Fuel in my oil on my Lister SR2

[Jedon]

I guess a cracked fuel line or leaky injector? Help! Off-Grid, that's my source of power, 3ft of snow.
Thanks!

[Jedon]

Earlier today I ran out of fuel way faster than normal, thought maybe
the batteries were acting weird but the engine would stall under
higher load so I reduced load and went on my way. Just now it stopped
and it was out of fuel again after only 3 hours, usually it runs 9
hours on a tank. Anyway earlier I changed the oil and so I checked it
just now it it smelled wrong so I emptied it out and it was diluted
with diesel! I guess I have a cracked internal fuel line or leaky
injector? We have 3+ feet of snow and are snowed in, I'm panicking a
bit here! Any ideas? Thanks!

[Jedon]

I just took off the valve covers and the other cover plates to see if there is anything obvious, I turned it over with the starter and it looks like maybe a little fuel is leaking from around the right injector down onto the crankshaft.
I have spare injectors but not more than one change of oil.

[Jedon]

Okay I found a loose bolt holding down the left fuel injector pump.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jedon13/ListerSR2#
The SR2 holds over 2g of oil!!

[Carlb]

Glad to hear you found the problem and it was only a loose bolt.

[mike90045]

Yikes.  I didn't know the fuel pump could drain into the crankcase.  I hope you got it fixed

[Jedon]

Bad news, that didn't fix it, now I once again have a sump full of fuel and oil. I have spare pumps and injectors but no more oil, I'm trying to clear the road so I can meet someone to take me into town to get oil and a water pump -> 3/4" pipe adapter for my 6/1 ( the stock water pump went bad, I got a grunflos but need the adapter ). I also have a gas generator but it won't start. So now I have 3 generators, all down and we're snowed in with no power ( well we have some in the batteries, conserving it! )

[mbryner]

Hey Jedon, I don't have any great insights to help you with, but as a future off-gridder I can have empathy.  Hope you have a nice warm fire and some kerosine lanterns or candles!   Thanks for posting the pics: it sure helps us who have never seen an SR2 to visualize when you're talking about internal fuel lines, etc.   Best wishes!

[Jedon]

Thanks!
We have a nice warm fire, gas on demand water heater and gravity fed water so we're fine for a while, just don't want our internet to go down :-D

[NoSpark]

You probably have what you need for the 6/1 already, you just have to believe that thermosiphon works. Iirc you had a radiator with a port in the bottom you were trying to use as an overflow. Flip that radiator over so that port is on top and use thermosiphon. Trying to rig up a pump now just complicates things more than they have to be. Hook up the pump later when you have the time. Good luck!

[Chris]

Hey Jendon,

Sorry to hear about your problems. My VA went down last night and my piece O S John Deer with electronic everything is on the blink as well. The "Computer", Deep Sea Electronics Plc. 704 Automatic controller keeps shuting down the engine saying there is no oil pressure. There is. I think the brain got fried some how. A new controller $1,000.00 or so here and has to be ordered. I will probably junk it and go with a  home built controller with some off the shelf auto relays. ( may be $50.00 inparts). Just have to get my brain in gear and dream up something. The way it is now, is way more complicated than it needs to be. I like KISS and being able to "see" what is going on with the controller circuit. Hats off to the Controller guys who are coming up with fancy controller circuits. But when you live off grid, in the bush, you need someting that can be fixed without breaking the bank and the brain.

Spent about an hour on the VA this morning. Stuck exhaust valve. This has been a somewhat common problem with this engine. It is air cooled and tends to carbon up a bit. It really runs too cool. Did a quick, in the bush valve lap job, with the head still on. Remove the rockers, Vice-grips on the valve stem. WD40, carb cleaner sprayed on the stem and let it dribble down between stem and guide, "lap" the valve, wiggling the vice-grips until it until the valve seals, reassemle rockers and fire her up.  Spray or dribble kerosene or Marvel Mystery oil in the intake to supple things up and break down some of the carbon build up. Watch out for over speed on the engine when adding kero or Marvel mystery. Works every time. I used to break down the engine in the earlier days and do a proper valve job. The above saves alot of time.

I also have a small 3kw chinese screamer that I can use to pump water and charge batteries when needed.

Regards.,
Chris
womp womp again!

[BruceM]

Chris-

What is the brand of controller, and is there a schematic available for it?  Have you talked to the vendor about troubleshooting and/or repair?

It is highly unlikely to be a processor failure. 

BruceM

[Ronmar]

Bad news, that didn't fix it, now I once again have a sump full of fuel and oil. I have spare pumps and injectors but no more oil, I'm trying to clear the road so I can meet someone to take me into town to get oil and a water pump -> 3/4" pipe adapter for my 6/1 ( the stock water pump went bad, I got a grunflos but need the adapter ). I also have a gas generator but it won't start. So now I have 3 generators, all down and we're snowed in with no power ( well we have some in the batteries, conserving it! )

well, it is comming from somewhere.  If I read correctly, it wouldn't hold full load?  Sounds lke a HP line leaking with fuel going into sump instead of firing the injector.  Do you have a mechanics stethescope?  Load up the engine till you get the load problem then listen to the injectors with the stethescope.  That will at least tell you which side has the issue.  After it is warm, pull the covers and crank it again looking for leaks.

[Jedon]

Woohoo! I got it working, and at full power!! Bleeding didn't work so I started tracing the fuel. Noticed that the right fuel pump squirted fuel out the top, but the left one didn't. I separated the spare pumps and swapped the good one in for the left one, did the bleeding again and it fired right up!

[Jedon]

You probably have what you need for the 6/1 already, you just have to believe that thermosiphon works. Iirc you had a radiator with a port in the bottom you were trying to use as an overflow. Flip that radiator over so that port is on top and use thermosiphon. Trying to rig up a pump now just complicates things more than they have to be. Hook up the pump later when you have the time. Good luck!

I tried that before, the problem is that the broken water pump provides too much resistance and I don't have the flanges to remove it and just have 3/4" pipe. I have ordered flanges, I'll try thermosiphon before hooking the new electric Grundfos pump up.