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

[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

[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

[Stock]

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

[jackpreacher]

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.

[Muz]

The X5 creates airflow along the road that an excavator can't .
Mate was telling me with his Gocart motors ,idea running temp,and meltdown temp are so close .Fuel mixture is critical , too lean and motor overheats .

Yeah but it could be stuck in traffic all day too .. the flip side of this is that in cooler climates .. people want to jump into a car and have instant heat when they turn their engines on ... that V8 block warms my garage nicely when I park up and its still hot several hours after Ive done so

[ianoz]

The X5 creates airflow along the road that an excavator can't .
Mate was telling me with his Gocart motors ,idea running temp,and meltdown temp are so close .Fuel mixture is critical , too lean and motor overheats .

[Muz]

I lolled at that .. looking at it the other way .. the X5 wouldnt look too good with a 3 foot square rad grill on the front .. or maybe it would .. it would be more like one of those Yank enchiladas

[Muz]

How do you clean the rad in-situ. or does it have to come out?

You should be able to do it in situ , just release the oil cooler forwards and you can access the rad directly almost enough, or though the vents infront of the counter weight at the side by angling your jet nozzle accordingly

A clean rad is seeing all the way though the whole thing, and unforntunately these days, as engine tolerances and dynamics become tighter, the efficiency of the supporting parts needs to be higher .. as I constantly see engineers reduce the sizes of things like radiators in order to save on production costs.

Give you an example .. my 4.8 V8 BMW has a rad about 2 foot square, but my last Hitachi EX135 13 tonner with a three litre diesel 4 cylinder had a 3 foot square Rad .. now I know it was an in situ engine.. but very much lower performance !

Bad digger design doesent pay enough design time to factors like this .. and the EC15 is a good tool .. but IMO its rad is a bit too small and does need attention

[Muz]

I'll bow to your experience there Muz and clean it again on Monday - I did run the air over it and could see all the way through but there was loads of muck came out.
How do you clean the rad in-situ. or does it have to come out?

Air wont shift all the crap .. its high pressure water you need .. but as Ian says to much, too close, will damage the fins, so either back off with the lance in distance, or turn the pressure down a bit, if your washer has that facility. Either way the trick is to leave the engine running at full bung to increase the disruption of crap in the fins ... just watch this method though .. as quite often the air intake hose on machines sits next to the rad .. and you dont want water in there although a 'small' amount of spray wont hurt

...hadn't even thought of that, in fact when it was reinstalled and running there was some new vibration noises that I could damp by pressing on the exhaust bracket/bush just by the hydraulic pump.

Dont know if all the bits were there when you stripped it, bit theres an 'L' shaped bracket to secure the tail pipe to the fly wheel housing that might be missing .. as they were a pig for vibrating off .. the tail pipe should have a raised section near the exit where a captive nut used to go, but often rattled out .. thats where the bracket went .. and if you dont have it it makes a lot of noise and ultimately lead to a pipe fracture as it needs the support that it gave

[jackpreacher]

Carefull with Pressure washers on radiators Jack , Easy to bend/damage fins .

Agreed! see answer above

[jackpreacher]

.. your radiator looks blocked to fook

I'll bow to your experience there Muz and clean it again on Monday - I did run the air over it and could see all the way through but there was loads of muck came out.
How do you clean the rad in-situ. or does it have to come out?

.Because the diesel tank sits on the left side of the engine, constant fuel overwashing when refilling, rots the engine mounts.. which allows it to move more than it should be able to and so chaff a rad hose

...hadn't even thought of that, in fact when it was reinstalled and running there was some new vibration noises that I could damp by pressing on the exhaust bracket/bush just by the hydraulic pump. Anyway, to clarify, the hose clip bolt was missing on the first partial strip-down months ago and I replaced it then so probably halting the hose rubbing on the fan belt [it made a neat groove]

[Muz]

Coupla things .. infact three .. first .. heads up, to more excellent detail of the rebuild Sir

Second .. your radiator looks blocked to fook
And third .. if you do have main radiator hose chaffing .. check you engine mounts ...

Because the diesel tank sits on the left side of the engine, constant fuel overwashing when refilling, rots the engine mounts.. which allows it to move more than it should be able to and so chaff a rad hose

[ianoz]

Carefull with Pressure washers on radiators Jack , Easy to bend/damage fins .

[jackpreacher]

Radiator and Fuel Tank

blow through the radiator fins.jpg
Thoroughly clean the radiator fins. I used compressed air but a pressure washer may be more suitable?? My radiator was fairly clean and it was easily possible to see straight through the majority of the fins.


offer the radiator assembly up to the engine tray.jpg
Offer the radiator up to the engine tray. There are two threaded studs at the bottom which locate the rad in place.


attach bottom hose 1.jpg
I forgot to mention that the bottom hose should be removed from the radiator and attached to the thermostat/water pump housing first!


attach bottom hose 2.jpg
There is a hose clip that secures the hose to the engine and keeps it away from the fan belt. My hose clip was present but the bolt was missing hence there was some superficial damage to the hose - nothing catastrophic [yet] but it will need replacing soon. However, I'm aware of it now so I'll keep an eye on it every time I use Doug.

attach bottom hose 3.jpg
Attach the bottom hose to the radiator. The radiator is still 'loose' and able to be moved back and forth in it's bottom mountings.

Fan belt too close to bottom hose.jpg
The closeness of the fanbelt to the bottom hose............


attach top hose.jpg
I think I'm pointing to the superficial hose damage in this photo.....


Fully insert the radiator suspension mounts through the radiator frame.jpg
Insert the radiator mounts through the rad frame....


bolt the rad suspension supports up.jpg
...and bolt in place. The rad is now secure.



attach top hose.jpg
Don't forget to attach the top hose.


Install fan guard.jpg
Install the fan guard with two bolts


Install Fuel Tank and pipes.jpg
Install Fuel tank.........[rushing now....]



Keeping the bolts in order.jpg
How I kept the nuts and bolts in order.


TBC next week.

[jackpreacher]

Engine tray, exhaust, fan belt, alternator

Thoroughly Clean the engine tray!.jpg
Clean the engine tray thoroughly..........ha ha ha ha ha..ho ho ho ho...


Lay the tray on wooden blocks under the engine.jpg
Line the tray up under the engine, then slowly drop the engine down where it'll rest on its sump - which is a BAD, BAD thing, so quickly raise the engine up......

Lay the tray on wooden blocks under the engine 2.jpg
....and place some suitably sized wooden blocks under the tray to raise it at least 5 inches above the table.

install the exhaust at the same time as the 4 tray mounting bolts.jpg
Now you can lower it safely without the sump hitting the table. Unfortunately I didn't record the exhaust being re-attached but it is done at this stage BEFORE the mounting bolts are placed in their relevant holes, in fact this photo shows the location where the exhaust mounting bracket goes in between the tray and the engine mounting bracket. Apologies.


Fuel pipe #3 first.jpg
Once the tray was secured by the four mounting bolts I installed the fuel pipes. It's easiest to access the connecting nuts by doing pipe #3 first.


breather hose.jpg
Fit the breather tube...note the blue glove wrapped over the air inlet to stop ingress of, well, anything really....However, if you're Australian you can probably stretch the carcass of a Koala over the aperture.........then go for a beer.....


bonnet catch on.jpg
There are two bolts that secure the Counterweight/Bonnet quick release mounting to the engine tray. These can be adjusted for horizontal movement later on when the bonnet has to catch the latch.

bolt on fan assembly.jpg
Attach the fan assembly and take this opportunity to replace the fan belt.

install the alternator.jpg
Attach the alternator. The bracket spacer on my L3E is at the back end of the alternator. Check the belt runs 'true' in the vertical plane when located in the three pulleys.

use a lever to attain corect fan belt tension.jpg
Tension the fan belt by moving the alternator with a lever - be careful not lever against anything breakable.....I can't remember what's behind the screwdriver now but at the time I remember thinking that I had to be careful.......

secure alternator top bolt.jpg
...and lock the alternator in position. Don't forget to tighten the lower bolt as well.

reattach the earth strap.jpg
Re-attach the earth strap but leave the bolt on the engine block loose as the electrics from the digger engine bay will attach here.