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Author Topic: i am slightly baffled by my petter ph1  (Read 5398 times)

startinghandle

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i am slightly baffled by my petter ph1
« on: October 16, 2017, 12:57:36 AM »
I have a petter ph1 engine fitted to robroy sawbench which performs fairly well but I am baffled by a couple of issues with starting
1- when I put new rings in engine soon after purchase 16 years ago I  put straight HD30 oil in engine  and when I tried starting engine with just a few swings of handle it was away and it always started good until I changed oil and used 15/40 multigrade  and then there were problems starting when I had to really swing the handle for some time until it would start but I did not realise there was connection between  multigrade oil and poor starting until I used straight 30  sometime later
2- starting is improved also by keeping level no more than halfway between marks on dipstick
 
is there an oil filter that needs changing or cleaning ? 

listard-jp2

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Re: i am slightly baffled by my petter ph1
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2017, 08:56:42 AM »
Generally the older air cooled Lister and Petter diesel engines prefer to run on non synthetic oils, as synthetic oils tend to cause bore glazing and hence poor starting from cold as you describe.

I had a similar experience years ago as a plant fitter with a lister ST2 fitted to a lighting tower. It quickly became a PITA to cold start after semi synthetic oil was mistakenly used during a routine service, and the cure was to change back to the correct grade of oil, and the engine was run hard and hot for a couple of hours to deglaze the cylinder bores.

Not all Petter PH1 engines have an oil filter, but if fitted it will be obvious.

38ac

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Re: i am slightly baffled by my petter ph1
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2017, 01:45:31 PM »
I have no experience with that series of Petter but the smaller air cooled Listers are very particular about oil as I found out the hard way.  Are you using the recommended type?
Collector and horder of about anything diesel