I’m getting extremely close to a having a running engine! It’s been a lot of little things to get to where I’m at and the past few weeks have been a lot of punchlist items as well as troubleshooting. Today I am working on troubleshooting my weeping banjo bolts. Last week I didn’t know what a banjo bolt was and trying to get new ones proved difficult with that limited knowledge. So, here they are...banjo bolts. They’re the bolts on top of the four fuel injectors that allow excess fuel to return to the tanks via he top of the injectors.
The ones pictured above are the new banjo bolts along with the new washers. There are two washers per rail that make the seal between the bolt head, rail, and injector. Once I bled the fuel all the way to the injectors I noticed my problem, they would weep diesel and you couldn’t trighten them enough without having the threads pop causing the bolt to spin before grabbing the threads again. It seemed that the bolt wasn’t getting seated deep enough into the fuel injector and just made cranking the engine a messy and stinky endeavor! I took off the bolts and found that they were a little worn at the base of the threads. I called Foley Engines on the east coast that supplies Perkins parts and they said they had them in stock and that they are about six cents a piece. But unfortunately they wouldn't sell them individually and that I’d have to buy a fuel return rail with all four injectors as a kit which would run about $750! No thanks...next option: learn about local resources. I found the Perkins Pacific supplier down in SW Washington on my way to Portland last week and they had the washers in stock, unfortunately no banjo bolts, although they could order them and sell them individually if I asked. I found a place in Seattle called Seattle Injector Company that matched up the bolt I brought them and gave me four new ones. Yeah, they gave them to me! What an incredibly nice thing to do. I know if I ever have my injectors cleaned or serviced I'll be going there.
And, there is the problem. Notice how much bigger the copper washer on the left is? The genuine part for the Perkins 4.107 is the one on the right along with the part number, which will be very helpful in the future. The ones that were installed are at least double the thickness which would explain the threading difficulty. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the best part about going to Perkins Pacific Power in Ridgefield, WA. After literally driving to every marine engine shop in Seattle, there's a bunch, nobody could really say they knew about Perkins engines or even get me parts. They were really helpful with advice but admitted that they'd just be ordering online and marking the price up for profit. When I got to the parts counter at Perkins Pacific, Jay asked what engine I had, then after I said Perkins 4.107, he grabbed a notebook and walked to the counter. To my delight it was a Perkins 4.107 manual that included every part breakdown on every possible part you might need to repair or build that model engine. I found my go to supplier! Anyways, below is a picture of the the old banjo bolt with the old washers...
You can't even see the washers on the new setup. And, the best part is that when I crank the engine now they are completely dry and show no signs of weeping fuel! Done. Next item please....
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