EU bio diesel grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I collected the starter motor on Saturday morning and fitted first thing on Monday morning there was just enough water to run the engine it started first time and the rebuilt motor turns the engine over noticeably quicker than it used to I think it must have been on it's way out for some time.

Refurbished starter motor

However the fuel injection pump is a totally different story it is still leaking and seems to be getting worse and on further inspection it appears not to be from the banjo pipe but from the pump casing mainly from the end cover and the joint halfway along the casing also from the stop shaft and the throttle shaft. These are all on the low pressure side of the pump and sealed with 'O' rings it is known that the diesel fuel available today which contains 10% bio diesel has an adverse effect on rubber seals etc fitted to injection pumps on older engines which I am assuming is the problem. When I first ran the engine there was no problem with leaks I am assuming that it had been running on proper diesel but as the bio diesel has got into the system it has started attacking the seals which probably were getting a bit hard. On Wednesday I set too to remove the fuel injection pump which turned out to be a bit of a pain, in order to get to the back mounting bolt I had to remove the exhaust manifold and to remove the exhaust manifold I had to remove the heat exchanger and to reach the final nut I had to remove the oil filter most of which was done hanging head first into the engine space.

Fuel injection pump finally out

I had intended to strip the pump and replace the seals myself but in view of the struggle I had to get the thing out but after thinking seriously about it I decided to take it to City Diesel in Rochester and have it completely stripped and overhauled I really don't want to be doing this job again anytime soon also it can then be properly tested. City Diesel is a one man business that I have used on a couple of occasions and has always done a good job at a fair price and on previous occasions has done the job while I waited although not possible this time.

In between struggling with the fuel pump I have faired in the epoxy repairs to the cockpit benches I always try to over fill the defects with thickened epoxy as it does shrink a bit on curing but this does leave a b it of sanding to do and if using colloidal silica it can be a tad tedious so in order to speed up the job I tried the oscillating multi tool to remove the worst of the excess and then followed up with sanding to finish, this proved to be highly successful a little care is required to prevent removal of the original surface.

Gas locker lid after cleaning up

Cockpit locker lid after fairing repairs

With any luck the fuel pump should be back next week but in the meantime I have the engine space bilge to clean up and weather permitting the cockpit benches to finish fairing and painting.