As mentioned in the previous blog, a cascade of new joint injuries (I assume that is the term of art) parked on top of my cherished collection of previous Evel Knievel-style damage (and all collected having actual fun), murdered my plan/initiative to drop the marketing and clean up the three remaining readiness items.. and then put it back on the market. So, I (shamefully)
surrendered from what has always been the only effective policy across nearly 50 years (trust nobody's diagnostic judgment) , and attempt to hire a proficient/ethical mechanic. I can out-diagnose/wrench ANY so called mechanic I'd met over that time, and I improved with each case. Batted 1.000 overall, right up until now anyway.
I truly should have abandoned my do-it-myself plan way earlier while essential elements of my skeleton could still "do stuff". I was good in April... my last trip down into the engine room to try to complete one last diagnostic experiment on a generator oil leak (the most "you don't see that every day" of the three) saw me forced to break off after <5min down in the hole (engine room). After driving 120 f'ing mi each way. And I'm pissed off I may have destroyed me not just for this engine room work and especially for such a simple issue, but more for keeping open returning to my remaining forever passions of dirt biking (woods) and cop riding... both things where you're picking a bike (250# and 1000# respectively) up off the deck frequently (if you're actually trying)... not happening with this body/this condition... though I suppose I can hope they reissue the complete works of Lawrence Welk soon. Just as good, right?
Bruce Lee meets Charles Bronson - that is, Enter the Mechanic - The guy I had just hired when I wrote the previous blog wasn't going to work out, so he got cut loose before things began. Literally the next day a friend connected me with a mechanic he could not have recommended more enthusiastically. I want to say atypical enthusiasm, punctuated by recounting business actions with that firm that make you think "maybe". "Maybe" doesn't happen much. Ever. First conversation... no red flags seen, and more importantly, there were all these little hints he's got decent diagnostic chops and knows diesels. And he LISTENS looking for things that will help him kill the problem. First meeting... pleasant, interested, and more of the same good habits and demonstration of know-how peppering the conversation. I was parked on the settee, used up from just climbing the ladder... I could see him but not the generator.. and MAN do I miss the old days when I could get that low while in a kneeling position. I apparently have been overly reliant on mirrors to make up for my inflexibility and the little SOB didn't use mirrors:) After 20-30(?) min digging in further and removing more of the generator case, I heard him call up "Found it!". Damn.... *I* never got to yell found it! So... there goes 1.000. But good job Jon!
I couldn't get down to look directly at it but he took some pictures... a bonding strap substantially out of sight due to the box and engine elements in the way, was lightly making contact with the oil pan, and by what I assume was dissimilar-metal corrosion (see note**) produced a not-insignificant opening in that pan right on the radius between the vertical and horizontal transition at the very bottom.Given this was a high-latency/high-flow leak (days to initially emit, days to empty completely), I must assume some crap on the floor of the oil pan swept toward the opening and blockaded the exit for a while. I measured about 1/8" depth with a welding rod at the dipstick hole upon cessation. After the first release, my 2-3 diagnosing experiments all involved less than 1 qt of oil with an ounce of UV tracer dye which presumably would provide less depth and then less of a pressure head to move any crap out of the way and start the flow, and so, longer latency and less flow. I'll have the ground strap replaced too, along with the belts as long as they're easy to get at. This is awesome, but I'm also disappointed I'll never got to see my method of diagnosing under what specific part of the engine between the oil pan and the catch tray the oil leak was actually located. I thought it clever. If someone needs to, email me through here and I'll write it up.
Debrief - The preceding was the specific diagnosis... at the general level, I'll be on the lookout for ground and bonding straps that are interrupted by inadvertent contact between their end points more than just this position on this specific generator (Onan 11.5KW). That strap I assume was "designed" in to the overall system by Onan, as was a Kubota V1305 engine. I'm wondering if that proximity was appropriately considered at the design stage given it appears two different teams may have participated in that design detail. My new vigilance for this won't be limited to generators but all kinds of machines, as bonding wires exist in all kinds of settings/machines, as does the potential for dissimilar/galvanic metal corrosion.
I've experienced/fixed lots of oil leaks over the years on cars/trucks/motorcycles/tractors... and not just me but numerous of my friends who are engine guys... this was an atypical leak. Some of note from my history, the tsunami of oil out the bottom of my Royal Enfield Interceptor in college (security gave me my own parking space.. had to position the bike so the oil didn't flow on to the tires. They took "my" space back when the oil ultimately metastasized into 2 adjacent spaces. I didn't get to fix that one.. my friend blew it up. Thanks Mark:). Also, my 71 Ford Maverick/industrial-mosquito-control device.. which didn't leak oil but burned it profusely. Every trip was 1 quart to get there, one quart to get home. No prob.. kept a case of Gas Land oil in the trunk.. $0.39/can IIRC. Those cans used to actually leak slowly even as they sat in the case! Got one can left, in my garage... sealed... and of course, empty! Poor college student then (goalie sticks were not cheap) but repairs later involved new gaskets or O-rings mostly on the bikes and valve cover gaskets and such on the rest... Something that worked EVERY single time for me on jobs where a gasket or O-ring would be a big job... AT-205. I personally have had 100% success with that. An oil pan gasket leak on my tractor 10 years ago was instantly corrected by that stuff, and it continues to remain leak-free after multiple oil changes. Sometimes, chemicals are effective and the best choice, especially on low-duty-cycle machines, and I'd put generators in that bucket. Just FYI as long as we're talking leaks.
Final Diagnosis and repair plan... done. New oil pan and gasket on order (from Kubota.. not Onan). And I pray the single proficient (and flexible) mechanic I've met in the last 20 years doesn't get hit by a bus in the interim. So.... solution finally happening. I intend to get the leaking pan back and see how I do brazing a repair on that.
The other two issues... new batteries and a new combiner relay, trivial but I'll need to farm those out too. I got a guy now. And I'm not throwing batteries in until it's needed so some super-helpful soul can unplug me in the yard. But Clock Work is fully back on the market and emails are flowing (and being read) again. Time for me to wonder if I want to farm it out to a broker or not. I want to get to work trying to reclaim at least some of my used-up body, finish my book, and start making my clock. And I just don't have even one more interaction in me with one of those insistent, talk-over-you, entitled, knows-everything cubicle/Excel refugees who have never fixed/designed/maintained anything, and who are Google/forum black belts that seemed to have contacted you to start an argument. Which sadly, has occurred a non-trivial fraction of the time. Buffering THAT is what I would get from a broker.
In closing, huge thanks to my good friend Doug for being ready to help and advise at any point on this giant PITA!
Note** - I will more than make room for the idea it may have been galvanic corrosion too with the bonding wire (copper braid) being both the cathode and the connection to the anode (oil pan). Still have a hole either way.