Engines. Maintenance, Service & Repair
Many narrowboat marine diesels are old. Very old. If your engine isn't, then its probably a Kubota re badged as Nanni marine or Beta marine or one of the canalline Kioti engine range.
Popular vintage engines today for enthusiasts of traditional narrowboats are Gardner, Lister or Russell Newbury, the air cooled Lister SR2 and SR3 became popular in the 1970’s and 80's, with the water cooled BMC1.5 and 1.8 became a common choice as well.
As diesel engines have become more complex some tractor engine manufacturers are now marinizing their engines ready for boating and there are now many different makes of engine available.
As a marine engineer who served my time in the 80's may favourite older engines are:
1) Lister SR2 and SR3
2) Perkins 4108
3) BMC 1.5 and 1.8
4) Russel Newbery
5) Kelvin
My favourite for grunt and problem free running would be the Lister SR3 one up from the ever popular SR2.
Both are noisy air cooled old engines but go on and on and on, and there are still plenty knocking around.
They’re easy to work on and you can still get the parts pretty easily.”
Popular vintage engines today for enthusiasts of traditional narrowboats are Gardner, Lister or Russell Newbury, the air cooled Lister SR2 and SR3 became popular in the 1970’s and 80's, with the water cooled BMC1.5 and 1.8 became a common choice as well.
As diesel engines have become more complex some tractor engine manufacturers are now marinizing their engines ready for boating and there are now many different makes of engine available.
As a marine engineer who served my time in the 80's may favourite older engines are:
1) Lister SR2 and SR3
2) Perkins 4108
3) BMC 1.5 and 1.8
4) Russel Newbery
5) Kelvin
My favourite for grunt and problem free running would be the Lister SR3 one up from the ever popular SR2.
Both are noisy air cooled old engines but go on and on and on, and there are still plenty knocking around.
They’re easy to work on and you can still get the parts pretty easily.”
I often get asked what's the difference between overhead valve (OHV) and Overhead cam (OHC) type of engines.
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Overhead Valve Engines:
This is one type of cylinder head layout for a piston where, as the name suggests, valves are arranged over these cylinders. These have only one cam below the cylinder head or in between the “V” of an engine which translates their motion to linear displacement of the pushrods. These, in turn, actuate rockers which redirect the motion downwards to open the valves. Mostly, but not necessarily, OHV engines have two valves per cylinder as found on the classic BMC 1.5 and 1.8 engines. |
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Overhead Cam Engines:
This is another type of cylinder head layout where instead of pushrod and rockers, the cam which actuates the valves is located directly on top of these valves. These cams rotate, and their lobes push down on these valves opening them, and closing them when the lobes swing away with the help of valve springs. The cams are coupled to the main shaft through belts or chains. Mostly there are multiple intake and exhaust valves per cylinder in an OHC engine. Hence an OHC engine does not have to “deal” with the additional weight these pushrods and rockers bring with them. This makes the engine compact in size. It is further divided into two types: |
The big difference is maintenance, the OHV engines will need the tappets adjusted as part of servicing. not complicated but you will know when it needs doing as you will start to hear a tapping noise from the engine.
On a OHC, the cam belt is life critical for the engine. When it comes to service time and it recomends a cam belt replacement do it even if the belt looks ok. I can't stress this too much, a cam belt failure gives no warning with the end result Valves and pistons frequently colide together. seriously expensive job.
On a OHC, the cam belt is life critical for the engine. When it comes to service time and it recomends a cam belt replacement do it even if the belt looks ok. I can't stress this too much, a cam belt failure gives no warning with the end result Valves and pistons frequently colide together. seriously expensive job.
Engine oil.
When it comes to engine oil, there seems to be some real confusion with many manufacturers specifying a specific brand or own brand normally at a premium rate.
So what does SAE 15W40 actually mean?
So what does SAE 15W40 actually mean?
A SAE 10W60 designation means that the oil is a multi-grade oil i.e the oil can work efficiently in both winter and summer season.
It has the viscosity of 10W when cold and the viscosity of SAE 60 when hot.
It has the viscosity of 10W when cold and the viscosity of SAE 60 when hot.
Engine oil quality should also have the minimum properties of the American Petroleum Institute “API” classification CF with multi-grade SAE ratings as listed in the following table.
An acceptable alternative is a mineral based, semi-synthetic lubricating oil with a content mix no greater than 30% being synthetic based.
The only rule is never mix two different types of oil or SAE rating, and do not use lubricant additives and/or fully synthetic lubricating oil.
The only rule is never mix two different types of oil or SAE rating, and do not use lubricant additives and/or fully synthetic lubricating oil.
Poor Starting.
Regardless of the make, your most likely problems are going to be 'It ran it out of diesel' and 'It wont start'.
Poor starting is common n many narrowboats, but as long as it CAN start, the following should get it going. Locate air filter, take it off and pour in a teaspoon and a half of oil. Get a blow lamp, or at a pinch a rag soaked in diesel on a stick, light it and hold it to the air intake while cranking. The oil will temporarily solve low compression, the flames will solve 'broken heater plugs' if it shows no signs of running, try repeating after doing the next bit.
If you have run the engine out of diesel, it will need to be bled, it wont pull diesel through from the tank by itself. You need to find the bleed valves on the injector pump and loosen them - on a pump that serves several cylinders there are two, on a pump that serves one cylinder there is one. Now these are open, pump the fuel lift pump manual handle. Be prepared to do this for a while. Initially you will get air, then diesel, then air again, then diesel....... then air, then finally a firm squirt of diesel - trust me, you can see when the primary lines are bled - its deceptive as it looks OK after the first time the air goes, but it wont be. Once you are happy that there is diesel to the pump, do the bleed nuts back up, and loosen all four injector pipes where they attach to the injectors. Put the throttle to full power, and crank the engine for 10-15 seconds. Wait 30 seconds and repeat. You should see the diesel start to squirt from the back of the loosened nut. Note - put your hand in the way of high pressure diesel and it will inject into your skin, you may then die. be warned. Now tighten up three of the four injection pipes and start as normal. Once the engine is heard to 'try' to start, tighten up the last one.
Poor starting is common n many narrowboats, but as long as it CAN start, the following should get it going. Locate air filter, take it off and pour in a teaspoon and a half of oil. Get a blow lamp, or at a pinch a rag soaked in diesel on a stick, light it and hold it to the air intake while cranking. The oil will temporarily solve low compression, the flames will solve 'broken heater plugs' if it shows no signs of running, try repeating after doing the next bit.
If you have run the engine out of diesel, it will need to be bled, it wont pull diesel through from the tank by itself. You need to find the bleed valves on the injector pump and loosen them - on a pump that serves several cylinders there are two, on a pump that serves one cylinder there is one. Now these are open, pump the fuel lift pump manual handle. Be prepared to do this for a while. Initially you will get air, then diesel, then air again, then diesel....... then air, then finally a firm squirt of diesel - trust me, you can see when the primary lines are bled - its deceptive as it looks OK after the first time the air goes, but it wont be. Once you are happy that there is diesel to the pump, do the bleed nuts back up, and loosen all four injector pipes where they attach to the injectors. Put the throttle to full power, and crank the engine for 10-15 seconds. Wait 30 seconds and repeat. You should see the diesel start to squirt from the back of the loosened nut. Note - put your hand in the way of high pressure diesel and it will inject into your skin, you may then die. be warned. Now tighten up three of the four injection pipes and start as normal. Once the engine is heard to 'try' to start, tighten up the last one.
Diesel Bug.
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You will know when you have diesel bug, you will have all the symptoms of running out of diesel even though you have a full tank.
So if you are experiencing more frequent breakdowns? then diesel bug may be the culprit. Diesel bug thrives at the interface between fuel and water, ie just off the bottom of the tank, where the micro-organisms form colonies. In this cosy environment they break down the alkalines in the fuel using oxygen from the water, precipitating a black sludge to the bottom of the tank as they do so. 8 out of every 10 diesel engine failures are related to contaminated fuel. First thing check your filters, do they seem to be full of black/brown mud? If so that's diesel bug. You will need to get some biocide, and dose the tank. Change your primary and secondary fuel filters, and buy spare primary filters. Run as normal, but after the first 20 hours change your primary filter again, then 20 hours later do the same thing again. |
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