Friday, June 15, 2007 I cleaned the engine off some. Messy, and used up all my brake cleaner, gotta get some more. (I wonder what the case price is?) I also sprayed on a bunch of engine degreaser, but I'm not in a place where I can use the hose for a rinse. That stuff makes everything all slimy and drippy, unlike the brake cleaner. I may have to push the car outside for cleaning at some point. Almost everything below the head line is oily, greasy, and/or dirty, most of it quite caked on. I can, however, visualize how leaking valve covers, chain tensioners, power steering, and injection pumps could be responsible for it all, so I'm not going to blame the head just yet!
I removed the dead AC compressor, and its mounting bracket. (The latter for cleaning purposes.) I used more rubber stoppers on the exposed lines to prevent the incursion of moisture and dirt. There are no obvious signs of 'Black Death', but I haven't yet looked closely for AC debris. The exposed O-rings are black, not green or blue; I'll probably put in the green ones I got in an AC ring kit at Harbor Freight when it was on sale. ($10 for 224 or so of mixed sizes.) I put the IP in a box for show and tell purposes. ...At lunch I took the pump to the shop. The woman manning the desk couldn't tell me anything other that one of the guys would look at it. (They were all out.) I also stopped and bought a case of brake cleaner, $2 a can on sale rather than the usual $3. ...And an hour later my wife called and said they'd called and could do nothing with it. So back I went, all the way downtown. (I was attacked by a 'chicken' during the freeway trip, which was quite startling. I'd rolled the windows down and the buffeting dislodged the Chicken Wagon's mascot from the first aid box and it came flying forward at my head, nest, plastic eggs, and all. The raffia nest made quite a racket as it rattled forwards at me and then swirled around in the back of the car. Good thing I don't have a weak heart!) The pump guy said that they never saw those particular pumps and suggested Coast Diesel in California, a place I'd even heard of, though it may be under a different name now. I'm not going to do that, as it was running well. But we chatted a bit about my potential leaks. He rummaged in a box and found a big green O-ring that looked like it would fit the flange. He gave me about four of them, in fact, and said it was their standard seal. He also gave me a few various sized small O-rings to try on the shutoff shaft seal. He noted that it was quite loose, and that the whole pump would have to come apart in order to properly fix that. The bushing is worn, but he thought I might be able to jam the O-ring in to help stem the leak somewhat, and pointed out that there was oil sign on the body that indicated it was leaking from there pretty heavily. He warned against letting that shaft push back into the case while the lever was off as the pump would then have to come apart to get it back out. I have the dead 4-cylinder pump in the woods I can play with to learn on. There was no charge for the O-rings and advice, he just asked that I bring him some regular business when I could! I appreciate the courtesy, and will of course throw what business I can his way. (Of course, everybody I know with the VP44 has _already_ had their pump replaced. But I suppose if it happens once it could happen again.) Saturday, June 16, 2007 More engine cleaning. Four cans of brake cleaner later I was woozy, and decided I'd had enough for now. (The garage doors and windows were all open, and it was a low-VOC non-chlorinated product, but still...) Things are a lot cleaner nonetheless, though I'm not done. Along the way I removed the alternator and its bracket, and placed both brackets in the solvent tank after first giving them a good scraping. My 'replacement' alternator is, of course, not at all the right thing. I'm going to take the worn one apart to see if it looks like I can replace the bearings myself, and to see if it's worth doing at all. Nothing I would do should ruin any core value it has. -- Jim _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
