As you are no doubt aware, diesels require a *lot* of compression to fire.
You may not be able to get it spinning fast enough to build enough compression to get it to fire, esp since the engine hasn't run in many years, and was likely pretty worn when it was taken out of service. I'd shoot a 1/4 second shot of ether into the air intake. Not much more. just a bit. The ether will allow the engine to fire compression and it might take off and run. Worth a try. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darryl McMahon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: sustainablelorgbiofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Sunday, August 7, 2011 3:36:44 PM Subject: [Biofuel] Seeking Help - Lister-Petter 1-cylinder diesel engine Background Neither my son or I are really heat engine kind of people. I'm more about electric drive stuff, and my son is an aviation electronics technician. So, where my ignorance of diesel engines shows through, my apologies in advance. I received this engine a few years ago, effectively for free. I figured a small diesel should be hard to really break, and it might come in useful someday. Now, I have 2 or 3 potential uses for it. The previous owner had it for several years, and never tried to start it. He delivered it to me covered with a cardboard box, saying it was a Lombardini. According to him, the owner before him had stored it for several years, and never tried to start it. The story is that the original application for the engine was to power highway information signs before the LED / photovoltaic panel age. In the past few days, my son and I have found ourselves with an unaccustomed amount of free garage floor space, and some time (mostly due to other projects not appearing, not having parts available, or dropping in priority). Our current objective is to get the engine running. If successful, we will then invest in upgrading/replacing all the consumables (filters, hoses). We took the cardboard off to find it is not a Lombardini, but a Lister-Petter. It has an electric starter - including solenoid - and what appears to be a heavy-duty alternator attached (driven by a V-belt. The latter would be consistent with the highway sign application. No fuel tank. At least one fuel-related hose was cut. No electrical wiring of any kind still attached. No keys or obvious keyholes. There is a Made in England sticker on the top of it. No documentation of any kind came with the engine. The name plate indicates it is a AC1 model, which means it likely dates from somewhere between 1970 and 1985. http://www.winget.co.uk/document/LISTER%20PETTER%20AC-AD%20OPERATORS%20MANUAL.pdf We have been consulting this documentation for information. Parts manual: http://www.stategen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/stategen_lister-petter_ac1_ad1_parts.pdf Operations manual: http://www.winget.co.uk/document/LISTER%20PETTER%20AC-AD%20OPERATORS%20MANUAL.pdf Recent Activity We have changed the oil (2.7 litres of diesel oil put in, which agrees with just over full on the dipstick. The old oil was quite unattractive. We jury-rigged a fuel tank from a go-kart fuel tank (scavenged from another electric conversion project). We bought fresh fuel, cleaned out the tank with methanol, and put the fuel in the tank and pressurized the fuel side sufficiently to find a leak in one of the hoses that came with the engine, downstream from the fuel filter - so fuel is getting at least that far. Jury-rigged a repair for that - no further leaking. Exhaust system is in place. The air filter is filthy, so we have removed it for commissioning purposes. (Will definitely replace it if we can get the engine running, along with the fuel and oil filters). We tried rope-starting yesterday. About all we concluded from that exercise (and I mean that literally) was that the cylinder seems to have good compression, and the decompressor lever is effective. We have tried the stop/run lever in both positions, and that made no difference. Today we attached casters to the frame to make it easier to move around, and worked out the connections for the electric starter, replaced the missing wiring, attached a battery and proved up the solenoid and starter motor. At least I hope we can retire the starting rope as a result. We turned the engine over and proved the starter turns the cylinder in the same direction as the rope starter (given it is Lucas starter and solenoid, we weren't really sure if it would be positive or negative ground. We are using negative ground, and that appears to be working. Like I said, I'm more an electrics kind of guy.) We rolled the engine on electric power several times, for up to 30 seconds, but no evidence of ignition, no smoke, white or black. Looks like we might have some raw fuel coming out the exhaust pipe. Still Not Running However, it still is not running. We're looking for more information. A couple of possible clues from the Web. "I've had this engine for a while now and with the cold weather and getting caught up on the regular jobs I drug it out again to see if we could get it to run. First we mounted it good and solid, put some fuel in a can ran an electric pump as a lift pump, had to replace the return lines as they were shot. Checked for mice in the air cleaner and blew the filter out. It had been in the barn for several years. Hooked up a temporary wiring system to start it. Started pumping fuel through it and bleeding the air out and bleeding the air out and...... Try to start it and bleed the high presure lines several times. Still no white smoke when turning it over, pull the injector clean it up put it back in do the same with the pump. Ha now we are getting fuel but lots of air. Crank and crank we have white smoke. Bleed more, crank more. Then it hits, dies, hits, stumbles and away it goes smoke bellowing out the exhaust. Tools falling off the table from the vibration trying to hold the battery down. Man this thing is pretty cool, now the shop is filling with smoke, spiders come crawling out of the shroud. Open the doors and let it run." (http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?s=6c4f8369d1d089176ea05a138b87bef5&t=35564) Another that says the direct injector has a characteristic squeak if it is working correctly, which we don't recall from either our rope starting or electric starting attempts. Perhaps that is gummed up from dried fuel after many years of storage. Thoughts on those two possibilities? Any other ideas we should be trying? Anyone know where we can find a service manual for this engine? Thanks for your time. -- Darryl McMahon The Emperor's New Hydrogen Economy http://www.econogics.com/TENHE/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
