This reminds me, we're going to (finally!) replace the exhaust manifold on the
Pisten Bully on Wednesday. Its cracked near the flange to the turbo and has
been leaking the whole time I've been around the machine. Ben says the machine
is noticeably down on power because of it. Oh and you need to run with the
windows open all the time because the cab fills with exhaust. The "crack" is by
now nearly 1/16" wide, its huge...
I went down yesterday and soaked all the bolts in Kroil. The studs from the
manifold to the turbo are a lost cause. The bolts into the engine don't look
bad though. Fortunately the manifold comes with new studs.
$1700 for the manifold direct from Pisten Bully. You might remember that this
is an MB engine but the Pisten Bully tilts the turbo differently, we never
could find an MB manifold that we could work with...
-Curt
On Monday, December 30, 2019, 11:47:40 AM EST, Dan Penoff via Mercedes
<mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:
Since most of the household is back to work today, I figured it would be a
good time to do some maintenance on the hot water heater.
A bit of a build-up:
This (new) house was owned by a widow for probably 8 years after her husband
(allegedly) offed himself. That’s a pretty bizarre story for another day.
Anyway, as you might suspect, she was prone to get sucked in by contractors as
well as not maintain things as one should. One of her early “misses” was
installing a solar water heater system. She did this when we still lived across
the street, so it was about 10 years ago at least. She pissed everyone in the
neighborhood off, as she gave the contractor everyone’s contact information so
they could come around and pitch their crap. That did not go over well.
When she had the roof replaced a year ago she had the roofer remove the solar
panel, yet they left the stub-ups for the water lines. WTF? So I’ve got a new
roof with a couple of pipes sticking out of it about a foot, but again, that’s
just another issue for the list that I keep…
The water heater is really a glorified storage tank. It’s an 80 gallon American
water heater with a closed loop that the solar panel’s water would circulate
through. Funny, as when we moved in I heard this whirring sound in the garage.
The circulating pump was still connected to the loop piping and running,
despite everything being disconnected. Duh! Oh yeah - because it’s a solar
storage tank, it’s only got one 4500W heating element in it, too. Great. 80
gallons of water and a 4500W heating element...
I was sure the water heater had never been flushed, so I did my morning run to
Home Despot/Lowe’s and got some brass parts to replace the usual crappy drain
valves on most water heaters. 3/4” brass nipple, brass ball valve, hose adapter
and a cap.
I get home, turn power off to the heater, get the garden hose run out of the
garage, open a couple of hot water faucets in the house and get ready to open
the nylon/plastic drain valve.
Nothing. Nada. Not a drip.
Get the compressor and a spray gun with a rubber tip. Open the drain valve, hit
it with 100 psi air, and BOOM! A huge blowout on my side. Water and probably a
1/2 cup of scale comes flying out of the drain and coats me. Nice, but progress.
Nope. There’s so much scale in this thing it just clogs the valve right back up
after I blow it clear.
OK, so we’re going to play nasty, eh?
Got out my spray can of Kroil and hosed down the joint between a nipple coming
out of the tank and the nylon/plastic drain valve. I’m enjoying some lunch
while the Kroil does it’s thing. I’ll go out shortly and see if I can turn the
valve loose. Earlier attempts yielded no movement.
This could get ugly.
-D
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