Pump the sump

Although the machine mover conveniently emptied out most the of contents of the coolant sump all over his flatbed and the road when unloading my machine, there still remains a fair bit left in there. Before I put any new neat coolant in, I need to get rid of it all, including the debris and sludge. After removing the pump, you can see a mixture of oil and water and general crud:

 It's all accessible through a cover plate in the back of the main body.

Emptying the sump all over the road was unintentional but also quite predictable. The centre of gravity of the (3 tonne) machine is somewhere around chest height, yet when lifted by long straps (that reach from lifting lug in the base, through the crane and back to the lifting lug on the opposite side of the base), the centre of rotation is at ground level. So once the machine is even slightly off vertical, the motion won't stop until something comes to rest against the straps - in this case the head assembly. 

And for completeness, the "approved" method would be to use 4 individual straps to prevent them slipping through the lifting hook. Boyo used 2 long straps....

I was sweeping a clear space for it on the concrete pad when the guy strapped up and lifted the machine. When I popped back to see about unloading the machine, this is what I saw. I nearly had puppies. It's a good thing the lugs are designed the way they are...

This second picture clearly shows the shape of the coolant sump - a sort of U shape connecting the 2 drain holes to the main sump. I thought I may as well take a few pics while the machine was at this unusual angle. Hopefully I won't see this aspect of it again.

After some clambering around and some careful boyscouting with the 1 tonne engine crane, we managed to right it again without anything getting buggered. The old dears in the nursing home opposite must have had a good hoot.

So many things could have been damaged if it had dropped to the ground or not stopped rotating when it did. Yet again the machinery gods smiled on me. 

Finally it made its way to the concrete pad at the rear of the house, with the help of 2 pallet trucks and 2 builders. This was back in December (2016).

Back to today and I've picked up one of those "drill pumps" that takes 1/2" hose and attaches to the front of a cordless drill. Looks just like this but cost £6 at Homebase. Inside there is usually a flappy rubber rotor and a non-circular cavity. As long as you don't over rev them when they are dry, they seem to work fine. Once the bulk of the remaining fluid is out, it's a matter of paper towels and degreaser. Finally, there is a cover plate and gasket under the main opening that allows direct access to the cavity. It may be worth taking that off to get inside properly.