -111! 31 -111!
t 11. !
mf
21-1 pwfs
All these failures had been reported at all running
hours, evenly distributed.

(3) The rate of failures on each diesel engine

v) exhaust valve
The failures on combustion chamber had been
O p/ 21 61 reported 54.2%, 20.8% on shaft, and 13.5% on
accessories. We investigated each diesel engine
sbuf)&* 9 51
sbuf!)&

7 41
with regards to these failures.
Op/

5 31 i) jacket & liner

3 21
1 1
s ipvs ipvs
!ipv TV M
t !6 -111 .26-111! !31-111! 5&
mft 21-1
11 pwfs
24&
V FD
C 'X
32& 65&

9&
N !C 'X
puifst
1 of 7 failures (14%) on exhaust valves had been
kbdlfu!'!mjofs
reported at less than 5,000 hours.

3 of them (43%) had been reported at less than

We saw similar failure rates on each type of diesel
10,000 hours, and the rate increased after running
engine except SUL. We had used more SUL than
more and more hours. Eventually, exhaust valve
others.
life expectancy was around 20,000 hours, although
it depended on recondition, maintenance, etc. ii) piston
vi) FO pump

© CIMAC Congress 2004, Kyoto Paper No. 95 4

 1) We investigated the failure situations on main
parts.
TV M
29&
38&
V FD i) jacket & liner
C 'X
39&
60% of failures occurred as wear/scratch.
29& N !C ' X
:&
puifst ii) piston
qjtupo
16% of failures were wear/scratch.

We saw similar failure rates on each type. 11% was breakage.

ii) piston ring 27% was cracking/peeling.

iii) piston ring

TV M
28& 56% of the failures were wear/scratch.
V FD
28& 5:& C 'X
iv) exhaust valve

28& N !C 'X 44% of failures were burning & sticking.

puifst
v) FO pump
qjtupo!sjoh

34% of failures were breakage.

We saw similar failure rates for all, except SUL. 22% was wear/scratch and burning & sticking.
iv) exhaust valve 2) We focused on the failing part of each engine.

i) jacket & liner

3:& TV M
53&
The wear/scratch and cracking/peeling on liners
V FD had the highest reported rate of failures; we
C 'X checked each type of diesel engine as follows:

3:&
N !C 'X
a) wear/scratch
puifst
fyibvtu!wbmwf

TV M
We saw similar failure rates on them. There was no 24&
7& V FD
reported failure on SUL.
24& 66& C 'X
v) FO pump 24&
N !C 'X
puifst
24& TV M
x fbs0tdsbudi
48& V FD
36& C 'X

36& N !C 'X
The SUL that we used a lot showed the highest
puifst rate.
GP !qvn q
The others showed levels similar to each other, all
below the SUL level.
All engines reported similar pump failure rates.

(4) Situation of failure on each diesel engine

CIMAC Congress 2004, Kyoto! Paper No. 95 5

b) cracking/peeling The wear/scratch and breakage on FO pump had
the higher reported rate of failures.

TV M
a) wear/scratch
28&
44&
V FD
C 'X TV M
31&
61& N !C 'X 51& V FD
puifst C 'X
dsbdl0qffmjoh 51& N !C 'X
puifst
x fbs0tdsbudi
Half the cracking/peeling failures were reported on
B&W engines.

ii) piston No failure was reported on M B&W.

The cracking/peeling and deformation of pistons Others all reported similarly.

had a higher reported rate of failure.
b) breakage
a) cracking/peeling

TV M
TV M 44&
V FD
24& V FD
24& 48& C 'X
C 'X 78&
N !C 'X
48& N !C 'X
puifst
puifst csfblhf

dsbdl0qffmjoh

No failure was reported on M B&W.

All diesel engines reported similar rates of SUL had the highest report of failure rate.
crack/peeling, with totals proportional to the number
of engines studied. 5. Influence of ship’s operation

b) Deformation (1)Influence

We investigated how the failures effected the

TV M ship’s operation. Of course, we had to stop main
44& V FD
diesel engines when we had failures on them at
sea. Delay of departure and repair at anchorage
C 'X meant that we found the failures at the berth.
78&
N !C 'X
puifst

efgpsn bujpo

SUL had higher reported rates than others.

iii) FO pump

© CIMAC Congress 2004, Kyoto Paper No. 95 6

 We analyzed the data surrounding these failures
sfqbjs!bu
and conclude that there are two main causes: poor
efwjbujpo
efmbz!efqbsuvsf 7&
bodipsbhf design and poor construction. Poor design meant
31&
31& mis-planning; poor construction meant poor
finishing and poor assembly. We showed each
N 0F!tmpx !epx o cause part by part.
24&

N 0F!tupq (1) poor design

52&

jogmvfodf!cz!N 0F!gbjmvsf
There were reports of failures on jacket & liner,
piston, and crankshaft & bearing, failures which we
attributed to poor design.

n jt.qmboojoh n jt.dbmdvmbujpo
(2) Influence time n jt.mpdbujpo puifst

We investigated the total time of influence 21

(delay) caused by main diesel engines. 9

7
Op/

5
21111
738:
3
2111
519
223 221 1
efmbz

f wf wf jo jo oh s wb w
jo po jo bs sj oh uv
o xf bm
211 !'
!m qj
tu po
!s !!
dp !w
bm cf
bs cf fb tj so Cmp vn
q pq! u!w
'! '! '!c db mf !q tu jmp
43 fu tu oe
fs vtu u! o! /! GP s!
26 kb
dl qj mj fy
ib bg qj fb
e! bvy h!
bj jd
!q
dz lti l! ti o bu
24 bo bo pt uj fv
n
ds ds ds bs qo
tu
21 fyqfdufe!dbvtf!pg!gbjmvsf!)qpps!eftjho*
2
dsboltibgu kbdflu!' fyibvtu qjtupo GP !qvn q dspttifbe qjtupo!sjoh
(2) poor material
'!cfbsjoh mjofs wbmwf '!cfbsjoh

Upubm!efmbz!ipvst We had reports of failures on jacket & liner,

failures we attributed to poor material.

i) crankshaft & bearing n jt.tfmfdujpo qbsujbm!efgjdjfodz

puifst
We had reported delays of 6,279 hours from 12
failures; the average delay was 523.3 hours/failure. 21

ii) jacket & liner 9

7
We had reported 408 hours with 23 failures (17.7
hours/failure).
Op/

3
iii) exhaust valve
1
jo
f po jo mw
f jo oh gu oh fs qj
q
We had reported 112 hours with 7 failures (16.0 kb
dl
fu
!'
!m qj
tu
qj
tu
po
!s

fy
ib
vt
u!
wb
bg
u!
'!
cf
bs
be
!'
!c
fb
sj

!'
!d
bn
!t
ib
db
tj
bvy
/!
Cm
px
GP
!q
vn
q

qs
ftt
vs
f! B0
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ti if bn i!
ol tt jh
hours/failure). ds
b ds
fyqfdufe!dbvtf!pg!gbjmvsf!)qpps!n bufsjbm*
p d
GP
!i

iv) piston (3) poor construction

We had reported 110 hours with 13 failures (8.5 We had reports of failures on jacket & liner, piston,
hours/failure). and crankshaft & bearing, the analysis of which
points! to poor construction.
v) FO pump

We had reported 32 hours with 8 failures (4.0

hours/failure)

6. Cause of failures

CIMAC Congress 2004, Kyoto! Paper No. 95 7

 engine designers and builders explained that the
qpps!qsfdjtjpo qpps!gjojtijoh scuffing had been caused by bad FO or LO.
qpps!bttfn cmjoh puifst
21
ii) The honing of the liner was not good enough.
9
iii) Finishing and precision were poor.
7
iv) Adjustments to cylinder LO consumption to suit
Op/

various loads should be calculated by engine

5
designers.
3
v) Sometimes failures happened repeatedly in the
1
same place, failures apparently due to poor
dl
fu
!'
!m
jo
f
qj
tu
po
qj
tu
po
!s
jo

ib
vt
u!
wb
mw
f

gu
!'
!c
fb
sjo

qj
o!
'!
cf
bs
jo

e!
'!
cf
bs
jo
h

'!
db
nt
ib
gu
qj
tu
po
!s
pe
db
tj
oh

bv
y/
!C
mp
xf
s
GP
!q
vn
q
sf
tt
vs
f!
qjq
B0
D

!b
js
!t
up
q!
wb
welding, so we came to suspect the welding skill
kb fy ib ol fb n! !q oh
lt ti db hi
ds bo d sb
d s pt
GP
!ij
tu bsj
of the engine builders.
fyqfdufe!dbvtf!pg!gbjmvsf!)qpps!dpotusvdujpo*
vi) The actual data from vessels should be fed back
to engine designers.
We have experienced failures on jacket & liner, (2) piston
piston, and crankshaft & bearing for a long time,
suspected for a long time that these failures were i) We have to eliminate material defects. We need
caused by poor design, poor material and poor thorough quality control.
construction.
ii) Communication among engine designers should
(4) abnormal load be encouraged.

All abnormal loads resulted from poor design and (3) exhaust valve
poor construction, for we never used engines
abnormally. i) When engine designers change design, material
or parts, we need the details of these changes
disclosed.
wjcsbujpo pwfsifbujoh
(4) crankshaft & bearing
fyqbotjpo0tisjolbhf mpptfoftt
tipdl puifst i) Since we ourselves are in no position to prevent
21 failures on crankshafts and bearings in advance,
9 engine designers and builders must get together
7
before these failures occur and cooperate to
prevent them.
Op/

3 ii) We are suspicious of the engine manufacturers’

1 overall quality control and skill recently.
f oh h w
mj o ! sj sjo ouv
o je!
! '! upo cfb m fs fop
lf u q tj !'! tpm
k bd
bo l
ti bgu
fv n
bu jd! (5) FO pump
ds qo
fyqfdufe!dbvtf!pg!gbjmvsf!)bcopsn bm!mpbe*
i) We need to improve assembly precision.

7. Constructive and positive proposals ii) Since the current demand calls for using higher-
powered diesel engines and worse grades of FO,
We propose to improve and solve these failures we need a more sufficient safety margin.
and improve the reliability of these high-powered
diesel engines.

(1) jacket & liner CONCLUSION

i) The cause of scuffing on the liner and piston ring We have analyzed the failures on high-powered
was related to many potential causes. But the diesel engines and found, indeed, showed that they
were caused by the unreliability of the engines

© CIMAC Congress 2004, Kyoto Paper No. 95 8

themselves. Recent demand has called for higher-
powered diesel engines, and engine designers and
builders have built them. Still, we see the same
failures repeated on them, and all supposed
improvements in reliability look like ignorance. Thus,
we can only expect these same failures to arise
from continued poor design, poor material and poor
construction.

We must solve these problems. Engine designers

and builders must implement strict quality controls
and address the causes of failures.

APPENDIX
Fig-1: Number of newly built engine failures

List of shipbuilder’s code

List of codes for kinds of engines

CIMAC Congress 2004, Kyoto! Paper No. 95 9