Starting a Petter PH1 single cylinder Diesel engine

[Khriss]

@Baldbloke well , its gotta do that , to prime ans stop the engine . Might need bit of angle grinder to clear the way fr the A lever - or engine has shifted on the shassis, mines on a winch so its easily got at . Poosibly loosen engine mount bolts n lever engine over  a bit . Obvs guy hasnt known abt it - definately take off Bryce pump and clean and grease that plunger - as if it sticks it wont start . K

[Baldbloke]

@Baldbloke well , its gotta do that , to prime ans stop the engine . Might need bit of angle grinder to clear the way fr the A lever - or engine has shifted on the shassis, mines on a winch so its easily got at . Poosibly loosen engine mount bolts n lever engine over  a bit . Obvs guy hasnt known abt it - definately take off Bryce pump and clean and grease that plunger - as if it sticks it wont start . K

Had half an hour and loosened engine mounts and levered the engine sideways enough to temporarily get more movement from the lever. The lever now moves up until hitting the fuel pipe. Not a lot of difference to be honest so think I’ll need to de-grease and clean the whole thing before doing your recommended stripping out of the pump, and the plate below it, to check out that plunger. At the moment I’m not convinced that the priming lever is providing enough fuel pressure to help it start. I’ve ordered filters, degreaser and a couple of gallons of sae 30 mineral oil so once that arrives will clean her up so I don’t put too much shit into the engine or pump.

[Baldbloke]

...and I should have mentioned that if I pull the priming lever sideways it seems to disconnect from (presumably) the plunger and is totally free in up and down movement. But pushed back in, it definitely has some resistance, but it doesn’t build up with pumping to create anything worthwhile at the injector.

[Baldbloke]

Once that plunger moves freely , put plate back on , and Bryce pump on and move Lever A up and down with pump travel shaft ( chevron at top ) flipped out and to Left ( full delivery  of fuel ) . You will soon feel strong resistance on Lever A as you pump , thts the injector primed - Lever B to decompress - Lever A to position in pic or RUN - three or four turns on handle then crank hard when you flip Lever B to run - which took just three or four turns on mine to fire it up . K

 

( then i turned it off as we in posh built up area an its straight through exhaust ) 

Just had a bit of time to revisit the dumper and removed the throttle linkages, tappet chest and diesel outlet from pump. There’s obviously output of diesel from the pump which would suggest the plunger is free, but it’s knowing what’s adequate.

I’ve taken a short video of the output but can’t figure out how to post it. Any pointers?

[Khriss]

@Baldbloke so the lever A is not secure?  It has to work to prime n stop engine. Might be worth altering that fuel infeed pipe with a banjo one so you can easily operate the lever and its out of the  way. The fuel wont spurt hugely out of injectors  pipe, its not a truck 😉 K

[Baldbloke]

@Baldbloke so the lever A is not secure?  It has to work to prime n stop engine. Might be worth altering that fuel infeed pipe with a banjo one so you can easily operate the lever and its out of the  way. The fuel wont spurt hugely out of injectors  pipe, its not a truck [emoji6] K

Thanks for your patience!
It’s a little tricky to see exactly what’s going on as the now open plate containing the tappet/plunger/primer is opposite the same chassis rail that interferes with the primer lever’s operation.
With the decompression lever engaged and cranking the engine over, timed spurts of diesel come out of the top of the Bryce pump with the outlet pipe disconnected. It’s hard to quantify how much is being pushed out without being able to post a video. The diesel jumps maybe 3” from the top of the pump opening. Operating the priming lever (A) over its available limited travel (because of the chassis getting in the way) gives a similar output. There’s no rust in there and the weak timed spurts of diesel would suggest the plunger you mentioned is free.

What is so frustrating is that a very brief tow gets the engine running immediately with no hint that it wants to die. There’s also little smoke on startup. That to me would suggest that the engine is in good order and because it idles immediately at almost zero revs makes me think the injector must be atomising the fuel correctly.

Are you suggesting that I could try an aftermarket inline primer pump to enrich the initial fuel load for startup?

[Khriss]

Oh no, i would focus on being able to use the A lever as per manual, might be worth fabricating a control rod to replace the  A lever so you can operate it from the seat ( for stopping engine) maybe a balljoint throttle setup off old landrover. Yr engine sounds fine, regular oil changes n clean fuel they last donkeys years. Will go in shed later n mock somethink up. K

[Baldbloke]

To stop the engine I push the enrichening plunger that passes through the pump body towards the front of the machine. That leans off the mixture, and I was told is kinder than using the decompression lever. I held it over in that position while cranking the engine over which resulted in zero fuel coming out of the pumps outlet.

I took the pump out and removed the plate hiding the internals and found the plunger to be well lubricated and smooth in its operation from both the cam off the engine and from priming lever ‘A’. Both were working. The lift from the restricted priming levers’ mere 90 degrees of movement actually equates to the full travel of the plunger, so there’s probably little benefit in making alterations there. There was actually adjustment within the chest underneath the plate to give the plunger a little more travel to depress the Bryce pump’s internal plunger a bit more. I’ve given it a turn to take up some of the slack produced by 48 years of wear.

 

 

 

[scbk]

Baldbloke, spotted these on ebay, they've got an electric start conversion:

 

 

Dumper Trucks Good Running Order Electric Start Conversion All Will Go To Work

WWW.EBAY.CO.UK

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<p>Dumper Truck Good Running Order Electric Start Conversion using a dynastart and new press button solenoid has had hydraulic brakes fitted with brake discs which just...