Lister LD2 engine stalls

[Buggyrene]

Good afternoon,

I have a Lister LD2 in a small boat (4.2 meters), it starts well cold and runs perfectly. Only when I go sailing does the engine run hot within half an hour to 45 minutes. The engine then drops in speed and starts to smoke black, and eventually the engine stalls. The engine is in a small cabin with sufficient ventilation. What could be the problem, and what could be the solution.

Greetings René

[cobbadog]

Hi Rene and welcome.
If it was water cooled we know what the problem is but being air cooled the only thing I can think of is lack of free flowing air around the engine cylinders. Have you removed the covers to check there is no rubbish, dust/dirt stuck in the fins?

[ajaffa1]

Hi Rene, I agree with Cobbadog. I recently had a small Honda petrol engine in my workshop, it was overheating and seizing after only a few minutes run time. I striped off the covers and found that all the cooling fins had been filled up with mud wasp nests.
The only other thing I can think of is that you have some sort of lubrication problem, possibly too little oil, wrong grade of oil or oil is contaminated with diesel.
Has this engine been rebuilt/rebored recently? It could be that the clearance between the pistons and cylinder walls are too tight or that the piston ring gap is too small.
Let us know what you find.

Bob

[cobbadog]

Glad this Forum has very helpfulful members like you BOb.  I never thought of that until the middle of the night and should have been the first things.

[Buggyrene]

Hello, thanks for the answers, I am going to remove the cooling plating and clean the cooling fins. Where can I order new gaskets for the intake and exhaust manifold, I am also looking for valve cover gaskets for the old engine. It is correct that the inlet and exhaust valve clearance must be 0.05 mm. I got this information from the workshop manual, but I still think this is quite strict. Sorry for the bad English, I'm from the Netherlands.

René

[cobbadog]

You may have to Google Lister parts nearrrrr me  to find a supplier of gaskets and parts if needed. We are both in Australia and have a supplier of Lister bits n piueces.
Dont be concerned about your English, it is fine and way better than me trying to speak or write your language.
Years ago I found a workshop manual online using Google so you may get lucky and find one for your engine. Im sorry but I dont know if the specifications would be the same as a SR2 engine.
BOb may well have those gaps for you to check them out. I have a habbit to check them as soon as I can see them to check if they are gapped correctly or not.

[ajaffa1]

Good Day Rene, Yes the manual specifies .05 mm (0.002 inch) for both inlet and exhaust, to be set with the engine cold.
Stationary Engine Parts in the UK should have all the gaskets you need (www.stationaryengineparts.com), failing that you could try Mead Plant, also in the UK. Rob at Old Timer Engines in Australia has the gaskets but postage might be expensive and slow.

Bob