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SP 5623
Equipment Rack

Almost all EMD locomotives have what is called an Equipment Rack. It is a collection of parts that are not exactly part of the engine but serve the engine systems. Included are the fuel pump, fuel filters, oil filters, water expansion tank and oil cooler.


This view is from the engineer's side of the rack. The tank at the top is the cooling water expansion tank. When the engine is not running, water drains out of the radiators and into the tank. At the top of the tank is a valve called the "G" valve. This valve is opened when adding water to the system in order to prevent an air lock and to tell when the proper level has been reached. At the bottom of the tank is a temperature gauge and below the tank to the right is the oil pressure gauge.
 


This is the view of the tank from the other side of the door. Here, you can see the water level sight glass which looks like a vertical pink strip. This is the color of the borate water treatment compound we use to inhibit rust and corrosion.
 


The cylinder near the top of the photo is the Michiana oil filter housing. It contains 4 oil filters, each about 6" in diameter and 3 feet long. Oil is pumped from the engine oil pan, through a strainer (part of the "ice cream freezer" mounted to the engine block), though the the Michiana filters, to the oil cooler and back to the pressure side of the strainer housing where the pressure pump then picks it up and forces it into the engine. There are actually 2 pressure pumps but more will be found on that subject in the engine section.  The right hand photo shows the housing with the door open.  The 4-leaf clover shaped piece holds the 4 filter elements in place against their rubber seals and the housing plate..
 


From this angle on the fireman's side, one can see the relationship between the oil filter housing and the water expansion tank. Between them, laying at an angle, is the oil cooler. The pipe exiting it at the top and pointing to the right is the water line to the rear radiators. The rack on the right hand door is for the storage of the rear MU cable. The small cylinder above the Michiana housing and to the right of the oil cooler is an additional fuel filter which the S.P. installed but we do not use.
 


The oil cooler is a little less visible on the engineer's side, but the outlet connection to the radiators is easily seen. Below the elbow is the top of the load regulator, discussed in the electrical section. The two horizontal pipes running across the center of the photo are the oil lines which connect the governor to the load regulator.
 


At the bottom of these photos is the fuel pump and above it, a dual element fuel filter. The pump sucks fuel from the tank through one filter (the right side) and then pumps it through the filter element in the left side to the engine where it is filtered further (further filtered?) by the spin-on cannisters mounted to the block.
 


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