Engine Balancing by the Numbers

- Micheal W. Jones - Windrock Inc.

APPLICATION NOTES

It seems that many technicians believe that engine balance or engine power
cylinder load sharing is accomplished by merely taking peak firing pressure
numbers, averaging the numbers and then setting the peak firing pressure of
each power cylinder to reflect the average. This could not be further from the
truth! There is much more to a successful balance than making the numbers
come out. In order to properly balance the load on the power cylinders, you
must:

1. Make sure that every power cylinder is physically capable of carrying the
load of a properly balanced engine. The power cylinder condition must be
verified and questions answered about the cylinder head and piston
configuration.

Are all heads and piston domes the proper configuration for the load
requirements of the engine? Many of the legacy machines are operating with
mixed and matched components, giving a wide variation of cylinder
compression pressure and load capabilities. Trying to raise the peak firing
pressure of a cylinder with 50 psi less compression pressure to the level of the
other cylinders will cause detonation and severe damage to the engine.
We must know the condition of the rings, cylinder liner and ports on 2-stroke
engines.
Do we have ring blow-by?
Are the ports excessively worn causing the combustion pressure to evacuate
prematurely?
Are the connecting rod components, pins, bushings and bearings in good
enough condition to support the cylinder load?

2. The fuel delivery system must be in good working order. We must have the
proper amount of fuel at the prescribed BTU delivered at the manufacturers
recommended delivery pressure. The fuel valves function as intended and are
properly adjusted.

Are the push rods, rocker assemblies and lifters in good condition?
Do we have proper fuel cell pressure for lean burn applications?
Is the pilot fuel delivery and check valve in good condition?
Is the fuel cell itself eroded and causing erratic combustion?
Are the intake and exhaust valves on the 4-stroke engines in good condition
and properly adjusted?
Is the cam timing right for the particular engine and application and not
excessively worn?
Is the air delivery system functioning properly and is the right amount of air
being delivered at the proper time and temperature to facilitate complete and
reliable combustion.
 Is a very lean mixture causing intermittent misfires and an early combustion
peak due to the rapid consumption of the fuel? This will cause a higher peak
firing pressure and less horsepower.
Is a very rich mixture causing detonation and a late combustion peak,
resulting in a lower peak firing pressure with higher horsepower?
Are the ports restricted?
Is the turbo charger and waste gate in proper operating condition?
Is the air breather and after cooler in good condition?
Are there exhaust restrictions?
Is the fuel/air ratio controller working as designed?

3. The ignition system is probably the most important factor to consider when
balancing an engine. Some technicians use a spark indicating device that lights
up a neon bulb by induction, or they put an induction-powered timing light on
the spark plug wire to see the xenon tube flash. All that this will tell you is that
an unspecified voltage went through the wire. It will not tell you if the voltage
actually jumped the gap on the spark plug. It could have jumped from the plug
to the spark plug well in the head or it could have just dissipated in an internal
short circuit. This information can only be obtained by evaluating the spark
wave form with an ignition analyzer.

Is the ignition timing set to the manufacturers recommended setting for the
BTU of the fuel and ambient conditions?
Is the ignition timing the same for every power cylinder? A one or two degree
variation will make a tremendous difference in peak firing pressure, emissions
and load carrying capabilities.
Is the voltage sufficient to jump the gap and light the fuel/air mixture?

4. It is important to be able to see the pressure trace while performing the

balance. Looking at numbers, especially standard deviations of peak pressure
statistics can be confusing. With the ability to see the pressure trace, you can
see the cycle-to-cycle combustion variations.

You need the ability to set the number of averages for the peak pressure
mean calculation. Lean burn, 4-stroke per cycle engines and diesel engines do
not require as many cycles in an average to obtain a useful mean pressure by
which to balance; however, the two-stroke rich burn engines will require that you
average at least 30-40 cycles for a useful mean pressure.
A built in balance routine is needed to keep you on track to perform a proper
balance by the same method every time.

5. Now that we know the condition of our engine and all of the items that
support combustion, we are ready to balance the load evenly across the power
cylinders.

We will want to balance an engine any time maintenance is performed on the

engine, (fuel valve change, adjustment, intake and exhaust valve adjustment,
start up after major overhaul or any component change that would affect
combustion). Whenever there is a major change in load. To maintain a good
balance it should be performed on a regular schedule. Most engine operators
balance on a weekly schedule to compensate for deterioration in the fuel/air
delivery components.
The best results will be obtained if you load the engine to 100% load and
speed. This is the condition for which the engine is designed to run. If the
engine never runs at 100% load and speed then the load and speed that is
normal is where you want to balance the engine. If the engine is operated with
an automatic unloader system, it should be locked so that there will be no
changes in load during the balancing routine.
Take an initial set of peak pressure data for an as found base to the
balance. Pay close attention to the variation in combustion patterns from cycle-
to-cycle. This will tell you if you are wasting your time and that there is
additional work needed to stabilize combustion before continuing. Cylinders with
unstable combustion cannot be successfully balanced.
The balancing analyzer should give you a report of each cylinder with the
statistics needed to determine which cylinders need to be adjusted based on
average mean peak firing pressure.
Based on the governor setting, you will decide if you want to adjust the high
cylinders down or the low cylinders up. Normally you would want the governor
operating in the 80-90% capacity range at 100% load, so that there is enough
capacity for momentary overloads but not enough capacity to allow the engine
to run in a severe overload condition for a long period of time. If you need more
governor capacity then you would balance the lower cylinders up, if less
capacity is desired then, balance the high cylinders down. Most engine
manufacturers have preferred methods for engine balance. Clark engines prefer
that one fuel adjustment valve be completely open at the conclusion of the
balance, where Cooper s prefer that you start with the fuel balance valves all 2
turns open and then tweek up or down from there as needed. The point is,
know the equipment that you are trying to balance.
Since we do not know where the load will go when one cylinder is balanced,
I do not recommend adjusting more than 20-30% of the power cylinders at any
time without taking data on all of the power cylinders again to see where the
load distributed. That would be 2 -3 cylinders for a 10 cylinder engine. The
engine should be allowed to rest for 10-20 minutes to react to the changes
before the next step is begun. This is not a 15 minute routine, for a badly
unbalanced engine it could take several hours to obtain an optimal balance.
By following the step-by-step procedures provided by the balancer/analyzer
routine you can easily balance the load to 5% of the engine average, assuring a
long engine component life.
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Over the years in my career there have been countless people and
publications to give credit to and to thank for this information. Unfortunately they
are too numerous to list, if I could remember them all.
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