Day 24 - Monday July 24th - Wolverhampton 0 miles 0 furlongs, 0 locks, 0 hours 0 minutes
Didn't move the boat today apart from pulling the boat forward 40ft onto a rather better mooring which had become vacant. Spoke to the man Paul on the phone, and he had me take the rocker cover off and listen to the injector pings using a screwdriver. I listened, put the engine under load and listened some more and finally decided that the middle injector sounded a little bit different from the other two. Communicated this fact to Paul who eventually agreed it would be better if he came over and had a listen himself. He arrived and did the same listening trick and agreed that the outer cylinders were pinging nicely, but the middle one was very low pitched. He also agreed that there was definitely unburnt diesel coming out of the exhaust. He had bought a spare injector with him, so we set about changing it. Having removed the fuel pipes and the clamp we could rock the injector in its hole, but not extract it. This is when we both learnt something new. It is not a good idea to use engine pressure to free an unrestrained injector. I hit the start button, there was an almighty bang, and no injector to be seen. We eventually found it, it had left the cylinder head at high speed, taking out a copper oil pipe in passing, hit the ceiling and exited the engine room via a side hatch. Fortunately through the one facing the bank rather than the one facing the water. It was about ten feet away in a flower bed. Also fortunately, it didn't hit either of us on its flight path! I set about removing the oil feed pipework so we could replace the destroyed link pipe, while Paul went back to the workshops to find a replacement pipe. When he reappeared we reassembled the bits and tried it out. Initially clouds of smoke, particularly under load, but it did start to clear, and on checking there now appears to be no diesel in the exhaust fumes. What is now coming out is thick oily smuts which were already in the exhaust, but have been softened by the diesel passing through. We then traded stories for an hour or two. Particularly impressive was the story of the bolinder which ran away, accelerating until the cylinder head left the cylinder. Punched a hole in the roof of the boat, and through the roof of the shed where it was being worked upon, cleared the road and landed a hundred yards away in a field. They went to retrieve it with a wheelbarrow, but had to wait an hour or two for it to cool down, as it was glowing red hot. They took it back, replaced the cylinder head studs which had stripped their threads, put the head back on, sorted the fuel problem which had caused it to run away in the first place, started it and it ran fine! Thankfully nobody got hit, as a red hot bolinder cylinder head landing on your head would probably ruin your whole day. By this time, the amount of smoke coming out had dramatically reduced. Still far too much under load, but a lot less. Checks reveal that smuts are still being ejected. It looks as though I will just have to put up with it until all the crud in the exhaust has burnt away. I thanked Paul, and paid him for his time - double what he asked for, as he didn't ask for enough in my opinion! It now being too late to set off down the 21, I will be staying here for another night, and setting off in the morning. Weather - Sunny Tomorrow's Forecast - Sunny Intervals Terry Streeter NB Arun - Wolverhampton ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/ygtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
