Flourescent leak detection dye

[In Memory of Vicroy]

You guys may remember I'd gotten some dye that glows under ultraviolet light to try & find the leak in my Seastar steering and also in one of my ZF gears. Got the dye, the UV flashlight, and the special glasses. Friday I carefully put on oz. of the dye into the Seastar system and followed it with some red hyd. fluid to top it off. Of course, I violated the "enemy of good is better" rule and tried to get that last tiny bit of fluid in and managed to spill the crap all over the place....anyway, it finally dawned on me that the hyd. fluid does not circulate, just pushes on the cylinder....so to get the dye throughout the system it will be necessary to put a hose between the two bleeder ports on the cylinder, open them, and pump the fluid for a while. I didn't have the necessary hose with me so that will be next weekend. But I observed no leaks, at least at the helm and autopilot pump.

I also put an oz. of the dye in the port ZF 220A where I've been losing some oil - where its going has been a mystery - for a while. The gear uses 30W motor oil. I ran the engine about 10 minutes, shifeted it a few times and shut it down. Last night I pulled out the little UV flashlight and donned the yellow glasses and VOLA!....a bright yellow drip trail from one of the gear cooler hoses where it connects to the back of the gear. Must just leak when the engine is running - and there is pressure in the hose - as I felt no oil on the fitting, but I had on dress clothes and couldn't get down and really fool with it. Don't know if its just a loose fitting or the hose or fitting is cracked, but that damn dye spotted it instantly. Will get to the exact cause next week.

The stuff works as advertised. 28 bucks for 6 one oz. vials of dye, the light, and the glasses.

UV

[Peter]

but I had on dress clothes and couldn't get down and really fool with it

HA!

I just got this image in my mind:

Esteemed attorney,(retired) and quintessential southern gentleman dressed to go out for the evening with the Mrs…. Out on his Bertram in the balmy evening breeze wearing goofy yellow glasses stooping in the purple glow of a black-light and poking around for oil leaks!

A man has to have his priorities!

Of course what makes it funny is that any one of us would be doing the exact same thing if we were in your shoes... Even if they were dress shoes!


On the steering... isn't there a bypass ( or presure reliefe) valve used when bleeding? I'm no hydraulic steering expert but would it be possible to open that bypass valve and spin the helm around for awhile? That would distribute the dye throughout the system....


Peter

[In Memory of Vicroy]

Peter - your word pix was pretty accurate...not exactly a white linen suit but close. The Seastar hyd. cylinder has a bleeder nipple valve on each end - to do a complete bleed you connect the two with a clear vinyl hose, open the valves and do as you say, turn the helm to pump the fluid in a circle, and the bubbles pop out the top as they enter the helm pump. You can bleed the system without doing the bleeder nipples and hose but it takes a lot longer - and of course the fluid does not circulate, and in my case, mix the dye with all the fluid to i.d. the leaks. I keep a box with various sizes of clear vinyl hose but, of course, I'd brought it home from the camp for some long-forgotten reason. I'll circulate the fluid and hopefully find the leak next week.

I used Tracerline brand stuff (www.tracerline.com) and bought it from an online sutomotive tool outlet. I used the oil based dye but they also make some that's water based for cooling systems that would be handy for hard to see stuff. The dyed oil drip trail I saw started directly under the hose end fitting and ran down the hull inside to some bilge water, and was floating on the water. It might be a good way to detect a leaking oil cooler, see a glow out the exhaust? It would have been very hard to see the clear motor oil dripping without the glowing dye, even for someone with good eyes, as all that stuff is way back under the deck. Anyway, it works.

UV

[IRGuy]

In my mind I can imagine a huge ultraviolet light mounted on the flybridge rail facing aft, and two dye delivery systems dripping dye into the water off the transom. Sort of puts the effect of the present underwater lights to shame!

[lobsta1]

The stuff works as advertised. 28 bucks for 6 one oz. vials of dye, the light, and the glasses.

UV,
Where did you order this stuff. I checked Summit racing & it was a lot more expensive.
Thanks
Al

[In Memory of Vicroy]

Al, sorry for the delay. I ordered the stuff from www.tooldiscounter.com

So the stuff worked and the leak was from the gear end of one of the gear cooler hoses. Friday I finally managed to get a wrench on the hose end fitting (its a hyd.hose) and gave it a satisfying 3/4 turn.....you really can's see it, just work by feel....so I wrapped some paper towels around the fitting to catch any residual leak and cranked 'er up......shifted fwd/rev a few times then saw the gear pressure gague limply fall to zero......SH*T!!!!!......my satisfying 3/4 was me wringing off the fitting, which was corroded and causing the leak in the first place. Not to worry, I carry a spare gear cooler hose at all times.....got it out...hmmm, the MF'er is too short and the fitting on one end is wrong.....gee, the two hoses from the gear to the gear cooler are different....I never noticed that before, but of course I've only chaged one and had a spare made for it....so off to the NAPA store Sat. morning whre the guy cheerfully made me a new hose and chopped the busted end off the old one and put a new end on it for a spare....NOW WE COOKIN'......of course when I got back to the camp & boat one end fitting on the new hose, and now on my old hose, was wrong....so the Bride and a girlfriend were going shopping and had to pass by the NAPA & I called and very gently told the idiot he put the wrong damn end on the hoses and two nice ladies were coming to have him fix it or they were gonna scratch his miserable G.D. eyes out on the spot.

So after a whole afternoon of seething, the lovely ladies returned with my hoses, correct ends and all......I quickly installed the new hose, filled the gear with oil and fired her up.....no leaks....shifts into reverse fine but not into fwd......WHAT THE SH*T?.....back on my belly, now sweating the 8 beers I had to keep me calm.....oh, gee, I ran the new hose on the wrong side of the gear and the shift linkage hit the hose when it tried to go into fwd.....unconnect the hose, spill the fu*king oil again......do it right, fill, and now its FIXED. Somehow its not very satisfying.

Oh yeah, did use the same stuff on the Seastar steering and both end seal on the ram are leaking bad, so time to order a new ram and maybe get the old one rebuilt....the current ram was installed new in 1996, so guess the seals just have a life, and when they done, they done regardless of how many reps they have on 'em. Now I need to figure out which ram I have, think its either the 135 or 150 one, mine is 6 turns lock to lock and have the installation stuff from Teleflex which should tell me.

But the weather was great for the dead of winter so all was not lost....the bad news is today its spitting rain & sleet and 38.

I have have some of that 12 year old Abuelo anejo rum from the Republic of Panama.

UV

[lobsta1]

Vic
Thanks for the info. Enjoy the rum & forget about Murphy ruling the day!
Al

[In Memory Walter K]

I usually find 8 beers and a not-so-visible installation a combination that's quite comparable to yours.

[TailhookTom]

I usually find 8 beers makes everything a non-visible situation -- call me lightweight I guess!

[Peter]

Vic,

You make me laugh because it is just stuff we go through all the time.

I had a good friend, now sadly gone, who summed it up so well:

"If it ain't something.... it's something else!"

Peter