Ref. Lousy starter?

I've labelled this thread as a reference so as i write it, it can be used by others later on to figure out similar problems.

right, the ruston Gen-set is up and running, that is, running when it eventually fires up. i have two Ruston VSH engines, one a single flywheel, one a twin, the single flywheel can be stood literally for 6-8months and will still fire up the second the decompressor is released, the other, no matter how fast you crank or how open the pump is, just will not fire up in a hurry, it will eventually fire, but you could be cranking for a minute or so, which on an engine the size of the ruston, is a really big effort.

its not like its not injecting, because, right from the outset the injector creak is present. however it bugs me how much difference there is between this engine and the other, because i therefore know fine well this engine is capable of starting just as well as the other.

its possible, though i'm not convinced, that this could be due to lack of compression, admittingly compression is lower than the rad cooled one, but not by an aprreciable amount.

my main prediction is, though not by any means likely, is that there is a leak on the injection system allowing air in, however, with the fuel tank placed high above the engine getting air in is impossible, fuel getting out being more likely, i am however, to be thorough, going to take the fuel pump to injector pipe off to make sure the seatings are clean, as this is the only place i can think might cause a problem, but by rights, on the high pressure side, if theres a leak, it should show when the pumps operating, not when the engines stood.

the alternative is the commission a cold starting mechanism, and get a little oil/diesel in through the inlet, this will boost compression and provide extra combustable mixture for the engine to burn whilst cranking, but it shouldnt come to that. i'll report back my findings on the fuel system.

Paul

its possible, though the last owner was someone called stationary stu, so i hope not! lol, hahahahaha

Paul

I never use the stuff Paul I know the problems it causes, but couldn't say about the previous owner, tho I have to say when I collected it on a cold December morning it was not used then.

Stu.

had a good look over the fuel system last night, with the aid of a 12v torch, took the filter out, which is in need of a clean, but not desperately so, checked the fuel system and withdrew the injector, not problems at all, tested the injector, very impressive spray, so its looking more and more likely that the problem lies in the engine itself, namely that the bore is glazed, rings are seized, or the valves are not sealing correctly, either way it would seem compression is not high enough, to check my theory i'm going to put some oil down the inlet and try cold starting it, if it fires more readily then its likely that compression is lower than it needs to overcome the cold steel of the engine whilst firing cold.

Paul

a conversation with my grandad a couple of days ago confirmed my suspicions about the bore, the problem is most likely the rings havent freed off yet and compression is slipping past, this would also explain the blue exhaust tint and oily exhaust pipe,

his suggestion was a session of hard work for the engine, this would equate to the full 3kva from the generator, to get the engine upto its maximum capacity for the speed we were working at. an electric blow heater was deemed suffice, its 2kw and the 1kw combined power of the lighting system was make the engine sweat.

the engine responded to the load well, and the temperature rose, with 75 degrees being recorded in the water tank after 2 hours. temperature in the engine was probably a bit higher than that, somewhere around the 80-90 required for peak diesel engine efficiency.

problems encountered whilst running at this load were as follows

temperature differentials on the exhaust side of the head were high compared to that on the inlet, despite the cold water feed being on that hot side of the engine.

massive breathing occuring through the head casings, some soming from the injector pocket/valves, more coming from the crank case and up through the pushrod tunnel.

water coming out of the head gasket joint on the block/head face, likely a blown head gasket.

none of these problems show when the engine is running at around 2kw so its a little worrying about the head gasket, and i think i'll draw the piston out when i take the head off too.

main thing is, does anyone know where i could get a head gasket for this engine? i'm going to enquire about Ray Hooley, but i'm not overly confident. the engine is a Ruston Hornsby 1VSH

Paul