Running the Lister for the first time.

1. I cleaned the sump out, flushed it with clean petrol and removed the drain plug. Wiped dry with a clean rag. I put a magnet in there as well to collect any shavings of metal I may have missed.

2. Removed cam followers and check the face which sits on the cam is square to the shaft, I found one that was out by 1.1mm, this was fixed by my local machine shop. Also check the oil grooves, two exhaust valves on my 12-2 had very poorly made oil ways, in fact one was blocked entirely. Again my local machine shop fixed these, he did not have the correct tooling so he used a burr, a bit rough but I am sure it will be OK. He also polished the face that sits on the cam. The cam followers must rotate to even out the wear where the followers sit on the cam shaft to ensure long life. A good way to test for rotation is to put a dab of white paint on each follower.

3. Check tappet clearance, 0.017 inches inlet, and 0.032 inch exhaust.

4. I discovered that my oil filter had dislodged from its fitting, the two spot welds holding it to the oil plug assembly had broken, again my local machine shop obliged here and he silver soldered it back in place.

5. Check the head nuts for proper torque, this should be 160 - 170 foot/lbs. Also Injector nuts should be 38 - 40 foot lbs.

6. Do some work on the governor, check item 25 in the parts list make sure there are no burs around the hole, make sure it has been chamfered correctly and polish the hole with some 1200 grade wet and dry. Don't take off too much metal here as we don't want the hole too big. Remove the paint from the governor spring.

7. Check oil level and calibrate. The dipper on the bottom of the big end bearing must go into the oil about half an inch (12mm) and should strike the oil from the narrow face, not the broad face, this level should then show up on the dip stick as being full. The dip stick on mine seems a bit crude as it hits some oil pipes on insertion and makes screwing in very difficult, so I decided to calibrate the level indication so it is correct with the dip stick not screwed in, then I adjusted the dipper so it went about half an inch (12mm) into the oil. It is recommended that the big end bearing be removed to ensure the dipper won't strike the bearing if screwed in too far.

8. The operating water temperature should be around 190 deg F. While we are talking about cooling, these engines also require a thermostat to ensure the water jackets get up to temperature as quickly as possible, more on this later.

9. I removed the heads and found the following:-
   1. The LHS, liner 0.014 inches above cylinder, piston 0.033 below liner and head 0.069 above piston.
   2. The RHS, liner 0.017 inches above cylinder, piston 0.042 below liner and head 0.068 above piston.
   3. These figures aren't too bad, at least the head clearances are the same, meaning compression on each piston the same. The manual states that the head clearance should be 0.050. I am not sure yet why these Jkson engines are like this. I did not calculate the compression ratio. But we shall see how it runs.

10. Check the injector timing (spill timing), as found RHS 15deg BTDC, LHS 22deg BTDC. They were both adjusted to 20 deg BTDC. Circumference of fly wheel measured with a tape measure was 1878mm. There fore 20 deg is equal to 104.3mm before TDC. Find TDC with a dial gauge (while the head is off) and mark flywheel after a pointer has been established on the block. Then also mark the injector timing marks.

11. Oil the tappets, pushrod reservoirs, valve springs, governor pins and brackets, grease the rocker shafts. Turn the engine a few times to ensure the oil pump is working and primed. Make sure that the oil is getting every where turn for a bit longer to saturate the engine with oil. Bleed the fuel system. The 6/1 does not have an oil pump.

12. Make sure the fly wheel is clear of any object before starting.

13. Reomve the protective paint from the crank handle internal hole and the same on the crankshaft and oil well.

14. Now we are ready to start, good luck. I temporarily filled the water jackets with water, after sealing the lowest point. I figured this way I could run the machine for at least 10 minutes without causing any over heating. The 12/2 requires about 540 litres of water, while the 6/1 requires about 220 litres for optimum cooling. More on this later.

15. I used Caltex oil. Havoline Premium Plus SAE 10W-30 to run in the motor, as it was what I had at hand. I will contact Caltex here and find out what they recommend.

16. Recommended oils include:
    1. Caltex Delo 400 multigrade (Premium performance, multigrade, heavy duty diesel engine oil specifically designed to lubricate a wide range of diesel and gasoline engines requiring API CI-4 PLUS, CI-4, CH-4, SL, SH, ACEA E7 or JASO DH-1 performance lubricants operating under the most severe service conditions. Specifically designed for the latest electronically controlled diesel engines,including those fitted with EGR, experiencing high soot loading. Formulated with ISOSYN base oils and the latest additive technology to provide exceptional soot dispersancy, deposit control and wear protection.)
    2. Caltex Deulube SAE15W-30 (Deulube S15 oils are general purpose diesel engine oils formulated for older diesel engines to provide balanced detergent/dispersant properties and full protection against oxidation, corrosion and wear. Deulube S15 oils meet the API classification CC and are available in SAE 30 and 40 grades)
    3. Havoline Premium Plus SAE 10W-30 recommended for petrol engines but also on the list for diesel stationery engines like Kubota and Lister.

I started my Engine some time ago, and all seems to be OK with it. This week we are doing some work on Kim and Mauzi's 6/1. We will even try and mount the alternator and test the whole unit if we have time. More on this later....

Update August 26, 2009

I have finally got my 12/2 running with an old Stamford Alternator and I am in the process of constructing my Power Shed. The old faithfull TS-1 Lister failed a few months ago, when the old Canvas coupling between the motor and the Alternator failed, and broke off some of the coupling bolts. I will get that going later and use it to drive a water pump, but more on that later.

I was talking to Stephen Hutson from Ozlisteroids the other day and apparently Penrite have recomended the use of their SEFS oil for the Old Lister CS diesel engines. We will be getting some in soon, so lets see how it goes.