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8th July 2010
When the fuel pump was refitted to 14 901, we thought that was it and everything was ready. The fuel header tank had been modified preparatory to fitting a level switch (which would at least give the driver a warning that there was only 4 or 5 litres of fuel left before the engine would unexpectedly stop!) and after bleeding through, the engine ran steadily.
But onlookers reported an oil leak, and sure enough, a pool of black lube oil was forming underneath the loco.
But where was it coming from? We returned for an unprecedented Tuesday evening work session and found that the leak was present even when priming the engine by hand, which indicated that it was after the initial delivery line from the pump but this disappears into the oil filter and cooler which is a compact assembly and hard to see around. Even a "mirror-on-a-stick" could not pinpoint the place of origin. Terry and Andrew concluded that it was emerging from behind a blanking plug on the filter header assembly, so dismantled this before gathering darkness brought work to an end.
On Wednesday Pete and Andrew returned, and with new seals for the plug and entry/exit bobbins to the cooler the assembly was put back on the loco. By 10pm we were ready for test and to our frustration the oil leak was still there. Aaagh! The only other possible location is the end seals of the cooler pack, so now it is a race against time to get new seals, drain the coolant, undo the cooler cover, change the seals and and reassemble. With luck all will be ready by Saturday morning.....
View from the running plate, showing the Filter head top left, the water pump (top right) and the main coolant pipe that leads to the oil cooler, hiding behind.....
James Work resumed on the Yorkshire 0-4-0DH at the Derwent Valley, with more trial bits of pipe presented and clamps welded as the through pipe for the vac system creeps forward. A revised method and location for the exhauster drive is now planned, to speed the job up, and it is likely that James' front left hand casing door will be put into store while a spare is modified to accommodate a "power bulge" over the exhauster. Finally the fuel pump was removed for attention - hopefully curing its tendency to hunt at idle and reduce smoke.
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