Bulldozer Fixed and Tearing the Van’s Heating System Apart

Monday April 20, 2020 Guerneville CA.

Dozer part arrived

I was surprised to find the dozer part I needed when I went to the mailbox this morning.

Looks like the right part.

If I get a chance I’ll work on getting that part installed later today.

Removing the van’s radiator

But first I wanted to work on my van. I needed to drain the radiator fluid out and take stuff apart to get the radiator out so I can start working on my heating problem upgrade.

I got all the parts out except for the radiator but it’s ready to take out.

Parts

I need to get the parts I need for the upgrade ordered up. I plan to put a high volume water pump in with a high volume thermostat and a new fixed blade fan. And I also plan to move the radiator back towards the engine a few inches which I hope will improve the air flow into the radiator.

Putting the dozer back together

But I wanted to get the dozer solenoid installed and the dozer put back together so I got the tools together for that job and drove on over to where the dozer was parked.

I installed the part and turned the key to prime the injector lines. It took some time but eventually diesel started to come out of the injector lines so I tightened them up, or is it down. I tried the key and the engine started for a short time than stopped.

Forgot the valve

Oh, oh,….. oh, I forgot to turn the valve on under the fuel tank.

Once that was done I decided to try the key as I think these injectors are self priming as they have a fuel return line which  means they should be able to pump the air out without me priming them.

All back together

Sure enough it started right up so I put all the other parts back on that we had to take off to get to things.

Once it was all together I started it up and backed it up a little.

Little guy

When I got off I spotted this little guy. It had been living under the dozer’s blade and was rudely disturbed but seemed ok.

I picked it up and put it in a safer place.

I picked up my tools and went on home with intentions of taking the radiator out of the van, but I just never got around to it and did some chair  hopping instead.

And that was my day puttering around and getting some stuff done.