The engine saga

The mechanic is saying bad things about the engine.

On Sunday the mechanic double checked some of the items that Rich was asked to check on Friday. He reached the same conclusion. The two of them worked to remove the injector pump so that it could be taken to the shop to be evaluated.

This morning the mechanic came by and gave us the news that upon examining the injector pump they found a lot of rust. This is a bad thing. It means that somewhere in the cooling system (salt water is circulated to cool the oil in the engine) the salt water is getting into the oil. Of course there is many places where this may happen. It may be as simple as a seal that needs to be replaced or the heat exchanger or something else.

We do not think the the whole engine is bad but we do need to take some of it apart to find the problem and resolve it. Today they are looking more into the injector pump to see whether it is more cost effective to replace some parts and refurbish or just get a whole new pump.

On Friday and Saturday the mechanic will be here to disassemble more of the engine in search of the leak. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be easily found and easily repaired.

So it appears that we will be at La Cruz for a while. We will keep you posted. Looking on the bright side, this is a great place, the weather is warm and plenty of social life. Maybe its time to learn some more Spanish.

Hasta luego