The Marinized Series 60 Part 1: Unlike The Trucking Industry…All Our Engines Are High Performance
I work every day on engine computers designed in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. I was never a big fan of history but now it’s starting to grow on me. A previous generation of engineers invested thousands of engineering hours into a small aluminum box that sits in front of me and when I look at Detroit’s work I do so with great respect. I strive to understand their goals and the challenges they faced. I put myself in their shoes and try to understand why they made the decisions they made. Detroit’s goals were defined by the application they were calibrating their engine for. Each application faced different challenges and as these engines went into production these engineers continued to learn and find better ways to improve their product. The software updates that have been released over the years tell a story. A story about what works, what didn’t work, and what could be done better another way.
I ask myself how would I have built a Series 60 that would appeal to large fleet owners in 1995? Would I make mileage my first priority? Power? Longevity? Emissions? Lowest overall cost per mile? How much power were competing engines making in 1995? How about in 2003? I draw inspiration from Detroit’s work, especially when I see it run on my test bench. I service DDECs from the trucking, industrial, and marine industries and the factory programs in these DDECs are something I study carefully. In contrast to a Series 60 truck program, a Series 60 marine program is much different.
Imagine a factory Series 60 tailored for a vessel whose owner is competing in a timed sport-fishing tournament in the Florida Keys. These tournaments are competitions and the speed of a vessel can make the difference between winning and losing. It could be said that these engines are designed from the factory to be competition engines. These boats almost always have two engines and if those engines are marinized Series 60s then they’re burning upwards of 90 gallons of fuel an hour. A marine technician working out of Virginia Beach once told me “Unlike the trucking industry… All our engines are high performance”.
So when I watch a factory 825hp 2250ftlbs Series 60 program run on my test bench I take lots of notes. The injection timing is very consistent and predictable but is set specifically to one of three different marine camshaft/injector combinations. Peak torque is still at 1200rpm just like a truck Series 60. What’s different is that it’s 2250ftlbs and the rate at which the torque number drops as rpm climbs is very slow. At 2100rpm torque only drops to 2065ftlbs. The high water temperature warning sets a check engine light at 180 degrees. Detroit keeps the operating temp so low that they could be compromising a little fuel efficiency for extra overheat protection from lower oil and water temperatures. Even though the DDEC system supports an exhaust gas temperature input it is not used in this application or any other application I know of. I’ll have to get into my thoughts on that another day. Instead of a pyrometer Detroit’s high performance marine program has a timer that activates a Torque Overload fault and cuts back the power when the engine is at full load for more than 3 minutes. I trust and respect the work Detroit did and this and a derate wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t important. This is one more reason I like to play it safe with the torque numbers I do with Series 60 programming.
Written by Fernando DeMoura,
Diesel Control Service LLC.
Website: www.dieselcontrolservice.com
Phone 412-327-9400