Ruston Hornsby 2VSHM help needed

[BEngo]

Or e

1 hour ago, stagedamager said:

we are assuming the flywheel is on the correct position on the crank...... i know the chances are slim, but could the timing be that far out... could there be chance the engine had work and the flywheel was put on without it going back in the correct position??

Or even the 'wrong'  flywheel has been fitted. I once had a Kelvin J3 in the workshop that came with a J4  flywheel with TDC  and injection point markings for both 2/4 and 3 cylinders.  Coupled with  the ability to fit it in any one of 6 positions   sorting it all out and fitting it was not a job for Saturday-morning- after-a- Friday- night in the pub.

 

I dont know the 2VSH well but if it has a multicylinder injection pump ( rather  than individual cylinder pumps lke a Lister SR) I would  follow the injector test suggested  by looking at the injection timing.  It can be easy to get the pump on 180 degrees out and the pump has been off recently for servicing.

[Peugeot 106]

On my engine when I bought it the engine had seized after 100 hours (no oil the filter had fallen off) . @RLWP stripped it and found that the drive gear had rotated on the camshaft. It is an interference fit with no key or pin. The timing was miles out as well as damaging the pushrod assembly as the valves were clouting the pistons.

Richard fixed it and it is now a smashing little engine. 
Could something similar have happened here? Richard was baffled for a (short) while as the engine still turned over. You can read his blog on this engine on his Primrose Engineering website (LPWS2)
note I am definitely not knowledgeable about these old engines so just adding my pennyworth in case any gears are interference fit and have slipped maybe due to seizures in the past

[MtB]

1 hour ago, BEngo said:

It can be easy to get the pump on 180 degrees out and the pump has been off recently for servicing.

 

On the other hand, one wonders if the pump was taken off for servicing as it would not start (for reasons turning out to be unrelated), and refitting it wrong has just introduced another fault. 

 

Just a possibility to consider. 

[billh]

Individual pumps on these Rustons and not easy to get them in sync. The injectors  are Ruston's own design and there's not many about these days, I dont think VSH has been made since about 1955. With reference to the industrial version as used in cranes etc. I think the flywheel ( sometimes two, one at each end) is held with a Gibhead key so the flywheel may have been fitted back to front. This arrangement may not pertain on the marine version and doesn't apply to the loco version either which has a bolt on flywheel similar to Kelvin J. I have  experience of  the bigger VRH engine of 1949 vintage and this always starts  easily even in winter. If you can turn the engine by hand you should hear the injectors squawk , indicating they are working correctly but make sure the fuel racks are on full gas. The injection timing can be checked using  the viewing window on the front of the pumps, take the iron cover off and observe the timing marks in the window. I can't quite remember but there may be a pointed thing screwed into the crankcase near the flywheel and corresponding marks on the rim to aid timing.

[kevgermany]

Thanks for the updates. 

Unless anyone can tell/show the crankcase timing mark, it's not really possible to time the pumps. Camshaft timing is possible as it's gear driven and the gears are (theoretically) marked. One flywheel mark does appear to be at TDC, but I have not confirmed accurately.

 

Owner managed to find a marine engineer with some experience of these engines. He diagnosed a weak/slow starter motor (already known and on the list to do when engine runs) and said it would start when this turned the engine faster. So current status is sort out the starter motor and go from there. As you will realise I'm not in control, so checking out these suggestions may take time. But please keep them coming. 

[kevgermany]

Final update. Thanks for all the help and advice.

It's running.

It has an automatic start position on the throttle.

LH starter motor

Valve timing is marks on pulleys, thus was OK.

Pump/injector timing was OK  for reference there is a vertical line on the block, almost vertically above the crankshaft. Was hard to find.

Starter motor is worn, almost impossible to find parts for it.

Running oil into the drain holes in the head drops oil down the valve stems into the cylinders. 

This provided a bit of extra compression .

Spinning the engine for a long time caused the white smoke to start getting black as it tried to run. Significant blowby from pistons as during the attempts to run, white smoke coming from crankcase yhtough drain ports in head.

Eventually decompressing the exhaust valve on one cylinder got enough momentum for the other cylinder to fire. Releasing this got both cylinders firing.

After running a while it would tick over properly with no more smoke or piston blow by.

Very responsive to throttle and picked up well as it was spinning down after actuating cut off lever

 

Diagnosis. Possible water remaining in fuel system despite thorough bleeding. 

Stuck piston ring(s) causing insufficient compression to start, which freed off after running for a while.

 

 

Edited Friday at 15:17 by kevgermany
typos