Post by TonyDunkley on Jun 16, 2020 5:41:19 GMT
Hi
I have an old Lister sl3 engine, been sitting a while. Turned it over by hand and there was no injector creek, took the side cover off and found that the fuel rack slides were stuck. They are cav pumps.
I've got them off the engine and all 3 were stuck in the fully up position. The engine has been dry stored and the internals look clean. I put them in a tray of diesel overnight and the next morning one of the pumps was free.
What can I do with the other 2 ? Is it best to leave them in the diesel or is there something else I can do? Was thinking about heating them up.
Thanks
Diesel fuel is hygroscopic - it absorbs water vapour from the atmosphere - and the single element jerk pumps used on the Lister 'S' range engines have a small recess in the pump body extending to just below the inlet and spill ports of the element barrel where the absorbed water can settle out whilst an engine stands idle and then cause corrosion seizure in the pump barrels and plungers. I suspect this is what's happened with the pumps on your SL.
Once freed off the pumps will probably work reasonably well if put back on the engine, re-timed and re-balanced by way of exhaust port temperatures instead of the calibration marks on the racks, but the corrosion damage to the pumping elements, and probably the delivery valves too, will almost certainly leave them performing below par, and engine performance - starting, exhaust smoke etc. - will be affected to some extent.