petter timing

[ronsmith]

I have a minipetter 3.5hp water cooled engine. Can anyone tell me how to set the time. I adjusted the valve clearance and forgot to hand crank the rockers up closed with each other and tried to start it. I reset it but now it speeds up and slows down every 3 or 4 seconds , could that be timimg?

[mobile_bob]

sounds like a govenor issue,
binding linkage, or spring problems

seems like there are reports of govenor problems with these engines, not sure on the timeing tho

bob g

[Halfnuts]

I concur.  Governor.  If 'twere timing, it simply wouldn't start, or would run rough without the periodic loping you describe.

Halfnuts

[Doug]

Govenor is too sensitive causing hunting....

Doug

[rgroves]

I concur.  Governor.  If 'twere timing, it simply wouldn't start, or would run rough without the periodic loping you describe.

Halfnuts

If this is an Ashwamegh MP, please check the external governor lever.  There's a very kludgy interface between that lever and the rack.  That heavy paint on the flat surface can bind and prevent free movement of the lever relative to the rack.  Which can interfere with governor effectiveness, and in extreme cases can cause a runaway.  The fix is to remove the paint and make sure the surfaces move past each other smoothly.

If you understood that, you are a better man than I.  (You probably are anyway.)

Russell

[hotater]

Russell---

It sounds like the timing is too far advanced but I'm not sure how that was changed with setting valve clearance.  I've timed mine at 22 deg BTDC and it's running very well at 5500 feet, but it starts rich.  If a third hand was available I'd push the throttle lever about 30% closed to start it.

How does your's act under load?  If it smooths up and goes to work the bad 'idle' a governor issue and if it lopes  and smokes it's timing.

[ronsmith]

I unbolted the the yellow plastic governor lever, removed the nut,boot and spring. Looked ok so I flipped the spring end for end and reinstalled . Restarted and it ran at idle spped for 20-30 seconds ran smmoth then it started surging and then slowing down almost to a stop then surging pattern over end over. Then I screwed the rack in about 20-30 percent it continued surging and trying to stall. I just decarboned it three wks ago and it ran great then. I installed a new fuel filter right before this started yesterday and drained out the waste motor oil and put in uncarboned hydraulic oil. If my fuel oil had some water in it would it cause it to sirge? I noticed the hyd oil looked slightly thin or off color. 

[sid]

try changine fuel and filter again  and see if it improves.does not sound like timing// as noted before of this form. the mp have a bad rep. for run aways and governor control.. it has to be just right. sid

[hotater]

Ron---

Watch the throttle bar when it surges.

 When the rpms drop does the throttle try to compensate for it?  If yes, but the rpms don't come back up it means there's a fuel delivery problem somewhere.  If no, it means the governor is not working.

[Halfnuts]

You know, in order to nail this one down, maybe we ought to have some sort of competition.  Winner is he who first correctly identifies the problem and suggests the successful remedy.  Prize is to be a bottle of Jamesons that has been recommended elsewhere for loosening sticking gib keys.

(Still thinking it's a sticking gov'nor linkage)

Halfnuts

[GerryH]

Ok I'm in. you changed the fuel filter? The enemy of a diesel fuel sytem is water, but his idiot cousin, Air, will drive you halfnuts Bet yer new filter is sucking air or you didn't bleed it all out

[Halfnuts]

... but his idiot cousin, Air, will drive you halfnuts   [snip]

Hey, I resemble that!   

Halfnuts

[SHIPCHIEF]

If the flywheel does not have any timing marks you can easily find top dead center and the initial injection point:
Trammel the piston. either from the top of the piston or the bottom.
If using the bottom: remove the crankcase door and rotate the crankshaft until the bottom of the piston is parallel to the bottom of the liner. mark the flywheel at the pointer (make a pointer if you need one). Now roll the crank around some more until the piston is again parallel to the bottom of the liner and mark the flywheel at the pointer again.
Measure half way between the two marks, and make a mark at the pointer. Mark half way between the original two marks around the flywheel the other way and make a mark. Now you have both top dead center and bottom dead center. look thru the crankcase door and rotate the crank until the piston is near the top. the mark on the flywheel closest to the pointer is TDC. Mark it TDC.
Measure the circumference of the flywheel and devide that length by 360. (I used milimeters here to make it easier, but you could use inches or cubits) Multiply this by the degrees BTDC for initial injection, and mark the flywheel. Done.
Clear as mud? I had no marks on my Ashwamegh either.
Good luck.

[solarguy]

I thought there were no timing/TDC marks on my FuKing 6-1 flywheels either.  Until I cleaned them up for paint.  There were two marks and they matched up pretty nicely with my marks.

Good luck and have fun!

troy

[hotater]

  The timing marks were on my FuKing and two MPs under the paint.   I found them all by friction of the 'Breckenridge 2x4 torque metering device'.