Maybe because of my name and wizard implications I keep getting transmissions that Martin is having flashbacks and waking up in cold sweats dreaming of broken cranks held together only by the S cam type break ( forming a kind of dog clutch ) allowing it to drive ( albeit with a rumble ) and to boot maintaining a reasonable oil pressure ( as on a lot of occasions this does happen. ) when using engine degreaser cleaner as per my writeups.
Concerned as I am that when walking alongside the engine he visualises that the crank is trying to rip itself thro' the crankcase and wind itself around his neck I feel I ought to perhaps explain further the induction of the engine cleaner in a emergency situation when one is stuck in a foreign situation without many tools and perhaps in the case of the worst scenario fearing for ones life.
So in order to set the new scenario straight perhaps a further explanation on this subject might set his mind further at rest and funnily enough may one day save him from, of all things the mighty crocodile and other associated nasties as after all none of us knows what the future might hold re trips/ work etc etc.
To start with I just realised that when I mentioned engine cleaner I did not mean the stuff that's been around forever, DEB chemicals, the trusty Jizer of the sixties but an ether/ trico based solvent, very pure and a bit above the 28 sec. gas oil on the Redwood scale rating and probably a better class of sniff if you get my drift.
Used it as a more efficient up to date degreaser now for many years when pin pointing for example older oileaks exact location.
So here you are on a 30,000 ton cruise ship on the mighty Amazon run right up as far as Manuas.
Ship stops at a large tributary and hook down proceeds to drop several tenders.
Tenders away hundreds of passys are away ashore for three hour conducted tours around the mighty Amazon.
However your job is on the tender going some nine miles inland with a local guide and about one hundred passys who are to be left in a large no of lodges built on stilts for three days and then bussed onto the next port the ship will be calling at to rejoin the ship.
Apon arrival you and the tenders crew are invited ashore for a look see and a cup of coffee.
Through wire link tunnels you go aware that there are several pairs of eyes watching you unblinkingly, courtesy of Mr Crocodile.
Arriving at the Lodge restaurant you are shown around the place and take great interest in the Gensets and small workshop attached.
Coffee break over you are escorted back to the tender by the local guide and you cannot help but see the watcher waiters nos have increased. ( i.e. The crocs )
Onto the tender after the guide has checked for any unwanted stowaways you press the start button.
Flies over but won't fire.
As this is a single screw job you think oh, well it's the norm., stop control jammed in/ Bowden cable seized or its that electric stop solenoid faulty on the injection pump which you will soon bypass to start.
Apon removing the top and side engine covers all is revealed.
There is no stop control, no manual and no electric one.
It's Common Rail.
Off with all the multiplugs, check for corrosion and bent pins, nothing.
Check pipework etc, no faults found. No chaffing to be seen either.
You then have a sudden thought and look at the ECU.
Yes, it's one of Roberts.
Going to the side of the HP injection pump and cleaning off the plaque it's exactly what you supposed.
It's that crap Robert Bosch set up of a LP pump in the tank ( feeding the HP one ) who spends his whole life submerged in fuel oil and who regularly goes on open circuit and thus presents you with a TONF situation ( turns over not firing )
However this needs confirming and unable to raise the ship and aware of the gathering audience on the bank adjacent to the tender you ransack the toolbox to discover a Woolworth kit only available, an adjustable and a universal screwdriver.
The crew at this point draw your attention to other watchers, two twenty foot plus Anacondas whose only wish in life is to demo what it's like to be inside a very close coil spring making a valve spring seem like a toy.
What you gonna do?
Racing back through the wire tunnel you seek out the Lodges handy man.
Back to the Generator rooms you see some old fashioned trico fire extinguishers akin to the latest type of engine cleaner.
Scrounging further you locate a pump up old dispenser together with some plastic piping, a spare fuel can and some LFO.
Back to the tender and off with the aircleaner you now desperately need some assurance that hopefully this is what the problem is.
Cranking over your steady hand on the pump trigger containing the trico decant its in on all six straight away bypassing the stackpipe, thimble filter on the stackpipe,fuel filters and sightglass and perhaps more importantly that crap Bosch pump( yet again ) in the tank
What a blessed relief you think, and all down to that engine degreaser/ trico and the knowledge of how to use it all.
What next?
You now thanks to the engine cleaner/ trike fluid you definatly know exactly what the fault is much to the interest of the watcher/waiters.
Like the old days you make a hole at the lowest point of the fuelcan and from the metal pipe you have just cut from the HP pump inlet you press it into the fuelcan hole and seal it as best as possible.
Plastic pipe an interference fit onto the metal pipes( no jubilee clips available here ) you fill the can and attach it to the nearest skyhook and ( just like the old days pre CR ) straight into the back of the HP injection pump.
Start her up, straight in again on all six buckets in line and fast tickover it with the guide back to the ship.
As the crap LP pump is meant to put out about 44 psi your gravity feed won't lend itself to above a fast tickover enabling all the nasties in the river a leisurely swim following you in case your cobbled up fixit doesn't work.
Now the moral of the story is this Martin.
Crank or Croc?
Over where I am we are in the practice of selling skilled labour utilising tens of thousands of pounds worth of diagnostic equipment so the Crank V Croc practice is hardly ever used ( or told to many outside persons ) as diagnostic kits have to be paid for (and yearly updates ) so this is always the prominent line of attack used.
However this knowledge is there should you ever need it in an emergency situation,
Used with a steady trigger figure pressure no danger of a broken crank or stay pally with the river dwellers?
Once used in your life could well be enough.
So the moral of the story?
Crank V Croc?
No contest methinks.
Converted?