The Leaks May Be Fixed—We Hope

Today George reassembled the fuel system of our engine. Before starting we had to resolve the confusion regarding the order in which the parts should be reassembled. The diagram in the Volvo parts list didn’t make sense and didn’t agree with videos we had watched. Nor did it agree with the order the parts were in before George took them apart.  After verifying the correct assembly with an experienced Volvo mechanic, George completed the reassembly with the new gaskets and we nervously started the engine. No leaks! We ran the engine in the slip for an hour and still no leaks. We might have felt overjoyed but are still puzzled by what caused the leaks in the first place. The leaks appeared to be coming from the area between the nut on the fuel pipe and the retaining nut. 

Normally a leak from that location would be due to the fuel pipe nut being too loose. One of the first things George did was to loosen, then tighten a fuel pipe nut but it made the leak worse.  Needless to say, we are grateful that there were no leaks today but are not entirely sure they won’t return. We would feel much more confident if we knew what actually caused the initial problem. 

I have typed the name, Volvo Penta D2-55, so many times in the search engines of my iPad over the past few days that I finally made a keyboard shortcut. Now all I have type are the letters v and p and Volvo Penta D2-55 appears. So much easier. 

We plan to leave here Saturday and head south. If all goes well we will continue on to the Bahamas. 

This is the dock next to ours. Quite festive. The pulp mill plant is in the background.