Commer Perkins diesel

Russell

Russell

0
Hi I have a Commer PB with a diesel engine which is becoming very difficult to start when cold - does anyone know much about this engine - and whether it has glow plugs - I thought it did because I was told so when I aquired it and before starting you are required to hold a rocker switch down for a few seconds prior to the engine catching - however havign talked to Speedy Spares it seems there may just be a manifold heater. Can anyone confirm ? Also the engine creates a fair bit of white smoke - it doesn't burn oil - but emits a very strong diesel smell and white haze....
 
Hi, I can't find any mention of a pre-heater in the parts book, that doesn't mean there never was one.
Poor starting and white smoke can be caused by worn or clogged injectors. They are supposed to give off a very fine spray of diesel, thus attomising the fuel. With worn ones, they tend to throw out globules of fuel, which is not atomised, therefore it fails to ignite giving poor starting and white smoke. Repair is a specialised job, fortunately they are CAV, so should be easy to sort for about 25 pounds each.
 
Ah - right, that could explain it then - I will investigate, do you know if the burn would be affected too - as its quite a 'knocky' engine - I know diesel engines then were nothing like those today, but even so its pretty noisy.
 
Hi Russel, would definately affect the burn, if the fuel dosn,t attomise fine enough it won't explode.
Don't know about the knocking, but early diesels are very knocky, just listen to a single cylinder lister in a dumper!!!!!!!!!
 
i had a similar discussion with someone the other day about my Perkins and whether or not it has glow plugs... 'it wouldn't start without them', which is rubbish because my engine definitely does not have them.

it had one of those 12v pre-heaters in the air intake (heats up and then squirts a small amount of diesel thro into the engine on starting - sounds the same set up that you've got). this may be worn out and can easily be replaced. check the wire going to it tho - those diesels don't half vibrate and the 12v feed could have come loose.

Re: smoky exhaust - Might be worth chucking a decent diesel engine cleaner into your fuel system, which will likely sort out your smoke problem, cleaning the injectors and injection pump, etc (tho you have to be careful there's no cr*p in your fuel tank since the cleaner can stir this up and block a filter or fuel pick-up). Its worth having the injectors taken out tho and taken to an injector specialist who can give them a full test for the spray pattern and proper sort out.

also worth doing a full engine filter change (fuel, air and oil) at the same time.

one last thing(!) the older Perkins engines are known for always being a bit smoky and it won't fail a test for this - saying that, having put a decent diesel cleaner into the system i did notice a marked difference - nice to think you're not smoking out those travelling behind.

(by the way - what sort of perkins diesel is it?)
 
All of that is great advice - will have to get back to you on the type - think its a 4108 from what I've read but will double check. definately all makes sense - it maybe its in need of some TLC.... Thanks both of you
 
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