Fault Finding

As usual; any long outback trip results in a very dirty vehicle.  Moreover the fine Australian dust permeates the interior.  The division of post-trip activity meant I assigned myself the mundane tasks of cleaning whilst Carlin took on the more complex tasks of repairing the trailer suspension and our Kipor 2KVA generator.

I'll write nothing further about my cleaning efforts as almost everyone knows how to clean a vehicle!

Carlin has a very good knowledge of practical mechanical engineering and after stripping the damaged side of the trailer suspension identified the root cause of the broken suspension arm bolt.  The bushes installed during assembly were too small!  The consequence of this was the bolt "flogged around" inside the end of the suspension arm with all the pressure (compression) occurring on the head of the bolt.  This is why the head had sheared off causing the suspension arm to collapse.

The trailer is well outside the warranty period however we visited the Perth distributor to discuss the problem.  The business had been sold since I bought the trailer and; of course; the trailer has been superseded.  Fortunately the new owners were able to source four replacement bushes of the required size from a bin of old spare parts out the back.  Carlin then needed to elongate the mounting holes in the suspension chassis bracket in order to allow the new (larger) bushes to be installed.  The trailer wasn't assembled in China.  That was done in Perth.  I suspect the original Perth distributor fitted the smaller (loose) bushes when he discovered the correct sized bushes didn't fit in the mounting holes.  Smaller bushes probably aren't an issue for trailers that rarely venture off road.  However that isn't the type of terrain I want to travel.  Hopefully the replacement of the small bushes and the new shock absorbers will be the end of my trailer suspension problems.

For more that a year the Kipor generator hasn't worked.  I had already replaced the spark plug and there was a spark.  Fuel was making it to the carburettor but it wouldn't start.  Carlin thought the spark was weak and we bought a new coil.  That improved the strength of the spark; but it still wouldn't start.

  

With the air filter removed Carlin squirted small puffs of carburettor cleaner into the air intake whilst I pulled the starter cord.  The generator started but would only run if continual bursts of cleaner were squirted into the air intake.  No fuel was making it through the carburettor. 

Carlin removed the carburettor and I submerged it in a container of new petrol before placing the container and carburettor into the ultrasonic cleaner for two hours.

This appeared to resolve the problem as the generator started on petrol once the carburettor was refitted.  To test it, Carlin wanted the generator to run on maximum load.  The nearest device I could find was the DeWalt bench saw.

The generator ran until the fuel tank was empty.  Another problem solved!

On reflection I think I probably caused the problem.  I had left the generator for a lengthy period with fuel in the tank which had likely gone "stale" allowing varnish to gum up the carburettor.  That's a mistake I won't repeat.

Carlin has now returned to New Zealand where he is commencing his preparations to take his yacht on a south-west Pacific voyage.  For my part; I need to complete the construction of his yacht electronic chart plotter and boat monitoring system.  I'll leave that for another post.