Vance Bass
Sun, 02 Jan 2005 14:24:07 -0800
Last night I fired a loco that had not been run for at least three years (and then, on a test run). It was frozen up, wtih green goop at several suspicious places like the valve stems. I think that was rancid oil, which is probably what Joe saw when he was firing on vinegar. By applying Liquid Wrench solvent to the previously oiled parts, I was able to get the chassis moving, though it was very lumpy. I checked the valve timing, oiled the motion, put a few drops of machine oil down the steam line and ran it on air for about five minutes. It smoothed out pretty well running on rollers, and when I lifted it, it took off. So, I fired it up, let it run on the rollers for a few minutes more, then moved to the garden, where it ran like a champ. That's a long-winded way of making a simple observation: I suspect oil is Joe's contaminant. regards, -vance- Vance Bass Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA Small-scale live steam resources: http://www.nmia.com/~vrbass