Not even that... If he didn't do anything it'd still pick up like any other diesel engine... I'm fairly certain this guy cares enough about an engine almost a century old that he isn't gonna lock the throttle to max, take a step back and let it blow up... You can be drawing 3 gallons of oil a minute, you still only block the intake to kill it.
Majority of dislikes (or unitentional likes) on RU-vid are actually accidental screen touches...:happens a lot with me because I’m clumsy with the fashion of who can build the thinnest touch screens for the gullible market consumers.
He decompressed it, it looked like a run away starting to me! Instant response to go for the lever saved it, a second later and he'd be running the other way. Good call young man :)
Nice Job! The young gentleman knew exactly what he had to do. Good thing the engine had the air shut off too. This young man will make a great mechanic someday as he kept his cool. Good job and thanks for the video.
That's how old Diesel engines were typically shut down, they need air to run, so a mechanical choke on the intake is all it takes. I have no idea why they're so expensive on modern Diesel engines though, quite literally a simple carburetor choke plate will work!
It had and over productive fuel pump, glazed bore and dodgy head gasket so I ended up buying a new fuel control lever and fuel pump and it ran lovely after that .some may say that it was a crap runaway but personally I'm not too kenn ruining a 1958 engine that I had spend hours rebuilding
I understand fully. Good save, got to it before the rpm rose too high. They are not meant to spin very fast at all. You spend time and effort to bring something back to life, why would you let it destroy itself ? And stop picking on James May. I do not know anyone who would not love to have his job.
The kid did a damn good job at containing the runaway, most kids his age would flip out not knowing what to do. He was doing simple measures trying to get engine speed back to norm instead of shutting down. Honestly I'd have shut it down, then restarted and waited for next runaway prepared to pay attention and find the cause. But, he saved the engine regardless, so credit due.
I’ve got one of those. The danger of the running too fast is an imbalanced flyweeel could fly apart...BAD JU-Ju ! I use it connected to an auxiliary genset for an off grid house. Run it at about 600 rom and all is well. Also, it’s EXTREMELY efficient. Will run 10 hours under moderate load on 1.5 gallons of off road diesel.
@Fishing Fisherman I actually bought some small single cylinder units for that exact reason. Also, they're nice because unlike every f*****g gas motor I've ever owned under 10 hp, the damn things will still fire up after being in storage for a year or two. For the sheer number of carbs I've had to clean in my life, I should have a damn medal or something. Or maybe just get a clue and dump the float bowls if they don't get used again right quick. One or the other. :)
@@Vilvaran: I honestly think it's one of the best uses of them. Especially the partial load efficiency. I still wish I could find a local fully enclosed diesel unit of about 4-6hp. I'd just build one, but my health isn't up to the task anymore. Sadly, I can't find a single place that has them anymore even though they were stupid popular 10 years ago. :/
Thank you for bringing back memories of my apprenticeship, many years ago now. Nice to hear the sound again. I remember the exhaust plumes in a large poorly ventilated workshop. The main ventilation was by opening the roller door.
Man this is the best video I ever seen, my life has changed forever, shortly after this video I became a c.e.o of a Fortune 500 company and just bought a island in the Bahamas all thanks to this RU-vid video wow life’s great
You rebuilt this? That's pretty cool stuff! Old engines rock. The Kutztown Folk Festival hosts a large group of old engine equipment and it's so oddly satisfying to hear the soft chugging, occasional pop and even the smell of these old engines. I don't know enough to see what happened but i heard the pitch change and the exhaust change color right as you reacted so good one on saving the machine. Really cool. Thanks for this video.
Well done, kid. Don't listen to the stupid hateful comments. I don't mind if you are rich as long as you are respectful... And this you showed here is a show of respect towards the beautiful machine you got there. Saving her like that. Stupid people are always thinking rich people are just miserable, but they are not all like that. Congratulations for the engine
Quick reactions old son, well done, you've the makings of a good engine man! I used to run a Lister HA4 in a fishing boat, noisy but an excellent power plant! It was originally fitted with a huge fan.
Runaways can ONLY happen on diesels , due to the fact they do not need a spark plug, they will burn what ever gets in the cylinder whether that be diesel or oil ..
smartmonkey777 it's possible for a gasoline engine to runaway. It's much more likely to happen to a 2 stroke though. Had a dirt bike that ran off pretty bad while I was riding it and hitting the killswitch did absolutely nothing. Had to shift it to high gear and stall it out to get it to shut off. Turns out it developed a massive air leak.
Well done, nice to see someone this age LEARNING how to work these old machines......when the lights go out in the oil refinery canteen, we may be looking into these types, running alternate fuels and even hydrogen......you never know.
Greetings from Japan.🇯🇵 This was a very interesting video that recorded a situation where a diesel engine does not stop immediately even if the decompression is released when it runs out of control. I referred to the service manual for the Lister SL1 diesel engine to understand the series of operations the young man performed in the video. The injection pump control lever of the Lister diesel engine is adjusted so that it starts at the fully open position at 12 o'clock, gradually reduces the rotation by operating it clockwise, reaches the specified rotation at the 3 o'clock position, and stops the rotation at the fully closed position at 4 o'clock. And it seems that decompression is not used directly to stop the engine. Decompression seems to work by forcibly pushing down the exhaust valve to prevent it from closing properly, allowing the compression pressure to escape into the exhaust pipe. 0:03 The young man gradually accelerates the rotation of the flywheel with the starting handle. 0:08 After the rotation speed has accelerated sufficiently, the decompression lever, which was released, is pulled toward the fuel tank to close the decompression. The engine starts, and as the RPM gradually increases, the starting handle is pulled out. 0:14 The injection pump control lever is rotated clockwise from the start position to the normal RPM position, but contrary to what is written in the service manual, the normal RPM position has a higher RPM. From this point, the young man operates the injection pump control lever to the stop position several times, but the rotation does not stop, and he repeats the operation to return it to the normal RPM position. Then, he makes eye contact with the cameraman to show that "something is wrong." 1:30 The engine starts to run out of control due to the damage of the injection pump control lever. At this point, the young man quickly pushes the decompression lever toward the flywheel to release the decompression. However, the RPM is too high and the injection pump is broken with the injection pump over-opened, so the RPM only drops slightly and the engine does not stop completely. 1:43 The engine RPM rises sharply because the decompression lever is operated to the close side when the rotation has not completely stopped. Please note that the exhaust smoke goes from almost clear to thick and the injection pump control lever is broken. From these, it can be inferred that when a diesel engine runs out of control, the fuel supply is excessive and the rotation speed is extremely high, so even if the decompression is released, the compression pressure is maintained due to the reflected pressure from inside the exhaust pipe, resulting in a situation where the rotation does not stop immediately. This is just like the situation where the reflected pressure of the exhaust chamber of a two-stroke gasoline engine creates a "pipe-in". At a construction site in Japan, I used an International Harvester wheel loader produced under license by Komatsu. The engine was stopped by releasing the decompression. The decompression was operated by pulling the throttle pedal toward me with my hand. The engine stopped immediately when the decompression was opened, so this was the first time I had seen a situation like this video where the engine continued to run for a long time even after the decompression was opened. However, after examining this video, I came to understand that "while releasing the decompression is an effective measure when a diesel engine goes out of control, it is important to keep in mind that it takes much longer than usual for the engine to come to a complete stop."
James, keep your interest alive mate! You've obviously got a keen interest in restoration and no negative remarks can dull that. Ignore the wastrels and enjoy your hobby. These brilliant old British engines are becoming rare now and half the fun is searching them out and bringing them back to life. Keep going and develop it further.... when you find a keen interest such as this, choosing a satisfying career later on is much easier. Even just the principles and physics of engineering plus the need to create something or see something work properly is the basis for a grand and rewarding future. By the way.... the haters and the trolls are the kind of folk who will eventually come to realise they missed the point entirely.... Anyway, good work mate.... keep it up!
Listening to that Lister brought back memories of fishing boats leaving one of the bays where we visited in Newfoundland, early morning ,fog rolling out ......amazing fond memories. All replaced now with Yamaha , Evinrude outboards , really miss those old sounds .
Probably not wanting to stay in a certain RPM, he had to keep playing with the throttle to keep the RPM reasonable. That’s my guess, I don’t know what other signs there could be for a runaway diesel
That kid has quick reactions and shut it down. He gets a good job and a thumbs up from me because most people these days would just step back and watch parts fly. This can also happen with a gasoline engine more likely a 2 stroke. Those who don't believe me ask a dirt bike racer or RC car racer.
I was a Lister apprentice. The engines usually run away because you have fuel in the oil, you need to check the fuel pump banjos and be sure you don't have a fuel leak. The best way to stop the engine is to have an air intake cap ready to cover the intake, knock the filter off and put the cap on and stand back. Never stay around an engine running away!!
+laerdal The fuel pump diaphragms can leak fuel into the lub oil. Allegedly modern synthetic oil can cause this as there is a rumour that it attacks the old style rubber. Allegedly ONLY old style mineral oil should be used in these engines.
I been around runaway diesel and doesn't explode. It's noisy, smelly but is not a ticking time bomb. Its not like those race engine fueled by hi octane which explode when are dyno tested.
this diesel engine is much smaller and less complicated than truck diesel engines we're used to seeing runaway. This engine has a mechanism that essentially allows you to open the cylinder so that the motor loses all compression effectively shutting it off. Turbo diesels are much harder to shut off once they run
It’s called a decompression lever. A shaft that runs through the valve housing with a lever on each end. The lever on the outside is for your hand or a mechanism, when turned, turns the shaft which has another lever or cam on the other end of the shaft. This internal cam or shaft, decompresses the exhaust valve or exhaust valves.
I didn't see it running away, exactly... but I was impressed to see it running. Love that chuffing and puffing thing. Now get it running on recycled deep frier oil and hooked up to a 5kW generator and you've got free electricity for the rest of your life! And it's portable! P.S. Don't forget to filter the exhaust gas for fine particle pollution. Get a pre-made unit from a Toyota bus/truck wrecker. 50 quid.
one of my family members in Fiji had one of these, amazing engine, he kept it outside under a shack, hand cranked that old girl and sure enough it fired to life, no hesitation at all! chugging away, diesel does not spoil easy and produces a lot of low end toque, burns more efficiently due to higher compression ratios than gasoline or petrol and a little goes a long long way. These engines can be used to power a variety of equipments, compressor, generator, water pump etc
I over filled the sump on a dumper many years ago and the engine syphone the excess into the combustion Chambers The only way I could stop it was running it into a wall . The smoke it produced was fantastic .
My brother inlaw used to have an old wagon with various antique engines on display he had 2 old 32 volt generator plants one was a Delco generator that used to start on gas and run on kerosene and other was a Lister that ran on diesel we also had a big Lister engine with a belt drive that was designed to run a small factory when we started it up you could hear it from a mile away
+Nick Nys The most fun was when an "electrician's" moped backfired and started running backwards. When its rider released the clutch he went backwards, fell-off and was late for work. He wheeled the bike to work then spent a whole day of the firms time sawing it up and putting the pieces onto the scrap pile! Allegedly when the bloke wanted a two-way lighting circuit for the staircase of his house he got the Electricity Board to do it because he didn't know how to! Very sad but in truth he was really just a light-bulb-changer. People used to take the Mickey when he tried to synchronize the Gents Clock System. He would start at the master clock and count "One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi......." as he walked to the first slave clock. Mean nasty people would notice what he was doing and say "Hello Charlie, nice day!" and mess-up his counting. He then had to go back and start again. Phew it was a long time ago and there were no mobiles in those days!
This engine reminds me on legendary italian engines for motocultivators. My father has Grillo with 13HP, it’s a bit “know how” to start it with the rope. The engine takes a very small amount of diesel and it is so reliable 👍
I didn't watch this the first time RU-vid suggested it to me because I didn't want to see a nice old engine die for no reason. I'm relieved to see what the actual outcome was!
Did they use these on dumper trucks back in the 60's? I remember being fascinated with them when I was a kid, and had rides on them from the builders, and observed how they started them up! Eventually I couldn't resist having a go myself when the builders had gone home...
good save! I have a SR2 that ran away the first time I fired it up. it just had about 6 inches of fuel in the line to the pump, and the previous owner had the decompression lever set so little that it was just enough to start using a crank, but wouldn't stop the engines when it was running. I just wet in my shed and watched until she stopped. got it all fixed up and runs like a charm now. I just need to rig up a throttle for it, it was on a generator so its set to go strait to aprox. ~3/4 throttle . I am going to hook up a lawnmower throttle cable so it adjustable
