In 1992, a small village owner became the richest man in the village by owning a car.

Chapter 634 Mining Loader, Crushing the Foam
He then remembered that the overseas after-sales engineers had come to repair it, but in the end, they left because they couldn't reach an agreement. He regretted it a bit, thinking that if he had spent a little more money, the loader wouldn't have been left sitting there like that.

Leaving it there untouched would only waste more money in the end, but he also cares about his reputation. If he were to be bullied by Volvo's manufacturer like this, they would only demand more money if the machine had problems later.

"Sigh! When will our great China have its own powerful mining equipment?" Zhao Jianguo sighed again, his energy completely depleted.

On the other side, Yu Dawei followed Xiao Liang on the road to the mine maintenance base, and the two chatted briefly about the Volvo L350.

It turns out that this loader isn't unfixable. They had previously consulted an after-sales engineer from abroad, but the engineer said that all the parts related to the hydraulic system needed to be replaced, which was essentially an "amputation" and then a "new leg" had to be installed.

The problem is that while this repair method is simple and crude, the repair costs are enormous.

The purchase price of a mining loader can reach tens of millions of yuan. Replacing a single part can easily cost hundreds of thousands of yuan. Moreover, the other party wanted to replace all the related parts of the entire hydraulic system. No wonder the mine manager would not agree to that.

To put it bluntly, they know their child has a cold, but they don't know if it's viral or bacterial, yet they insist on taking them to the operating table regardless of the cause. It's ridiculous.

After listening, Yu Dawei understood why both Mine Manager Zhao and Xiao Liang harbored such resentment when they spoke of this matter.

This guy is basically using his skills to strangle someone. Although Yu Dawei did this often in his past life, since the profit from major repairs is definitely different from that from minor repairs, if you want to replace all the parts of the hydraulic system, then that's really a case of eating people alive.

The hydraulic system of a loader includes a hydraulic pump, hydraulic tank, cylinder, hydraulic oil tank, oil pipe connectors, etc. These may not seem like many things, but when it comes to mining equipment, nothing is cheap, especially for a big brand like Volvo.

"How long has this loader been stopped?" Yu Dawei turned to look at Xiao Liang.

"It stopped at the beginning of the year, almost a year ago." Xiao Liang pointed to the repair base in the distance. "That's where we do our repairs. The cars are parked in the area between the repair shop and the repair team's rest area."

"Sigh, to be honest, our leader is regretting it now. He's come over more than once saying that if he had known it would take this long, he should have just let that old Russian replace all the random parts, so as not to waste time." Xiao Liang had just chatted with Yu Dawei and learned that the other party was invited by Mine Manager Zhao, so he started talking about all sorts of things.

Yu Dawei had a guess in his mind. It was probably because Director Zhao was too embarrassed to go to them again, but it was also possible that he was afraid that the other party would cause some trouble again.

Right now, the problem is with the hydraulic system, but who knows if the other party will have problems with the engine and transmission when they come back?

However, it is true that it takes time.

Loaders play a vital role in mining operations.

Loaders have existed since the 1920s and 30s. They were introduced to my country about 50 years ago and can be seen in various places in industrial construction.

The main components are also very simple: engine, gearbox, front and rear axles, torque converter, bucket wheels, frame, etc.

However, despite the fact that this type of construction machinery has an even simpler structure than excavators, there are still very few domestically developed brands. Some people even prefer to buy Korean loaders rather than domestically made machinery.

"We're here. Master Yu, what tools do you need? I'll go to the tool shed and get them for you." Xiao Liang wasn't sure how skilled this repairman was, but he still had to give him the respect he deserved.

Otherwise, the leader wouldn't have sent a maintenance team leader to personally guide this person, since he still has two mining trucks that need repair, both of which are currently shut down.

"Can the car still start?" Yu Dawei looked up at the behemoth in front of him. The entire vehicle was at least eight meters tall, and one of its tires was two or three times larger than Yu Dawei.

Fortunately, he had repaired this type of vehicle in his previous life and had also worked with loaders that were much larger than this one.

Whether it's highways, railways, construction sites, or ports, Yu Dawei has repaired at least 80 or 100 loaders in his previous life, and even resold spare parts. He is most familiar with Komatsu loaders and XCMG loaders.

“If you can get up, come with me, I’ll get you the key.” Xiao Liang led Yu Dawei to the tool shed next door, opened the outer iron door, then pushed open the simple door made of plastic sheeting and wooden strips inside, and finally lifted the curtain before going in.

The weather in the northern part of the country is actually colder than in the northeast, with the lowest temperature in winter reaching around minus 40 or 50 degrees Celsius.

Even in the 2020s, the lowest temperature could reach minus 41 or 42 degrees Celsius.

It's terrifyingly cold. You can leave a drink outside for two or three minutes, and when you bring it back, it'll be as chilled as if it were in the freezer. If you take it out too late, it'll immediately turn into a block of ice.

In this temperature, Xiao Liang was actually quite worried about Yu Dawei's repair situation. After all, Yu Dawei had been invited by his superiors, and he couldn't be left to repair the car outside.

However, due to a problem with the hydraulic system, the loader's bucket could not be lifted at all, making it extremely difficult to move.

"This is the key." Xiao Liang led Yu Dawei through rows of iron shelves into a small office, then took the key out of a drawer and handed it to Yu Dawei.

The whole house was very warm, but because the windows overhead were very small, and the sky outside was overcast, the light inside the house was very dim.

"Okay, let's not use the tools yet. I'll start the loader and see what's going on." Yu Dawei picked up the keys and went into the loader to start the vehicle.

The engine roared, thick black smoke billowed from the exhaust pipe, and the entire loader trembled like an eighty-year-old man.

"We initially thought there was a problem with the hydraulic system, but we couldn't tell at first. However, over time we found that the hydraulic oil tank was full of foam." Xiao Liang stood in the cab near the door, somewhat surprised by Dawei's operation of the loader.

A typical mechanic would simply start the machine and that would be it, but this mechanic started revving the engine continuously after starting the car, causing the outside of the cab to be completely enveloped in thick black smoke.

“The problem of the hydraulic fluid is quite common. It could be a problem with the hydraulic fluid itself, or it could be that the hydraulic fluid level is not up to standard and air has entered.” Yu Dawei continued to rev the engine while explaining, “However, it seems that your loader has other problems as well.” Yu Dawei could feel that there was indeed a problem with the hydraulic system. The main issue was that the insufficient pressure caused abnormal shaking of the vehicle body. The hydraulic boom started shaking and then the entire vehicle body began to shake.

"Turn off the engine and restart it to see." After the car reached a normal speed, Yu Dawei stopped it, waited for more than a minute, and then restarted it. The overall condition of the car was not much different from before, but the frequency of the vibration was noticeably slower than before.

Afterwards, Yu Dawei and Xiao Liang got out of the car and went into the tool room. They waited for the loader to reach a certain speed to see if there would be any foaming in the hydraulic oil tank, and to see how much foaming there would be.

After waiting for about ten minutes and then letting it sit for a few more minutes, Yu Dawei took the notched board and opened the hydraulic oil tank. A pungent smell immediately hit him.

"There's even more foam than before, it's almost overflowing." Xiao Liang was quite surprised. It seemed that this phenomenon had never occurred during previous test drives; at most, there was only a layer of foam on top.

"We need to check the hydraulic pump and oil lines; it doesn't seem like a simple case of air getting in." Yu Dawei had seen loaders that foamed up due to air getting in before, but this was more serious than this.

"Then let's figure out a way to get the car into the heated storage room. It's too cold to repair it outside." Xiao Liang turned to ask Yu Dawei for his opinion.

"Hmm." Yu Dawei nodded. Fortunately, during the attempt to lift the boom, the bucket in front of the cab showed a tendency to lift up, but he had to rev the engine.

The two then began trying to move the loader to the adjacent heated warehouse. During this time, Yu Dawei also inquired about Xiao Liang's previous repair history for the vehicle.

According to Xiao Liang, there was nothing wrong with the hydraulic oil; it was all genuine Volvo hydraulic oil, and they never used other mixed oils as substitutes.

So the possibility of a problem with the hydraulic oil was ruled out. Then we checked the oil level and sealing, and the other party said they had checked those as well. They even disassembled the hydraulic pump before and found no wear or damage to the parts.

So far, the repair team has checked all the issues related to the foaming of hydraulic oil, but they haven't found any problems.

The maintenance team even suspected that the foreign maintenance engineer might not have known what was wrong with the hydraulic system, which was why he replaced all the relevant parts of the entire hydraulic system.

Even though Xiao Liang said that, Yu Dawei insisted on his judgment. The hydraulic pressure was definitely seriously insufficient, and the boom was shaking like a leaf. There must be a problem with some critical node in the hydraulic system that no one had paid attention to.

The reason why some machines are difficult to repair and eventually become complex problems is, in Dawei's opinion, mostly because the repairman is too careless. He checks them and finds no problem, so he is too lazy to continue disassembling them.

If we disassembled it into even more small parts, we might be able to find the key to the problem.

The heated storage room is actually the mine's repair shop. The entire heated storage room is extremely tall and large. Because of the need for maintenance and repair of the mine's mining trucks, when Yu Dawei drove the loader in, the entire vehicle did not appear so huge.

The heated room had huge radiators with three layers of walls. The first thing Yu Dawei did after coming down was to run to the radiators to warm up.

The temperature outside was around minus forty degrees Celsius. Just a short while after getting out of the car to observe the area, my entire body, including my cotton-padded clothes, cotton-padded trousers, and military overcoat, was completely frozen through.

"Find me a few empty oil drums in a bit, drain all the hydraulic oil, and then disassemble the distributor first to check it. If it's not the distributor, it might be the hydraulic pump." Yu Dawei turned to Xiao Liang and instructed him. Based on his years of car repair experience, this level of foaming meant there was a high probability of a problem with either of them.

"Okay, you warm up first, I'll go get you the tools and empty bucket." Although Xiao Liang didn't quite believe Yu Dawei's judgment, he didn't object.

The leader invited the other party over, but without disassembling some parts, the other party probably wouldn't be able to deliver a satisfactory result.

So at this moment, Xiao Liang had a clear understanding of Dawei. He might have some technical skills, but he was arrogant like a technician. Even though he had said that they had disassembled and inspected all these things, he still stubbornly insisted on his own opinion.

Of course, there's also an element of saving face and just going through the motions, but it's inevitable.

Not long after, the tools and empty buckets were ready, and Yu Dawei began disassembling according to the established plan.

Since he didn't ask Xiao Liang for help, Mine Manager Zhao said goodbye to Yu Dawei and then left to attend to his own business.

At noon, Xiao Liang took Yu Dawei to the tool room to return tools, wash his hands, change his clothes, and then go to the canteen for lunch.

In the afternoon, you sign in again to pick up your tools; this is the standard procedure here.

On two separate occasions, Yu Dawei had Xiao Liang find a crane to lift the distributor and the large pump down. After that, Xiao Liang had no further interaction with Master Yu.

In addition, there was a cadre meeting before 5 p.m., which was organized by Mine Manager Zhao, so Comrade Xiao Liang had no time to pay attention to the other party.

After five o'clock, when the meeting ended and Director Zhao walked out of the conference room with the documents, he suddenly remembered the young master surnamed Yu from that morning.

Seeing that Xiao Liang was also about to leave, he called out to him and asked, "Liang'er, how's the repair going with Master Yu?"

"Well... it seems like he's still disassembling the hydraulic components." After being stopped, Xiao Liang scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly. "Boss, I had a lot of things to do today. I helped him get some repair tools and called the crane a few times to help. I'm not sure if he found the problem."

"Oh, okay? Let's go take a look now. It's almost lunchtime. After all, he's a guest, and we can't let him go hungry." Zhao Jianguo hadn't forgotten that this kid was Xiao Wang's nephew, so they had to take care of him.

When the two arrived outside the heated warehouse, they saw a perfectly intact mining loader, swinging its large shovel up and down, even using the shovel to clear away the new snow outside the tool shed.

The two men stared incredulously at Master Yu in the driver's seat. They were not mistaken; this was indeed the car Master Yu had repaired, the one that had been scrapped for nearly a year.

(End of this chapter)