Just another day in paradise

Finally got the duetz finished for the manlift. Installed it this morning. Now before I tell the rest of my story I’ll tell you the failure. It is an oil cooled 4 cylinder engine. Head gasket failed and was dumping oil into the exhaust. I drained it as best I could before starting it. It didn’t turn over 3 times before it fired… and went right to wide open oh s*** high rpm’s. Hit the E-stop. Nope. It ain’t happening. Unplugged the shut off solenoid. No. Now this old girl is screaming and burning out all the oil in the muffler. Rolling coal! I’m hiding behind my truck wait for the block to ventilate. a guy that stopped by backs his truck up so the connecting rod doesn’t clean out his grill when it comes loose. It is glorious. And horrifying. Now we’re 2+ minutes in. And she’s just roaring. This old girl doesn’t have an ounce of quit in her. I’ve got to do something. Finally I grab my extended handle cutting pliers (because the extra 3” handle will keep me safe) and cut the fuel line. It takes another 30 seconds to run itself out of fuel. All told it probably ran 3 minutes at I’m guessing 2500 rpm’s. Somehow when I put on the shut off solenoid I forced the rack as far open as it would go. Corrected my mistake and started it back up. Purred like a kitten. How long will it last? Who knows but in a manlift it’s either at low idle or maybe 1500 rpm’s. I screwed up. It could have been much worse. I’m telling on myself because even though HEF believes I’m perfect and I’ll admit that I’m close to perfect but not quite there. Yet.

That's ok it happens to the best, just don't show us a photo of your shorts.

Just another day in paradise!!

Nicely written story. I’m glad to read the happy ending.

I've seen duetz in old light towers keep running forever after some pretty heavy abuse.

Nice job Mike!!! Thank you for sharing. Takes a BIG man to share his misfortunes with his peers. Loud engine running away..........try one thing, that doesn't work.........Holy Crap!! Now what do I do!!...........How were your hands at the end of it?? A little tremor going through them?? I can relate.........been there a few times........not fun. But, to your credit; you kept your brain engine going and engaged!! Thank you again for sharing.

Has always been a place to situate a crescent hammer or Rigid hammer in my tools kits to knock off a fuel fitting on tge old runaway driptroits, might become handy here too!

Monkeywithawrench said:

Nice job Mike!!! Thank you for sharing. Takes a BIG man to share his misfortunes with his peers. Loud engine running away..........try one thing, that doesn't work.........Holy Crap!! Now what do I do!!...........How were your hands at the end of it?? A little tremor going through them?? I can relate.........been there a few times........not fun. But, to your credit; you kept your brain engine going and engaged!! Thank you again for sharing.

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Hands were steady. Stomach not so much. Honestly at one point we were just waiting for it to explode. When it didn’t I figured I had to do something and that was my chance to save it. If you don’t screw up once in a while you’re either not doing much or are just a good liar.

Mike L said:

Hands were steady. Stomach not so much. Honestly at one point we were just waiting for it to explode. When it didn’t I figured I had to do something and that was my chance to save it. If you don’t screw up once in a while you’re either not doing much or are just a good liar.

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The mantra on the tug was "Tugboating!! It's a contact sport!! 99% shear boredom, 1% SHEAR TERROR!!" (Ocean going boat.......didn't stick to the rivers and streams)
After we got through one of those HOLY CRAP!! DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?? moments we used stick our hands out and compare who had the biggest tremor or not.LOL After reading your post, that's what I thought of of..........Stick your hand out, lets see!!LOL

We don't need no stinking umbrella!!LOL
My umbrella........

Well I’ve got an update. Wife and I flew to Texas over the weekend. As many of you know we’ve been working towards moving there for a while now. We met with a realtor who showed us several homes. We made an offer on a place outside of Lufkin which is the logging capital of Texas and the offer was accepted! Now the work begins. Got a home to sell in maine plus figure out the move, and then I’ve got to promote my business in Texas. Willmake for a busy and interesting few months.

Mike L said:

outside of Lufkin which is

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Isn't that where all the tape measures are made?

Not sure. I know there are several wood mills in the area

Congrats!

You'll be close enough to the Gulf to enjoy fresh seafood and low country bayou cooking - some fine BBQ as well. Real BBQ not somebody grilling in their backyard.

Good for you Mike L. Change is never a bad thing. At least its not Dallas.

And just incase you need prepared, here's last weeks weather- highs of 97,99,97,100,100, and 100. Just so you know....

Thank you! We’re pretty excited. We lived in uvalde for 2 years when I worked in the oilfield. We liked it but it wasn’t the perfect fit. We’ve toured around Texas a couple times looking for a place that filled our needs and it looks like we found it.

crane operator said:

Good for you Mike L. Change is never a bad thing. At least its not Dallas.

And just incase you need prepared, here's last weeks weather- highs of 97,99,97,100,100, and 100. Just so you know....


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Funny thing is that it was the same temp in maine this weekend as it was in Lufkin, Texas. I’m no stranger to the heat but I’m pretty tired of the cold.

crane operator said:

Good for you Mike L. Change is never a bad thing. At least its not Dallas.

And just incase you need prepared, here's last weeks weather- highs of 97,99,97,100,100, and 100. Just so you know....


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The added benefit is the humidity matches the temps as well!

Dealing with that here, 95 outside, with humidity feels like 103, currently 84%. Almost need a spoon to get Air thinned enough to breathe.

DM we've been in the high 90's with the humidity only trailing the temp by a few digits. According to the forecast we're going to cool off somewhat next week but will have rain.