It is a little frustrating not to be of much use getting First Light off the dock. Hired guns replaced the start battery, start solenoid, house bank, and current limiter. My contributions in doing actual maintenance since we tied up here have been modest. Helping Deb with putting a service kit in the head pump and running a string of LED lights in the salon about covers it. With the latest major project having been finished the day before, yesterday was “look for the fuel leak in the generator and the starboard side engine" day. Something it seemed I could do without too much trouble that might not take much time or effort to fix.
Another weather window missed
So we opened the floor and I climbed down into the hole to pull the cover off of the Generator. With ear plugs in and flashlight in hand, Deb fired it up. It took about 15 minutes but I found some fuel weeping out of a banjo fitting. It wasn't much but, when not on the dock, we run the generator for an hour or more in the evenings, enough time to for even a small leak to accumulate an unacceptable amount of fuel. We shut it down.Then we fired up the starboard engine. In way less than a minute fuel was drooling down the engine case. The source of the drool was clearly coming off something mounted in the high pressure fuel pump that had a wire attached to its end. Fuel dripping over a wire. Not something I like to see. A single wire suggested it was either a sensor or a solenoid of some kind, but I had no idea what its actual function might be. The amount of fuel being leaked was simply too much to even think about not fixing.
After some discussion as to the best course of action, I pulled the bolt out of the generator banjo fitting to see what I might see. Deb started working her parts finding magic.
The parts manual for the generator listed the banjo bolt seal as an o-ring. I found a crush washer. The marina had a crush washer in stock that fit and the access was pretty easy. With the new one installed and the generator rumbling away, where I had seen fuel seeping before I didn't see any fuel seeping at all. Even after a 15 minute run. I'm not totally convinced that is the only leak. But it was the only one I could find. We will be pulling the cover off of the generator with every engine room check from now on.
Though the leak in the engine was much easier to find, getting it fixed looks like is going to be a much bigger deal. Since we could see where the leak was originating, our first thought was that changing the solenoid would be the fix. Deb worked her magic and we have a solenoid heading this way, to be delivered on Tuesday. But she did some deeper research in an attempt to verify that we actually have the right part coming and managed to track down and talk to a parts/tech person in England who works for Lucas, the manufacturer of the pump itself, which is mounted on the Cummins engine. According to the Lucas tech, a leak in this area should be addressed by replacing the pump as the leak's real origin likely lay in the head rotor of the pump. Which will, eventually, lead to a catastrophic failure of the pump and engine. I know just enough about diesel engines to know he has a point. Unfortunately the pump in question isn't that easy to source. These are old, though very popular, engines. Which, somehow, ends up meaning parts are not particularly easy to find. So, even though we have a solenoid on its way, we may actually be here for the better part of two weeks waiting for a pump. Something we will not know until the weekend is over.
The next question is, will I be able to replace it? But I am not near the wizard I used to be when I fixed airplanes for a living. Reaching and replacing the part looks like it may require removing much of the fuel manifold and associated lines for access. Or we may be replacing the entire pump. Either of which could mean needing an unknown collection of seals, crush washers, and “O” rings to reassemble. Since it will mean playing with the very heart of the fuel system there may also be a particular procedure necessary for replacing it without doing more harm than good. Deb worked her magic once again and found a maintenance manual for the engine. In it I found a step by procedure for replacing the pump, along with a list of special tools required. After some mechanic soul searching it was obvious. I should no more attempt to replace that pump than a marine mechanic should attempt a hot section on a P&W PT6 turbo prop engine. So, come Tuesday, we will open yet another work order to have the pump replaced by someone who knows what they are doing.
But hey, it looks like I might have fixed the generator. At the end of the day we were lounging in the salon. Deb allowed that it was a pretty good day. We are still on the dock with money draining away almost as fast as the calendar. But she is right. It was a pretty good day. We did what we could do, made what we think are the right decisions. And that's the best that anyone can do. As for my mechanic's pride? Ah well, no one can fix everything. (Actually, my next youngest brother might be the exception to that rule. He is one of the most talented mechanics I have ever seen. Another of which is my youngest brother who is also far better than your average wrench bender. Me? I just fixed airplanes.)
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