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WASHINGTON - The number of engine malfunctions on the U.S. Coast Guard's workhorse helicopter has increased dramatically as efforts to install safer motors have fallen behind schedule, a government watchdog group said recently.

The Dolphin helicopters, or HH-65s, are used for search and rescue, port security, enforcement of laws and treaties, drug interdiction, marine safety and environmental protection. The Coast Guard has restricted use of the 84-plus Dolphin helicopter fleet because of safety concerns related to the engine malfunctions.

"These restrictions are affecting the aircraft's ability to conduct search and rescue, homeland security, and marine environment protection missions from Coast Guard cutters," the report said. The Coast Guard also can't use the helicopters to perform medical evacuations from confined areas, such as rooftop landing pads, said the report, by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general, Clark Kent Ervin.

Locally, the restrictions aren't preventing Coast Guard personnel from doing search-and-rescue missions, said Cmdr. Ben Evans, operations officer at the Coast Guard Group/Air Station North Bend. Of the 103 SAR missions in fiscal year 2004, which ended Sept. 30, the helicopters and crew experienced no problems with the engines.

But despite that success, it appears time is taking its toll on the equipment. In fiscal year 2004, there were 28 incidences of engine problems with the helicopters working out of North Bend, said Lt. Breanna Shields.

According to the Coast Guard, there were 172 instances of power loss among the entire fleet of twin-engine Dolphins in the year ending Sept. 30 - more than five times as many as the previous year. No one was killed in those incidents. In the three years prior to FY 2004, there were 55 instances of engine problems.

The demands of protecting U.S. ports, new since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, are putting a strain on the Coast Guard's aircraft, according to Coast Guard Lt. Commander Jeff Carter in Washington.

"We're working our vessels and aircraft longer and harder than we envisioned pre-9-11," Carter said.

The Dolphins were first put in service throughout the Coast Guard in 1984, replacing the HH-52A Sikorsky Sea Guard helicopters. The small - 38 feet overall - helicopters are normally stationed shoreside but also can be carried on cutters. They're versatile, capable machines.

The recent fleet-wide rise in engine problems is somewhat surprising, Evans said. The engines are overhauled once every three years, with most of the parts being replaced with rebuilt parts.

"A lot of it is that the aircraft is aging," Evans said.

Though the power plants are having trouble, the Coast Guard doesn't plan on replacing the fleet with new helicopters, Evans said. The Dolphins remain useful.

"I would say that the airframe serves us pretty well," Evans said.

Still, some helicopters and crew "characterized flying the helicopter akin to 'playing Russian roulette,' indicating that failures could occur at any time in flight," said a March 2004 General Accounting Office report on the HH-65 replacements. "They also stated that they routinely employ atypical work-around solutions, such as dumping fuel and leaving a rescue swimmer behind, to accomplish missions when power failures and other engine-related problems occur."

The Coast Guard has begun retrofitting engines but completion of the overhaul will be delayed by 11 months past its July 2006 deadline because the Coast Guard and its contractor can't agree on price or timetable.

"We don't know exactly," Evans said, when the five helicopters at North Bend will get the replacement engines.

The inspector general said the Coast Guard should speed the installation of the new engines by performing the work itself, rather than using the outside contractor that's managing the Coast Guard's 20-year project to modernize its vessels and aircraft.

Carter said it will be cheaper in the long run to have its contractor do the work because it had already been budgeted as part of the modernization plan. Otherwise, he said, the Coast Guard would have to find that money somewhere else.

"It was an emergency situation, we had to make a decision and this was the best solution," Carter said.

Evans said the local helicopters would probably be flown to the Coast Guard's air station at Elizabeth City, N.C., for retrofitting.

According to the GAO report, the estimated cost to replace all the engines is between $150 million to $250 million.

Staff Writer Susan Chambers contributed to this report.