It must have been nice in the old days not having a motor. Splendid is a fat ship and not so good in light air and in tight spaces like a river, or inland water way. Once we leave the country it will be a long time before splendid ever sees a river. She will frequent proper anchorages and sail in the sea.
I spent the day yesterday changing a broken alternator belt and fixing a fresh water leak on the engine. At some point I have to address the oil leak and pull the motor apart and replace the front, rear, and oil pan seals. Perkins 4108 are notorious for leaking oil like the old Harley Davidson’s were. That being said they have more marine instillations than any other motor and are the proven work horse of the industry.
I’m thinking I’m going to try and recycle my leaky motor oil. If it leaks into a clean pan I don’t see why I cant reuse it if I keep the oil filters up to date? there is a well under the motor and I’m thinking to rig a pump and some sort of filter.
I found a place that makes synthetic seals for the 4108, if you have the same problems with your 4107, or 4108, you may want to check these guys out.
http://www.foleyengines.com/Info.aspx?DeptID=129&PID=21
My buddy David hooked me up with a cool new way to post my blogs so you’ll see some cool ne features like this one. Here is an aireal photo of the anchorage in St Augustine where we are now.
That’s all for today folks.
Peace, Love, and sail far!!!
– Alex
Published in Alex Dorsey
dang. Out of town for holiday travel this weekend. Was hoping to take you and the gals out to lunch or dinner. If you’re still in St. Auggie next Wednesday maybe we can hook up.
Merry Christmas.
ALEX…DID PLAN B 2 TIMES IN COLOMBIA TO GET IT TO QUIT LEAKING.98%..NOT HARD IF YOU CAN GET TO THE FLY WHEEL…ONLY HAD TROUBLE WITH THE REAR…LEAVING FOR TUSCON 1-12-2010, AND TO PLAN B THE FOLLOWING WEEK…..GARY
Gary, good to hear from you. My next big problem will be dealing with the leak. Did you have a 4108 in plan b??
ALEX….I HAVE A 4-154 PERKINS (62 HP ), BUT THE SEALS ARE THE SAME TYPE….DO NOT LET MECHANIC LEAVE THE TWO PIECES LONG…..IF YOU ARE IN DOUBT, THEY ARE TOO LONG….WHEN COMPRESSED THEY WILL LEAK AT THE SEAMS…ALSO ROLL THE SEALS INTO THE JOURNELS, DON’T JUST FIT IT IN WITH YOUR FINGERS…..BOUGHT AIRLINE TICKET SOUTH FOR 1-12/ HOPE TO BE HEADED NORTH BY 2-1….DID YOU GET WATER MAKER PLANS? CHEAP AND WILL DELIVER 30 + GALLONS PER HOUR…….I ALSO FOUND A TRUCK AIRCONDITION COMPRESSOR, AND HOLDING PLATE FOR REFER…I TRIED THE RECYCLEING OIL, BUT WHEN CAUGHT IN CONTAINER, IT TURNED OUT NOT TO BE AS MUCH AS IT SEEMED WHEN IN BILDGE…TRY A HUGGIE DIAPER MAY BE LOOKING FOR CREW IN FEB……………..G
Good morning Alex,
I just viewed the pic of your engine and noticed that you have what looks like a plastic/metal and fiber air intake filter. The engine preheat coil that is mounted in the air intake manifold an inch or two below the filter is supposed to ignite diesel fuel to warm the intake air. When you use the preheat coil, you may melt the filter and start an engine room fire. The fix is to get the Perkins/Westebeke air intake which is made of steel and has no synthetic filter. The current filter looks a bit melted or squished or twisted.
During the Hansen Marine diesel course, they did a maintenance demo of a 4-107 that was mounted on a pallet. To demonstrate the preheat function, they removed the intake filter and energized the preheat coil. Within a few moments, a flame about 12″-18″ erupted from the air intake. (The instructor let the fuel burn off a bit and then hit the start button, and the remaining ignited fuel was sucked into the intake and cylinder heads). Pretty scary…the lesson learned is never use the preheat coil without the filter installed, and use a non-combustible (probably OEM) filter.
The short black hose coming from the head gasket should connect to the air intake cover. I wonder is this may be contributing to your oil leaks since the air in the top end of the engine is not being extracted from the valve cover chamber? Just a thought.
Best regards,
s/v Endeavor