The Classic Machinery Network

I will check with the fuel injector assembly removed and check for he atomised spray. I have not taken he fuel pump apart but sent it off to a diesel specialist who has serviced it and fitted a new injector nozzle.
Also will check the valve clearances. It is much tighter to turn over now but I don't know 'how tight'.
Its been bloody cold here, well below 0'c, so I guess this will not help.
Thank you all for the helpful comments.
I will keep you posted.
Stewart

Search spill timing on here . Fred gives a very comprehensive explaination of the process
better than I ever could. If you are getting a good spray from the injector nozzle then that would be my next check as you may be getting deisel but as Morecambe and wise say not necessarily in the right order ! Good luck with it . Btw my little thwaites Orion with petter engine starts easily whatever the temperature and I think yours will too once correctly set up particularly after you have done all that work to it . Regards Chris

Just as another thought, what engine oil are you using for your bloody cold climate? If it is a bit thicker than required it will be harder to swing the crank but these engine normally will start well. Again I am NOT familiar with the Petter but is there a cold start position on the throttle linkage or a button to aid in the cold, there is on a Lister.
Sounds like you went down the best road with your injector so that should be all good once it is back then tested then installed. It will be a very good exercise to go through testing your spill timing so will be worth the effort.

Hi john
You are quite right there is a cold start position on the petter engine . Its done by lifting the stop on the end of the fuel rack which allows it to move to the fully open position . When the engine starts it moves the rack and the stop automatically drops back to its original position . Its really just an excess fuel device .
I have always used a 10/40 weight deisel engine oil in the little petter and it's always been ok to swing over with that oil .
Started it yesterday minus 2 here with a wind chill of minus 6 and it started second swing . Unbelievably the temperature rose overnight and it was about 12 today !
All the best Chris

I would not have a clue as to what weight engine oil is suitable for very cold climate but I know it can make a difference. Your temps make me shudder as I sit here in shorts n no shirt in 30'C + temp today.

cobbadog wrote:I would not have a clue as to what weight engine oil is suitable for very cold climate but I know it can make a difference. Your temps make me shudder as I sit here in shorts n no shirt in 30'C + temp today.

Lucky you we had bone chilling temperatures last week fortunately not too much of the white stuff near to where I live, it may look pretty on post cards and Christmas cards but apart from that it's a real pain.

Jeremy

My wife originally came from Bedfordshire and often told me about the snow and cold and how miserable it can be. But it has been over 50 years ago that she was there tolerating those conditions. Now it can be at the very opposite end of the scale. Living on the coast of NSW we get humidity and in Summer can be 36'c - 41'c was the highest for here on the coast. Now that is what knocks us both up.

Matchless?58 wrote:
You are quite right there is a cold start position on the petter engine . Its done by lifting the stop on the end of the fuel rack which allows it to move to the fully open position . When the engine starts it moves the rack and the stop automatically drops back to its original position . Its really just an excess fuel device .

As circled in this pic of our rather abused Thwaites Nimline's Petter Fuel Rack:



As for UK weather; I like it when it snows, makes the cold worthwhile! The worst weather is when it's around 7 degrees, grey and drizzling all the time, pervasive damp, where all the cold surfaces are dripping and you only have daylight from 8:30am till 3:30pm in late December.

A girl I used to know who came from Tamworth in NSW and came to the UK to work used to hate our winters, but loved our summers because of it never getting insanely hot and we had such long daylight hours, sitting out in a pub garden at well past 9 in the evening in bright sunlight with lots of radiant heat coming off the brick walls being the bit that made up for, some, of the damp in winter...

We're now thankfully well into the lengthening days again which always helps

Then she would also have been used to the cold and a little bit of snow and the ever alarming "sheep graziers alerts" they get most Winters.

Sounds just like the UK