Leaky Wilesco

DeeBee · Leaky Wilesco

First of all, can I say that I'm new to this forum and this is my first posting.
I need some advice please about a Wilesco TE which has a slight leak from around the sight glass seal. Removing the little screws from the sight glass seems difficult without removing the boiler, so I'd be grateful for any advice on how to go about fixing the problem

Don

Spokesmann

Hi Don and welcome to the forum. The leaky sightglass on a Wilesco is a fairly common problem, the glass is an excellent aid to checking the water level, but does seem to be prone to the odd leak. Now is your leaking from the seal or it where the whole sight glass assembly is soldered on? If its the latter then the only way to rectify the problem is to remove the boiler, they do come apart - a mixture of screws, tabs and rivets, the rivets would need to be replaced. I have a D405 downstairs - Ill go and familiarise myself with it for a moment. Some picture would help too!

Mike

Spokesmann

Right I've had a look. The sight glass assembly is partly obscured by the rear scuttle. The scuttle is rivetted on - thse would need to be drilled out. The canopy is bolted to the scuttle base - easy to undo. The wheel would need to be removed to get at the rivets holding the scuttle at the side - so some new hubs would be needed - if the old ones are damaged in removal. Once the scuttle is off you can get at the screws holding the sightglass end assembly which compresses an O-ring seal onto the boiler end. Tighten the screws and see where the water/steam is coming from. Also check all around the joint where the rear sight glass assembly is soldered to the boiler, if the screws sort the problem so much the better, if not the glass would need to be removed with its screws and compression ring, then the rear part of the boiler can be re-soldered.

One of our members from New Zealand had a similar problem and took apart his all brass roller and effected the repair. Its a little tricky but can be done. Its a bit of a pain removing the parts to get at the problem.

I'll see if I can find the link and post it back here.

Spokesmann

There you go, have a look through here...

http://freesteammamod.myfreeforum.org/about2531.html&highlight=

Dennis may be able to give you some pointers.

DeeBee · Leaky Wilesco

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your reply which is very helpful. So far as I can tell, the leak is from the seal so may not be too difficult to deal with. I'll try that first as I don't fancy de-riveting everything! The pictures in the link helped a lot too and if I have to strip the whole thing down, I think I might do a complete renovation while I'm at it as the engine is looking a bit tatty.

Somewhere, I have a set of small watchmakers screw drivers; I'll try and find them and maybe I can get a the screws without dismantling anything.

Thanks again for your help which is much appreciated.

Regards,
Don

Spokesmann

Good luck Don, if the engine need tidying then it might be a good point to bite the bullet and go for it, spares are redily available, members here can give you plenty of advice!

silverfoxsteam

Hi Don and welcome. Good luck with the repair, let us know how you get on, I've got three Wilesco mobiles so this is of real interest!

DeeBee · Leaky Wilesco

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for the welcome [ and you Mike] I'll certainly let you know how I get on, but if it has to be a total strip-down,it may be some time as I'm under pressure to do various jobs around the house! Why can't women get their priorities right!?

Regards,

Don

Spokesmann

We all have problem Don... Well most of us! Wink

DeeBee · Leaky Wilesco

Tightening up the screws hasn’t cured the leak so I’m afraid it’s going to be a stripdown - but when, I don’t know! Now I have another problem that I hope someone can help with but as it’s about a Mamod Steam Wagon, I’ll open another thread.

Regards,

Don

Spokesmann

Look forward to seeing it.

RAK402

Is it a very small leak?

This sounds somewhat crude, but someone advised me to use radiator stop-leak on my rusty Marx verticle. It cured the leak completely and required no surgery.

Just a thought.

Mamod Collector

Spokesmann

DeeBee · Leaky Wilesco

Thanks for those suggestions but since I made this post, I no longer have the Wilesco! i was offered a good price for it - leak and all - so I let it go. I'm now looking for another one, but I'll keep those ideas in mind just in case it happens again.

Don

silverfoxsteam

Ah - shame, I really wanted to know if the radiator sealer worked!

DeeBee · Leaky Wilesco

Sorry!!!

Don

silverfoxsteam

Actually, come to think of it, I've gat a slightly leaky Falk that will eventually require the end caps taking off to sort, so in the meantime I may try a bit of rad sealer as an experiment.

RAK402

"A bit of Radweld?"

I will have to look at what brand it is (I still have it in the garage).

It was a thick liquid that looked like a large part of it was metallic powder. It worked great.

Not my idea-a forum member originally suggested it.
(I wish I had thought of it though).

Spokesmann

Anyone tried it?