Volvo EC15B mini - engine removal & injection pump overhaul - plus ......

[Stock]

After the re -build I run him in gently for 10-20 hours then give it all it's got......................

[Muz]

Doug is almost fixed. I graded the drive on Friday and he was a gentleman, plus no smoke at all so he doesn't smoke out the garages - therefore I won't be going ahead with the electric conversion although there is another conversion project looming [more on a new thread].
The hydraulic relief is still set at 85Bar which is just about half of what it should be. This is where I'll need some advice - should I ramp the reliefs up to the full 170Bar or go up in stages?

BTW the radiator was choked in the photo a few replies above but it was cleaned out after that. Tomorrow I'll drop the Counterweight, release the oil cooler and use a wide pressure spray on the rad to finish off what should have been done earlier.

Whack em up .. no problem .. you might have a tired hose that gives out , but its a small price to pay for having the digger the way it should be ... one of mine needs done too .. its tracks are weak

After the re -build I run him in gently for 10-20 hours then give it all it's got......................

An old Cnut of a fitter who I highly respect,.. told me once, just belt it up to max, when new, rebuild or what, and if it breaks its no good there and then but if it works, it be good to you all of its days,. long as you service it right ..

Ive not found much to fault the old bugger :wub: ... however I feel somewhere in between Stocks postion , and that, is about right cos .. you cant expect metal on metal to be good when horsed to the max just after they has touched he was probably talking bout times when an engine weighed a few lbs

[Muz]

So consensus is a wee run .. then give it the guns .. but you aint going to be loading it if the blocks blowing at 85 Bar anyway

[jackpreacher]

So consensus is a wee run .. then give it the guns .. but you aint going to be loading it if the blocks blowing at 85 Bar anyway

I adjusted the first relief up to 160Bar and suddenly I had a serious mini digger that could do some work. It's like training for the 800m with a deep sea diving suit on and then doing the race in trainers - couldn't believe the difference. No hoses blown and the engine was totally smooth and self governing in terms of revs. No blue smoke, even under full power.....which I needed cos I got him stuck where he died last October, but this time he dug himself out and carried on working. What a relief

There are 2 more reliefs to adjust but I don't know what they adjust yet so it'll be a case of RTFM tomorrow. I'll take photos of the relief valve adjustments and post. Hopefully, this thread is drawing to its conclusion.


PS ...after power washing the radiator there was a marked lowering of the operating temp within the engine bay, in fact I could just about lay my hand on the rad after a couple if hours of hard trench work. Take heed fello EC15 owners...Muz knows his onions.

[Muz]

Cheers dude .. I'm much obliged .. as we all are for this thread and its information ... hows about, if your going to post ... you start another thread about the main relief settings and how to do it .. so others (including me ) can see whats to be done, cos Ive forgotton which ones need the adjustment as its a very common problem with EC15's .. you will be approaching guru status by this point .. and be getting calls from some volvo fitters just shortly ........and if your up for that we can lay this thread to rest.

One more thing .. you said you were going to come up with a hypothesis on how the injector plungers failed .. and got damaged as they did ... any advance on that .. was it just the stud coming loose allowing them to rotate that caused all the trouble ? and if so why do you think ?, just wear ? ... we know the shaft moved too .. so was it a cobination of the shaft being 1/8th out of alignment, and a rotated plunger that caused the gouging on one side of the cam ? , but it was the wrong side ? ... possibly someone fitted a dodgy shaft just to punt the digger as "operational"

Oh and another .. so that means it WAS shutting down correctly due to overheat .. so that should eliminate the black box being at fault under the seat then well for now anyway ... until it does decide to chuck it .. anyways enjoy fella

[jackpreacher]

To finish off the rebuild

Just to finish this thread off...

1. To refit the engine offer the engine up to the engine bay and slide it onto the chassis.
2. Once the engine is roughly in position remove the lifting chains.
3. Leave around 6 inches of space at the back of the engine bay so you can reach in and connect the battery strap to to the solenoid and the alternator connection. Also pull the electrical umbilicals through and be careful not to let them get trapped under the engine tray.
4. Once the umbilicals are through push the engine fully into the bay and bolt up the three bolts hat hold the tray to the chassis.
5. The final bit of rebuilding is the air filter and its bracket which bolts onto the top of the fuel tank. The air filter mustn't be fitted until the engine is in the bay.
6. Connect the hoses and put the oil cooler radiator back in position.
7. Start up. See earlier posts from Muz regarding the method of starting up from scratch.
8. Dig.
I'll start the hydraulic adjustment thread tomorrow.
A massive thank you to every one who made some excellent suggestions along the way.

[ianoz]

Thanks Jack, for the time and effort you have put into this thread . It has been an interesting read .

[jackpreacher]

Thanks Jack, for the time and effort you have put into this thread . It has been an interesting read .

You're very welcome Ian, ........but I forgot the analysis bit

Here goes.

Original Symptoms:

1. Very (blue) smokey running
2. Not a lot of power
3. Intermittent performance/behaviour/hot running

Causes (IMHO)
Poor maintenance of the engine oil/filter caused wear on the IP, notably the pins that keep the plungers in alignment as engine oil is designed to circulate in and around the IP plungers. The wear was less severe on pin #1, nearest the timing gear end as that is where oil enters the 'chamber' where the IP sits. As the pins wore down I would guess that pin#3 failed initially and rotated in its cylinder and started to oppose the camshaft. This would interrupt the fuel delivery but not kill ignition just yet (performance drizzling off).......this is when I had started the trench work.
Doug was tilting at around 15 degrees from vertical in parts of the trench so oil pick up may have been impeded and caused failure of pin#2 but still the engine was working.
At this stage Doug quit (pre-forum membership!) so I whipped off the fuel lines and fuel filter, cleaned it all, put it all back and he restarted ok. On reflection the engine quit because it overheated due to either a blocked/clogged radiator and/or poor ignition. The clogged rad is my personal favourite...................that's too happy...............that's better.

So he restarted because the engine had cooled - not because of my feeble 'repair'......though I did pat myself on the back at the time....

By now the IP camshaft was getting 6000 shoves a minute in the wrong direction from 2 wonky, hardened steel cam followers - as the damage occurred on the cam lobes in a diagonal orientation it pushed the cam away from the timing sprocket as that Bolt #7 has only one purpose in life - to oppose motion of the cam towards the sprocket.

Finally, with both plungers (1&2) getting no activation as the cam lobes had been worn away and the cam itself pushed out of line, the engine gave up under fuel starvation.
Note: The cam followers on the IP were 100% - no damage at all. No wonder they cost £60.00 each to replace......they're made of very hardened steel.

Poor maintenance caused this total engine rebuild.

Well, that's my conclusion........What do you guys think?

[jackpreacher]

I'll start the hydraulic adjustment thread tomorrow.
.

....as in next Tuesday..........

[Stock]

[jackpreacher]

[Muz]

How many hours are on the clock Jack ?

[jackpreacher]

How many hours are on the clock Jack ?

2552 Hours - however that accurate is. It's a 2007/8 machine

The whole Digger cost £7000 [no FAT] with an Indespension Trailer.
To rebuild the engine and repair the IP cost no more than £750.00 and [estimated] 40 hours of my time @£free per hour
To restore the trailer to full working condition cost £48.00 in parts and 2 hours of my time.

For Ian: I used 2 boxes of 100 blue gloves @ £10.00 total.

This digger owes me around £7800.00. A bit expensive??

[Stock]

Not really Jack..................

[Astro1218]

Hi guys great thread !