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« on: December 22, 2006, 03:30:19 PM »
hi all,
until recent times i didnt have any real hands on experience with diesel engines.I got interested in running a diesel for home power generation and my first acquisition was a 1.8 litre 4 cylinder car engine. A few weeks ago i purchased a lister LT1 on ebay as a non runner due to no compression. Both of these engines had been stored for a long time.probably in excess of 5 years.
I built a generator style frame for the ford 4 cylinder and got it all setup to start. I had noticed a distinct absence of high compression when turing it on the starter and with a socket arm while getting it ready. I carried out some tasks to make the first startup easier(or so i thought!) like cranking it with the glowplugs removed to build up oil pressure and clear air from the fuel system. also put a few drops of engine oil into the swirl chambers before installing new glowplugs. the first 15 minutes or so of start attempts yeilded nothing. no smoke , no sounds of the engine wanting to go etc.thought i had a junker. took a break to rest the starter. next try i fryed the glowplugs and started to get some blue smoke and a few coughs but no go.one truck sized 100ah battery flat. fresh battery connected.roasted the glow plugs and put a blow torch to the air intake. coughed and spluttered and fired up. horrible smoke for a minute or so then cleared and ran smoothly.
all subsequent starts are perfect.10 secs on the glowplugs and a 2 sec burst on the starter and she starts and runs perfectly regardless of time left idle or air temp etc.hmmm i thought bit strange.didnt give it much more brain power due to other concerns.
next up the lister LT1. on first inspection the engine turned fine but had no compression. quickly ascertained i had a leaky exhaust valve. removed the head and it was coke city to the point the exhaust valve could not fully close. removed valves and cleaned out the head thouroghly.air cleaner was a real mess.it was ex concrete mixer so i think it may have been breathing its own exhaust gases. reground valves.no seat damage. reinstalled head and rebuilt the engine.no wear ridge was detected on the cylinder and the bottom end was sound.apart from the "oil" ....more like tar which was removed and fresh oil added for the start.
surprise surprise. sod all compression.no smoke.no go.added some oil to the cold start aid (little plunger and cup that adds a few ml of oil to the induction manifold to aid starting in cold climates). some help but still the same.
day two.having rested sore arm(crank start) had another go.cranked for 3 hours , added oil , heat , the works. no go. no real increase in compression.some smoke though. hmmm ....i've seen this before methinks.gave up on day two due to near heart attack from excessive cranking.
day three. noticed compression had came up loads from day two for no apparant reason. added a shot of oil , spun like hell , dropped the decompressor and away she goes. unbelievable crud ejected from the pipe. blue/black muck for about 5 minutes and ran like a dog. splutering , missing. 10 minutes of running and exhaust is nearly clear. little blue smoke. shutdown and added engine flush. fired up first swing. shutdown after 20mins and drained the "oil". more crud and lot of solid matter. refilled with high quality fresh oil and restarted. about an hour later all smoke gone and engine running sweetly. all subsequent starts are easy.fires on first compression stroke with only a little black smoke on startup.
sorry for the life story but i cant figure out how these two engines could be such a pain to startup at first but now fire no problem. I guess the rings may have been to blame but cant see how.i''d appreciate any input.thanks in advance.
regards,
Jack