Steady Progress

So let me first say that enthusiasm levels for pulling the engine apart have not been high, and many work-day evenings have started with the best of intentions and concluded with achieving nothing more than an empty bottle of wine.

So yesterday I bit the bullet and removed the oil cooler. To be able to access all the aft end bolts I had to unbolt the starter motor and slide it around, as you can't actually pull it off with the oil cooler in place unless you jack the engine clear of the bearers. By detaching the forward end-cap and transfer pipes from the cooler and leaving them in place on the engine I was able to pull it off with no swearing what so ever. A first.

Today I stripped the cores out and cleaned everything up. There are no obvious signs of leaks in the cores, but I will pressure test everything in any case, and I am fairly confident the leak was caused by the inner o-rings that seal the cores in the centre of the housing. Upon inspection these had clearly become very brittle with age, and as I had not replaced the inner O-ring when I did the aft core the first time (because it was logistically impossible with the oil cooler in place on the engine) I would say that the o-ring was damaged when the core was reinserted.

Exhaust manifold and oil cooler removed. Had to leave the forward cooler housing cap (lower right of photo) in place.

"Insert your caption of choice here."

 

Crap that I pulled out of the water-side of the cooler.

Cooler cores removed.

This week I will order in a full set of O-rings (I already have a full gasket set that came with the boat) and test the cores, and hopefully next weekend I can reassemble everything. Of course, now I will need to repaint everything, and so the fun just continues...