Thursday, May 15, 2014

Leaking oil line on a Perkins 4-107

Ahh, the mighty Perkins developed a leaking oil line between the lube oil pump and the oil cooler.Not too difficult to change one would think, what with JIC fittings at both ends and I have the proper sized tube wrench to do the loosening. Both ends are now loose, easy peasy. I can't remove the line, both ends are flop-cocking about but I can't remove it. WTF? Turns out the Perkins engineers decided to clamp the middle of the hose to the centre of the oil pan With my nimble fingers I determined that it was definitely clamped. Borrowed a scope from work and had a look-see. Sure enough it was clamped and the clamp itself was bent against the flat of the nut (or bolt head), couldn't tell what for sure. (If it was a bolt and nut combination then I know for a fact that a sadistic design engineer was involved.). Solution: This was my wifes idea....use a hacksaw blade wrapped with a facecloth and cut the bastard lin in half. 15 sweaty minutes later I cut through the adamantium wire reinforced lube oil line and pulled them out. As I couldn't see what I was doing I suspect the line was regenerating itself ala Wolverine. Just got to get the line to a hose shop and get them to make 4" longer and with an anti-chaffe cover, it will hang freely when I install it.