Steve56

I have to agree. Over the years I have worked on a few of these engines and found quality of build and materials very poor. Also some of the engineering practices are very poor. I think Barrus have just quietly dropped this engine. Probably realising there mistake, but that is just my opinion.

It seems a lot of people get overly concerned about using some of the old oils listed in the manuals rather than going with a more modern oil. The older manuals just list what was available at the time. A classic example as with the case of Lister SR and ST. If you work to the SR manual it recommends a straight oil, but if you work from the ST manual it will recommend a multi grade (15W/40). Yet they are basically the same engine, just that the ST was a more modern build.

That's always been my understanding. If labeled C_/S_ then it is suitable for diesel and petrol engines.

As already said the Isuzu 55 is based on the Isuzu 4LE1 engine. Which would have been used for various plant and industrial applications.

If you have the bleed screws open on your primary filter you will never pull fuel through using your lift pump as it will only pull air. You would need to close bleed screws on primary filter, open bleed on secondary filter then pump the fuel through.

Shouldn't cause any problems as these are normally used as a primary filter. So there should be another filter on the engine that would trap any odd bits.

It's standard supply from Beta Marine who will also supply the elements and seals. The filter is called a WASP filter which I think relates to the company who make them.

I can confirm what you say is correct. "Rattler" was previously called "Bethany Bear"

The Swan neck does not need to be vented. The only weak spot I can see is your exhaust outlet is below water line. This is not uncommon but if you spring a leak in what looks to be a flexible pipe that will be a boat sinker. If it were me I would prefer solid pipework below water line. If the installation allows it may be worth looking at moving the exhaust outlet to a position above water line. That is correct. All pipework must run downhill to the water lock. The 15 inch is probably talking about the water injection bend. This needs to be at about 15 inch above the water line or else you should fit an anti syphon valve. As the drawing shows you have one fitted so no problems.

Not really an answer to your question but was concerned with this issue when looking at hydraulic gearboxes to fit onto a Kelvin engine. I was concerned that at such a low speed there would not be enough pressure. So in the end decided to fit a Borg Warner 72c straight drive. Once the job was done the gearbox pressures checked and were within the specified limits. Have now fitted this box to a couple of Kevin's and both have been running for a number of years without problem.

The 10W/40 is absolutely fine and API CC is the correct spec. The problem with the manuals is they that cover the whole range and uses of the engine. For instance if the engine was being used on a generating set running at a much faster speed and at close to full load it would be a lot more forgiving to whatever oil was used. Really in a narrowboat they very rarely work hard so much more of a problem.

As mentioned earlier. Here's the Tecnical Bulletin that Lister Petter put out. This is the final page. Apparently to big a file to put into one post. May be of interest to some of you.

I would take it to mean the complete base plate. But I could be wrong.

As you say this could be a problem. The LPWS range of engines had a bit of a name for bore glazing. In fact at one point lister would actually supply the engine pre filled with running in oil which was used until the first oil change. If I can put my hands on the technical bulletin about oils I will post here.

As you say that can also be a problem on the Alpa range with hydraulic tappets. If the oil is not changed at the correct intervals it can cause the tappet to jack itself open causing the valves to hit the pistons.

The poster says this is a Lister Petter engine. If it is one of the Alpha range of engines then idle speed could be the issue. They had a habit of the speeder springs stretching over a long period of use causing the idle speed to drop. The first thing would be to ensure that the engine idles at 850 rpm when in gear and with a warm engine.

If you are replacing the drive plate just cut the plate with a cutting disc then you can remove it. When you fit the new one just make a couple of flats on the opposite sides then it should fit into th housing quite easily. I seem to remember at one time Beta used to do the same thing on the drive plate.

Yes Lister made the LPWT4 engine which was rated at around 52 hp. The naturally aspirated Alpha engines were rated at 10hp per cylinder at 3000 rpm. The marine versions had heavier governor weights fitted which made for a much more stable tickover and also slow speed running. But obviously you lost a bit on the top end as if I remember correctly they would only rev to around 2600 rpm. That is why the build number is an important part of the engine number as it tells you what would have been originally fitted.

If anyone is interested I'll tell you about the engine as I owned the boat many years ago and fitted the engine. The engine is a Lister LPWS4 Which came from Lister as an ex development engine. I carried out a total engine rebuild. As a marine engineer I was carrying out a lot of service work for Beta Marine and knew the owners of the company very well from my Lister days. They allowed me to take it into the Beta works and give it a coat of paint and I did like the red paint that Beta used. While in the works one of the employees thought it would be a good joke to stick a Beta Marine badge on it. I didn't mind at all but it seems to have caused a lot of confusion ever since. So I can confirm that it is a Lister Marine engine and not really anything to do with Beta.

You need to calculate the total water capacity of your cooling system and then look at the expansion rates of the coolant. This will then give you the size of header tank required

If you can find a copy of the ST workshop manual there is a section in there which covers the STW engine. You should be able to find a free download on the Internet. This engine was mainly sold for use in sea going craft such as small fishing boats where it would have been raw water cooled. It was also available as a keel cooled version for use in narrow boats although never as popular as the air cooled version. It was also modified and sold to companies such as Watercraft down in Gosport for use in ships lifeboats. The lifeboat engines had a number of internal mods to allow them to run upside down and also submerged to above crankshaft level.

Items 20-24 were what Lister would supply on a marine engine.

Originally an Alpha marine engine would have had a bolt on bracket/arm that would bolt on to the stop control. It would hang down below the level of the stop control and have a hole in the lower end to take the fitting that has been previously mentioned.

Normally a Lister dipstick would only have two marks, maximum and minimum. To me the very top mark on yours looks as if its home made. Another problem is that Lister used various dipsticks on the same model of engine, dependant on where they were located on the engine. They were normally identified by a number stamped on the brass top but that doesn't help unless you know what should be fitted. If itvwere me I would recommend you drain the engine down and then fill with the recommended amount of oil and see where it comes on your dipstick.

As you say these pumps were supplied by Lister Marine. But not as standard. They would have been an optional extra.