Owen visited this weekend, and he volunteered to help. We started with the charging system and found that there were loose connectors and corroded terminals on the generator and voltage regulator wiring. We cleaned up the wiring, replaced some bad stuff and got a nice charging indication on the dashboard ammeter. But, we observed fuel rapidly leaking from the mechanical fuel pump. That proved to need a complete overhaul, and failing to find a remanufactured pump or the requisite parts in this town, we ordered one from a web source. One week estimated delivery, so no more running. Sad, actually, because last week Mrs Phil had paid the sales tax and license fees and got temporary tags that will let us drive it for a couple of months.
With no fuel pump and no running engine, we took on the headlights and signaling systems. John David dropped by and he, Phil, and Owen renewed the front wiring, where we had found loose connectors, broken junction blocks, and perished insulation. Replaced one headlight and, after sorting out some grounding problems and corroded lamp sockets, the turn signals, tail and parking lights, and headlight high and low beams are again functional. No stop light or backup lights yet. Heater and defroster fans run, but the heater core is bypassed, indicating it probably leaks.
 |
| The threaded bolt belongs to the adjusting screw and is missing a lock nut and star washer. Fluid leaks quickly past this bolt. |
We inspected the power steering box in the hope of finding where the fast leak was and determined that an adjusting screw lock nut and star washer are missing. From the exploded diagram of the box, it appears that nut was not intended to provide an oil seal, so the shaft seal behind it is probably bad. The power steering stop leak is probably not going to be enough to fix this.
All in all, some good progress. As we expected, we are finding more things needing attention as we work our way through the list. But fixing things is kind of the point, isn't it?
No comments:
Post a Comment