No Leaks, No Drips, No Errors

After talking to Greg’s Diesel in Anacortes, Washington, we placed an order for the coolant pump, belt and other needed parts for repairs, and had the package sent with overnight delivery to our friend’s home address. She would be flying into Port McNeill from Seattle on Wednesday. We provided her with some paperwork to facilitate customs clearance into Canada. 

New Coolant Pump and Backing Plate

In the meantime, we had discovered Progressive Diesel shop just outside of downtown Port McNeill; they are an authorized dealer for John Deere parts, Cummins engine parts, and Volvo Penta parts. Since we had twin engines, Leonard knew it would be best to have a new coolant pump and parts for the other engine on-hand. Progressive Diesel was able to order the parts from Vancouver BC, which would arrive in Port McNeill the next day (Tuesday). We also learned that Progressive Diesel delivers parts and supplies right to your boat at the docks.

After receiving the parts from Progressive Diesel, Leonard immediately began work on replacing the parts on the starboard engine. With most engine repair projects, it takes far more preparation time than one might think, including assessing what needs to be replaced (which includes all the parts around the part that failed) plus cleaning up the affected area. A decision needs to be made about how far one should go when replacing parts. In this case, it was a decision about how many pulleys should be replaced. Out of the four pulleys, Leonard was able to clean up three of them; the fourth pulley needed to be replaced.

New pump, pulley, and belt installed

The project required a lot of research – what is the correct repair sequence? What kind of sealant should be used (type, color, heat rating)? Before installation of the new coolant pump, the old sealant first needed to be scraped off without scoring or damaging the face of engine parts; how is that done? Do we have all the necessary tools? And correct size tools? As it turned out, Leonard needed a smaller torque wrench, which we purchased from a local auto shop. The correct size torque wrench is needed to set the required tension on the bolts to prevent leaks, while making sure not to strip the threads on the engine mountings; that would be really bad.

Other questions or research included the fitting for the heating system that threads into the side of the engine coolant pump, which is a non-John Deere part. A replacement O-Ring was needed, but we couldn’t find the appropriate size to fill the gap. We ended up using two O-Rings from the local auto shop.

Fitting and hose for the boat's Hydronic Heat System

The hydronic space heating system for the boat is connected to the coolant pump via a hose. The attached end of the hose needed to be cut off; would we have enough hose left to re-attach? With a little re-arrangement, there was enough slack in the hose to reconnect it to the fitting.

In order for the sealant to adhere to the new parts, all the new parts had to be cleaned due to the oily residue. Once all the research, procedures, parts, and tools are ready, then it’s a quick matter of mounting the new pump and parts.

Taking the boat out the following morning for a sea trial was the next step.

Refilling the engine with Coolant

Would there be any leaks? Would the engine run smoothly? Had we refilled the coolant without trapping air in the system? Morning came, and we left the docks to motor around the harbour; the engine hummed along smoothly; "No Leaks, No Drips, No Errors." That afternoon, our friend Danielle arrived with the engine parts from Greg’s Diesel in Anacortes that will be used to replace the similarly old pump on the other engine.