The "doctor" is on the boat.
01 May 2013 | Kolonia, Pohnpei, FSM
Cloudy and a bit of rain.
After our trip and back to Ant Atoll and the problems we had with air in the diesel lines, we had "Doctor" Jun on board bright and early on Tuesday morning. We explained what had happened and he got into the engine room--I do mean into the engine room. He squatted on the top of the engine and went to work checking every possible area where there might be a problem. Before he went in, he even inspected the fittings on the top of our diesel tanks. All fitting were just fine. Nice and tight.
Once in the engine room, he check every fitting and hose connection and the hose clamps on all the fuel lines. the only thing he could figure out was that there was something wrong with that auxiliary fuel pump we used to bleed the air out of the lines. So, out it came, or at least it was taken out of the loop and left screwed to the wall of the engine room. In it's place, he installed one of those squeeze bulbs that are used on the gasoline lines on outboard motors. I'd heard from friends a while ago that that was how they bled their lines, so I picked up one that's good for diesel and brought it back with me when I came back from the US back in February. Into the line it went. The Racor filter was refilled to the brim and then all the lines were bled again and she started right up. We were going to run her for a good two- three hours and see if the air was still getting into the Racor filter. Jun took off for lunch. Before we started the engine, I took out the oil absorber pad I placed under the engine to see if there were any leaks. These are really cool pads that only absorb oil and fuel, not water. When I pulled it out, there was some evidence of diesel fuel on it. At the time, I figured it to be from when I bled the lines near the commercial docks on Saturday when we left. Out with the old and in with a nice fresh pad and vroom, we started the engine and let her go.
An hour later, there was more evidence of a fuel or oil leak as the pad was soaked again. A call was place to Jun and back he came. Back into the engine room to trace every line. He finally found the leak. On my engine, there is a fuel injector pump that send the fuel to the injectors through steel fuel lines that run along side the top of the engine. The line to #4 had a small--really small leak. That's what was causing the mess. Before we left the US, I placed a call the American Diesel, the largest supplier of parts of Ford Lehman engines. I'd asked his advise as to what we should carry on board since we would be out of the states and parts might be hard to find. His recommendations--1. new starter, 2. back up alternator, 3. the exhaust elbow that connects the exhaust manifold on the engine to the muffler. This piece of equipment is subjected to all kinds of abuse since it's the place that saltwater hits the exhaust gases from the engine to help cool them off before they hit the muffler. And finally, a full set of the steel fuel lines that go from the injector pump to the injectors. Well, I listened to him and during this rebuild, I used the exhaust elbow as ours had finally rusted through and now I was going to get to install one of the steel fuel lines that I've been hauling around for 5 years. Actually, we have used three of the four pieces of equipment over the last 5 years. the only thing outstanding is the starter and we used it for a few days on this rebuild to make sure it was good.
Anyhow, having that piece of pipe saved us another long wait here in Pohnpei. Now I had to dig deep into the storage space we have under the stern bunk, but I knew exactly where they were. With a cost of over $600, you can bet I knew where they were. "Doctor" Jun took the pipe and with just a bit of bending, installed it and vroom, she started right up again. Off Jun went and I ran the engine for another couple of hours. The pad was dry and the Racor filter was still full when I shut her down(still full today when I checked it again--can't be too careful). So, to make a long story short---our engine "appears" to be all fixed. Do I trust it--not on your life. It's got a long way to go before I do. As I am fond of saying "Trust not lest yee be screwed". Good words to live by.
We filled up the diesel tanks--44 gallons at $5.30 per gallon and tomorrow we will be filling the water tanks again. Now all we have to do is have Mother Nature cooperate and we can get out of here. Right now and for the next 5 days or so, the winds are forecast for 20-25 knots and seas of three meters at 7 seconds. A windy and bumpy ride especially since the wind is out of the east north east and the wind is out of the north. We will wait and do other jobs to make sure when the going is right, we will be ready to go.
Stay tuned for more adventures. We'll get out of here yet.
Oh, by the way. On April 29, it's been 5 years since we moved on board Zephyr. Boy have learned a LOT!