I’m running again! Hooray! A big thanks to Doug Truston of Wormley Creek Marina. Nelson, the mechanic in his employ, pulled off the valve cover and found the rings stuck. Their guess is that it got so cold that the ring shrank, then got stuck. So they sprayed a lubricant on them. That freed them up and the engine was operational again. While they were at it, they checked the injectors which, they said, were in good shape.

I was talking to Earnie a couple of days ago and told him about what was going on. He asked if I’d had the engine fogged. Apparently, there’s something you can spray in the engine when you have it winterized that puts a thick lubricant inside and prevents just this type of problem. The other suggestion, from Doug, was that I might want to get a block warmer to put on the engine next year. I’ll have to check both those out when it gets cold again.