What is Engine BLOW-BY and How does it Effect Diesel Engine Operation?

The term BLOW-BY denotes the escape of compression and combustion gases past the pistons and piston rings into the crankcase. All engines have some blow-by. Excessive blow-by is usually found by higher oil consumption. If you are using a quart of oil in 1000 miles than you have a problem. Blow by is a time factor problem. Cranking speeds leave more 'time' for compression to pass the pistons and rings, resulting in harder starts on a cold engine. This is why many people use either to start even in warm weather. Once piston speeds pick up there is 'less' time for the compression to pass the pistons and rings and engine runs. This is why we get " it's hard to start but then it runs good" . There is no way to repair blow-by other than redoing cylinders and pistons. In other words remanufacture the engine. Sudden excessive blow is usually caused by piston detonation. In other words a hole has been burned in piston top or side. See Detonation

Is it Valve Guides or Seals?

NO. The fact that most diesels do not have any intake manifold vacuum makes it unlikely that oil is passing the valve guides as you need engine vacuum to pull it thru. Looking at the diagram at left you see cylinder wear. The worst part is at "A". This is caused by the double rocking motion as the piston reaches Top Dead Center and starts down again. We have had some engines with as little as 90,000 miles that had one or more cylinders worn out by .060 of a inch. This situation left unattended to will cause the "tick" that people think is a lifter problem. To extreme it can lead to piston breakage and a worthless engine core. I always hear "The cylinders look good'. How can a cylinder 'look good' with hundreds of thousands of miles on it I ask "have you checked it with a bore gage? The response is usually 'What's that? You would be surprised at how many people try to eliminate blow by, by installing injectors, injector pumps etc. To no avail. Also almost everyone that calls for pistons purchases almost everyone has "Perfect Cylinders'". Makes me wonder why I am the only one that has to rebore or sleeve engine blocks.

WHAT IS BLOW-BY?
Blow-by occurs when the explosion that occurs in your engine's combustion chamber causes fuel, air and moisture to be forced past the rings into the crankcase. Your engine's rings must maintain an excellent fit in order to contain the pressure. The causes of blow-by: wear, soot and deposits

As rings and cylinder liners wear away they are less capable of maintaining this seal. Consequently as a car ages the amount of blow-by that occurs can increase. Soot and deposits left over from incomplete combustion that collect on the rings can also inhibit their seal worsening blow-by.

The effects of blow-by: loss of horsepower and oil contamination and dilution
Blow-by inhibits performance because it results in a loss of compression. When the expanding gases slip past the rings they cannot as effectively push the piston down and make the vehicle go. As a result the car will have less horsepower. This also results in a loss of fuel economy. When the fuel, air and moisture slip into the crankcase they contaminate and dilute the oil in the crankcase. Among the many gasses in your compression chamber are unburned fuel, moisture, sulfur dioxide and soot. Once these gasses slip into your crankcase they can dilute into your engine causing great damage. The detergents and Molybdenum Disulfide work together to clean the soot and deposits off of your rings allowing them to better seal the combustion chamber. The Moly fills the crevices in the cylinder walls providing a better seal: Without Moly With Moly

Less blow-by means less contamination, less fuel dilution, and more power.

Measuring Engine Blowby

Piston rings seal the combustion chamber and prevent engine blowby. But no set of rings can totally prevent some pressure loss past the pistons. Rings that do not seal well may allow excessive blowby and reduce the engine power 10 to 20 horsepower or more. Blowby also dilutes the oil in the crankcase with fuel and combustion byproducts, which can shorten the life of the oil and lead to premature engine

failure. It will also increase crankcase emissions and the load on the positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) system. So one way to check ring sealing is to measure blowby.

Blowby Flow Meter

A blowby flow meter can tell you precisely how much blowby is occurring inside the engine. Unlike a cranking compression test or a static leakdown test, a blowby test actually measures the volume of gases that are entering the crankcase past the piston rings. The flow meter allows you to measure blowby from any engine speed, all the way from idle to wide-open throttle.

Blowby Test
A blowby test requires a blowby flow meter. The meter measures airflow, and is attached to either the crankcase vent on a valve cover breather, or the PCV valve fitting. On a V6 or V8 engine, the opening on the opposite valve cover must be temporarily blocked so all the airflow from the crankcase will flow past the meter.When the engine is running, all blowby that leaks past the rings will flow through the crankcase, out the valve cover opening and through the blowby flow meter sensor. The meter outputs an analog voltage signal that ranges from zero to five volts. The display can then be converted into units that show you the volume of airflow per unit of time. Most engine builders typically display the reading in cubic feet per minute (cfm), though heavy-duty engine builders more often use cubic feet per hour (cfh). One supplier of blowby flow meters said contrary to what many people think an engine typically has more blowby at idle than at higher rpms. As the speed goes up, the rings actually seal better and blowby drops.

How Much Blowby Is Normal for an Engine?

How much blowby is normal? Dividing an engines maximum horsepower output by 50 will give you a ballpark number for how much blowby you would normally expect to see. For example, a street performance engine that makes around 500 horsepower will typically have about 10 cfm of blowby with conventional pistons rings and ring end gap tolerances. Higher performance engines that are built to tighter tolerances will usually have less blowby, as might those with gapless piston rings. An 800 to 900 horsepower NASCAR motor, for example, might only have 5 cfm of blowby. Less blowby means more usable horsepower. Being able to baseline the actual blowby in an engine means you can then go back and try different ring configurations, ring types (conventional or gapless), different ring end gap settings and cylinder wall finishes to see which combination gives the best seal and the least amount of blowby. Measuring blowby has been one of the best kept secrets with performance engine builders because it allows them to see how well the rings are or are not sealing. It also allows them to detect any ring flutter

that may be occurring within a particular rpm range, and to then change the mass or end gaps of the rings to minimize the problem. .All manufacturers' names, numbers, symbols and descriptions are for reference only. It is not implied that any part is the product of the manufacturer. Caterpillar and Cat are registered trademarks of Caterpillar, Inc., Cummins is a registered trademark of Cummins Engine Company, International/ Navistar is a registered trademark of Navistar International Transportation Corporation, Detroit Diesel is a registered trademark of Detroit Diesel Corporation, Ford is a registered trademark of Ford Motor Company, Waukesha is a registered trademark of Waukesha Engine Division of Dresser. Prices and items subject to change without notice.