Christmas Day aboard Zanshin means Maintenance Day. I can’t leave until I get a tool on Tuesday, so I’ll do everything but the engine today.
Sunrise
I woke at sunrise to gusty winds and overcast. But even this relatively bad weather is glorious when compared to the conditions currently prevailing in the USA. Those blizzards and power outages make me realize how nice it is here. Even if my T30 Torx bit won’t let itself be found.
Morning
Fortified with 2 coffees, I removed the connections to the ECU control box and removed it. This allows easy access to all the T30 bolts and also gives me more access to see if I can find the missing bit. I’m taking a break and letting the bleeding stop, there are just so many sharp and rough edges in that cramped space.
I’ve also got the borescope charging, the batteries ran out as I was searching the abyssal depths of the motor compartment for the bit.
The downside of exposing the fuel pump is that I can no longer run the engine and am, effectively, stuck in place. The battery bank is large enough to tide me over for a couple of days. Nevertheless, I don’t feel comfortable without the backup of my engine. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and find the bit once the borescope is ready for action again; then I can finish the job at hand.
Christmas Day aboard Zanshin means Maintenance Day. And it’s not even 10:00 in the morning yet!
11:00 T30 found
The T30 bit has landed. I had a false alarm, and when I finally pulled out the part it turned out to be a nut. But I located it shortly after 10:00 using the borescope, but couldn’t get at it.
Using the grabber just pushed it out of reach; so I had to rig some paracord to pull the hoses up and out of the way. Even then I couldn’t locate the pesky bit. More sleuthing with the borescope not only got me dizzy but located the shy bolt, hiding in a corner. Using other tools to shift the bit close enough so that I could reach for it with my arm allowed me to reach it. Instead of rejoicing immediately, I set about bandaging myself first; not wanting to leave a trail of blood on the cabin sole.
11:30 Hammer Mod
Access to the bolts was now easy and I loosened them each a half turn, marked the location with a Sharpie, and gave it a couple of “Hammer Mod” whacks (thank you, Jesse) to increase the range of the IQ (Injection Quantity). I re-assembled the ECU box and connected all the cabling and made sure that none of the parts I’d not re-attached were close to any moving parts. Then came the moment of truth – turning on the ignition and firing up the engine.
Ignition gave the characteristic “beep”, but the engine wouldn’t fire. I checked all the cables, attached the VCDS system to show no error, and tried again. The starter happily turned the engine over but there was no ignition. I didn’t panic, but despite being safely anchored in paradise I was extremely vexed!
Despite the ECU box being in the way, I managed to loosen the T30 bolts and gave it a lighter whack in the opposite direction and tightened things down. With some trepidation, I turned on the ignition and pressed the starter…
It fired up right away; and giving it throttle up to 1800RPM worked and the RPMs remained stable, as well. The “Hammer Mod” worked; I’d just applied a bit too aggressive hammering the first time around.
Afternoon
Attaching the components to the engine took a long time, but luckily no parts were left over when I was complete. That is always a comforting thing. I opened up a bottle of Rioja chilling in the fridge and celebrated Zanshin‘s newly restored mobility.
Evening
I found two potatoes in the back bottom of the fridge. One looked unhealthily black and went swimming while the other found its way into the pot to boil. After it had cooked sufficiently, I wrapped it in foil and placed it into the BBQ to finish. Adding some spicy sausages to grill completed the meal. Along with the rest of the Rioja, it made for a tasty dinner.