He Was Just Cleaning the Injectors... Then the Yeramba Started ITSELF

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Most of the checks for our regular running vehicles for Oz Armorfest are complete. Now they're moving on to resurrecting vehicles that haven't started or been driven for a long time.

[00:00:10]Today they're having a crack at the Urama, a 1940s Australian self-propelled gun built on a Grand Chassis, sporting its original twin Detroit diesels. The boys have never worked on this system before and we might be missing some critical components in the Urmber, but luckily we have a very complete vehicle to compare it with. I thought that I'd just scramble into the grant so that you got a little bit of a reference point of what the controls and stuff look like with the your amber. Even though this is biodegraded away quite significantly, many of the controls are obviously the same that you'll soon soon see including all the other bits bits and pieces.

[00:00:57]And also what's good is is that this seems to be exactly the same vintage uh uh or series power pack as what the Amber has. So, of interest is looking at things like throttle linkages and governor assembly and all this sort of thing cuz it's completely 100% new to me. Thankfully, here in the Urmber, you don't need a tetanus shot like you do with the other grant to work on the thing cuz there's significantly less rust here. What we've got seen as got running two motors. We've got a start engine, stop engine for the left, start engine, stop engine for the right, one volt meter cuz we've only got one generator.

[00:01:37]We've got two temperature gauges.

[00:01:38]>> Yeah.

[00:01:39]>> Two pressure gauges.

[00:01:42]>> And I'm not too sure what that one is.

[00:01:45]>> Oh, so that's an amp battery.

[00:01:48]Discharging the the batteries. Should mean that we're able to operate the engine sort of independently of each other. And then on the right hand side there, that's not that's not connected to anything, but we're sort of maybe guessing that that had something to do with the normal engine shut off. I've got like zero experience with the Detroit diesels, but like billions of other people have done, you've looked on a few YouTube videos and suddenly now you're an expert. So today working on the uram and I believe I've fixed the water leaks and sorted out the dirty water that was in it blocking it. Today we're going to see what the fuel filters and the oil filters look like.

[00:02:34]Little bit of p persuasion.

[00:02:39]Okay. So we got a little gauze canister.

[00:02:44]So we'll see what this looks like.

[00:02:51]Oh, yeah. There's a there's a little bit of gunk in the bottom, but for how how long it's been sitting, it's um in pretty good condition. Get some numbers off that. We might be able to get an aftermarket one or or a new new old stock. I've given the filter housing a bit of a clean out. I'll put the old filter back in for now until we can get a new one.

[00:03:17]At least we know that the fuel system so far isn't too bad.

[00:03:25]Got an old style steel mesh separator.

[00:03:32]Looks like kerosene.

[00:03:35]The clarity of it is actually um is pretty good.

[00:03:45]These are pretty good. You just need to give them a a light clean out.

[00:03:53]Everything's cleaner than it was.

[00:03:59]A different filter will work.

[00:04:03]Okay.

[00:04:07]So, it's um still a bit murky. The same as the other side.

[00:04:15]Oh yeah, that's a little bit not too bad.

[00:04:23]Cleaner there.

[00:04:25]So, we'll put that back together and we'll check the other fuel filter there.

[00:04:30]Right. See what this one looks like.

[00:04:37]Doesn't smell that great. Just looks like a a stale diesel.

[00:04:47]Okay.

[00:04:50]Hopefully the oil's not too bad on them.

[00:05:01]Well, at least we know it's got oil in it.

[00:05:05]It looks like it is going to do it. So, that that's really great. Check the other filter as well, but I can just put this straight back in for now.

[00:05:20]Little bit more persuasion.

[00:05:22]Different filter. This one actually looks like it might be the original filter.

[00:05:28]Yep, that is definitely an old school filter. That one. It's actually got military standard filter. So yeah, definitely original filter on this side.

[00:05:40]Obviously, it's sort of looks like it might be breaking down a little bit now.

[00:05:46]Put it back together.

[00:05:59]Right, that is it. Got one cap there and another one there. And both of the lids are seized solid on them. I had to whack that one open to get to that. But hopefully um be able to see how much fuel's in there.

[00:06:17]Use the right tool. See if I can get it with a shift. Oh yeah, that's nice and easy.

[00:06:30]There's a little bit of rust in there, but it definitely looks like a fuel tank.

[00:06:37]There's not very much in there.

[00:06:40]Okay.

[00:06:42]Very minimal. So, that's good. And see how much fuel is in this side. Little bit of persuasion with our hammer.

[00:07:01]Tiny bit of movement on it.

[00:07:07]At least we'll get it open enough that we can actually check the fuel.

[00:07:23]>> What's going on, man? Am I all right?

[00:07:25]>> Good. Good. I've managed to open up the the left hand side fuel cap and we can now see inside it that this one actually hasn't been used for a while. So, the other side that we've got looks like it's going to be the one we're going to use.

[00:07:57]>> All right. What we found is you've got the main tank just in there and then there's a drain out of the tank into another one. This drain here >> drops into another tank >> like a sump >> into a sump tank and it appears to have a divider in it. One half is lubricating oil, the other half is fuel >> fuel.

[00:08:19]You hope you don't get that mixed up.

[00:08:21]>> The fuel gauge is in the top tank. So it'll read empty and you'll still have 20 30 L of fuel sitting in the bottom there. When you push your right foot down and an engine like this, you're not actually directly controlling the fuel going into the engine. You you're really placing a request for a certain amount of power.

[00:08:44]And what's happening is that the governor assembly in here is actually responding to how far you're putting pushing your foot down to request power by then allowing a fixed amount of fuel to be injected into the into the engine, which all works perfectly good for 99.9% of the time. But if you were to have some issue with the injection system or the governor and it's no longer controlling the amount of fuel it's injecting, instead of it stopping the fuel and stopping the engine from going past its safe RPM limit, there's nothing to stop the thing from oversp speeding and basically running till destruction, which is something we definitely don't want. But let's get the rocker cover off and have a look underneath.

[00:09:30]Whenever you see things like this with like a big hand nut to to get things off, it's I think they make it so that you're supposed to be able to take that off quite regularly.

[00:09:43]>> All right.

[00:09:43]>> Okay.

[00:09:44]>> Now, we can see what we got.

[00:09:46]>> Yep. So, there's going to be quite a few of uh our viewers that are very familiar with these, but it's all pretty new for Dave and I. Being an early engine, you've got only two exhaust valves where I think the later ones have four.

[00:10:01]Looking at the throttle, it's it's got a definite sort of a quadrant to it.

[00:10:06]So, it's got a position where it seems to run normally and then there's a quadrant that it paths into. And I'm sort of thinking that this must be the actual stop position. Each injector is controlled individually from the fuel rack. rather than a more conventional injector pump.

[00:10:27]So, if I look at all the online videos, they all talk about being super careful to make sure that um that this is all free because if any of these little plungers on the rack seizes, it means it stops all cylinders from from moving and that's a situation where you can have the runaway of the engine. Next, check to make sure that the injectors are all free.

[00:10:54]So, I'm going to try and do that by carefully levering on them. That seems good.

[00:11:04]The point of that, >> that one's less good.

[00:11:10]That one's not good.

[00:11:14]That one's good.

[00:11:19]That one's not so good. If this is really tight on here, last thing we want to do is turn the thing over and um create some damage to it. We'll have a go at trying to pull off these pipes, work the injectors backwards and forwards, and make sure that they're nice and free. And that then we'll have a go at at turning the engine over on the motor. What we're going to do is use a syringe full of WD40 into the ports of the injector as a bit of a solvent to break up any stuff that that might be in it. Push it into one and it might push it out of the other.

[00:11:54]>> Oh, yep.

[00:11:55]>> So, there you go.

[00:11:56]>> See that dirty fuel coming out? E that we done before.

[00:12:00]>> Hold it from the head so we don't put too much leverage on it.

[00:12:08]>> Don't be moving there. Yeah, it's sort of displacing fluid.

[00:12:12]>> Yeah.

[00:12:16]>> Right. So, that's got it down.

[00:12:19]>> Now, we have to try and get the thing up.

[00:12:24]Oh, yeah.

[00:12:30]I'm a little bit reluctant to jam the screwdriver in there. Let's um syringe a bit more WD40 into it.

[00:12:44]So, it's still sort of >> It's holding a bit of fluid in there.

[00:12:48]>> It still got a bit more gunk out of it, didn't it?

[00:12:51]>> Yep.

[00:12:57]>> Felt like it might have been moving in a little bit.

[00:12:59]>> Yeah. I wonder if um just give it a bit of a What if we do this, Dave? I'll hold the rack in the um fully sort of off >> Yeah.

[00:13:29]>> position and I'll just get you to bump the starter. just see what it does >> on that right hand engine. It can't start >> y >> and run away from us.

[00:13:39]>> Yeah, we've got all the pipes loose as well. So, >> yeah.

[00:13:43]>> Okay.

[00:13:44]>> Okay. So, what I'm looking for is this injector pops back up again cuz that's on the firing stroke. All right. So, go ahead. Just bump bump the the starter again.

[00:14:01]That was shortlived, wasn't it?

[00:14:03]>> It was.

[00:14:06]>> And the injector's nice and free.

[00:14:10]>> Have another go at trying to bump it.

[00:14:12]>> Yeah.

[00:14:15]>> Keep going.

[00:14:17]It's up there.

[00:14:28]>> I reckon we're on a winner.

[00:14:30]No Steve today. I've undone all the injector pipes off the injectors. I'm going to syringe some more cleaner down in them and see what gunk comes out of them.

[00:14:43]Just a little bit of dirty feel coming out of them. Not too bad, though.

[00:14:50]Okay. Well, that worked quite quite well. Sort of movement I've got on them.

[00:14:55]Now, a couple of them obviously aren't moving too far cuz they're coming down on the their stroke.

[00:15:10]Give a couple of them a little bit of a tap and see what if that helps.

[00:15:23]See what the movement's like in our rail.

[00:15:27]How free we are.

[00:15:30]It's done to free up now.

[00:15:43]All the injectors are moving freely.

[00:15:47]Looks like it it might not stick now.

[00:15:49]We'll just give it a little bit of a turnover while all the pipes are off.

[00:15:52]Just to make sure it's motor is going to turn over.

[00:16:14]Okay. With no injectors, I could got a bit carried away. Lucky there was no more fuel in it and it stopped. I might have to have a beer after this just to settle settle me nerves a bit.

[00:16:44]>> All right. So that's all those done up.

[00:16:47]Dave's been busy, as usual, bolting everything back together and and and had a fun experience with how easy these Detroits want to start when everything's working properly.

[00:17:01]Down in here, we've got the clutch lockout mechanism, which again is supposed to be connected to some cables which are on the instrument panel so that the driver can either lock out both clutches or lock out one and not the other for for starting and doing other bits and pieces. But that's a that's a problem for future future Dave and Steve. What we want to do now is make sure that the engine runs good and we're ready to progress to the next step. Okay. Yep.

[00:17:39]>> Just hang on a second, Dave. Just let me see something.

[00:17:45]>> 54. Oh, yeah.

[00:17:46]>> I realized that there's a I realize there's a starter switch.

[00:17:51]>> Didn't even see them there.

[00:17:54]>> Full sand, huh?

[00:17:55]>> Give it a go. Eh.

[00:17:56]>> Okay, so that's in the run position.

[00:17:58]Let's see what it does.

[00:18:10]I see it. Jump back.

[00:18:17]>> Uh, what can we use to help it along?

[00:18:21]>> Start, you bastard.

[00:18:27]Okay.

[00:18:41]Heat up here.

[00:19:01]Yeah, the rack's nice and free, isn't it?

[00:19:03]>> Yeah. In theory, that with that one running, it should have bled half the system.

[00:19:08]>> Yes.

[00:19:33]Heat.

[00:19:43]Heat.

[00:19:56]Heat.

[00:20:02]Heat.

[00:20:24]Heat.

[00:20:28]Heat.

[00:20:52]Yeah, I think we're going to have to come up with a bit of a solution for those throttles to get them synchronized a bit better. You can see how the hand throttle is probably needed to stop it from stalling. But um >> but on first impressions, it sounds really good. Like the engine's got great oil pressure because you got oil coming up through the rocker shafts.

[00:21:12]>> And when these things aren't tuned properly, they have this bad problem with hunting. You go.

[00:21:20]So >> other than it just stopping by itself every now and then, it it sounded good.

[00:21:25]>> Yeah. Yeah, it does. Heat.

[00:21:42]Heat.