I've been de-carbonising the Lister LD1 out of my boat, following the guidance in the handbook. Everything has gone reasonably well, with everything back together with new head gasket etc.
I'm at the stage of bleeding the fuel system and trying to get it running. All good to the feed pipe where it goes into the injector, confirming fuel squirting as the crank is turned. I connected it to the injector and got injector 'creak'. Great! Went for a start but after about half a dozen turns the creak stopped. Disconnected the feed pipe and no 'squirt'.
The handbook says to remove the delivery valve holder and spring, lift the valve and allow fuel to flow. Then put it back together. Simple. Unfortunately it doesn't mention the little 'plunger'-type component with a slotted head, which sits inside the spring. Neither does this appear in the exploded diagram of the pump. Unfortunately, when I removed it I didn't pay attention to which way up it goes. i.e. does the 'plunger' go on top of the spring, with the slot upper-most, inside the holder; or does the slotted face go downward, directly onto the top of the valve. I've tried it both ways, and without the plunger altogether. On each occasion the result is the same, - fuel squirts from the injector feed pipe for about half-a-dozen cycles of the pump, then ceases.
The fuel tank is about 8 inches above the level of the injector so pressure to the pump should be good. Its fresh diesel and a new filter. The injector was serviced by a specialist injector company.
Any adive or guidance would be appreciated. I've attached a photo of the 'plunger', and the exploded diagram.