Hi All!
An F1L 812 Deutz Air cooled generator followed me home
and after some degree of work, it runs. I'm curious as to the
vintage for one thing. Also the engine drops off occasionally
after warmed up and emits a lot of black smoke in catching
up. It was originally a Allmand Maxi-lite generator in its
previous life. I have not changed the fuel filter yet and
don't know if it has a fuel pump inside the engine case or
not. I'm hoping to find some information about this engine
in order to make it a usable genset and maybe portable welder as well. Thanks for reading this and for any replies.
Burt L. Minnesota
A couple more possibilities:
1 - Sticking/binding of the linkage between the governor output and the injection pump fuel control (the "pump rack"). If the linkage does not move freely the injection pump cannot respond immediately to a slight drop in RPM. The RPM's continue to drop until the governor suddenly snaps wide open. This gives the burst of black exhaust until RPMs catch up and the governor throttles back.
2 - If it only surges with no load on the generator, it may be the governor sensitivity is a bit high. Adding a light load to the generator should settle it down.
....FB
The F1L 812 has about four to five hours of run time
since it was procured from the scrap heap. It seems
to run OK but has a lot of clatter in my estimation.
On idle I would almost call it a hammer. Possibly
it would run more quietly if the injection timing were
adjusted but have not gotten that far yet. It's a winter
project I guess and am thinking of transferring the genset to
a smaller trailer, something that I can move around with
my ATV. Thanks for all the posts, It's fun to work on
something "new" and maybe learn something in the process.
Thanks ALL, Burt
Hello Burt,
Worth checking condition of your injector nozzle. You should hear a healthy creak or grunt sound when cranked over at medium speed. You may be able to remove the injector and reconnect it out of the cylinder without bending the pipe. Then crank it slowly, (keep hands clear of spray jet) and you should see a fine fuel mist from each of the nozzle holes. It should cut off cleanly without any squirt or dribble. Otherwise, the nozzle needs cleaning or replacing. A faulty nozzle can produce most of the symptoms you have described, so worth doing the home check as above, or taking the injector to an injection shop. You may be surprised at the difference a good nozzle makes.
Regards, Combustor.
That's a great idea! I will pull the injector and see
how it sprays and make another post as to the results.
Its a rain day here but the engine is in a shed so a
perfect project for a rainy day. Also I have access to
some 9 series injectors so one of those might quite
possibly fit if mine turns out to be bad. All great posts
from everyone and all useful information. Thanks.
Burt
Having removed and cleaned the injector, it wasn't
possible to reconnect the lines and get a visual test on
the spray. I do get a nice creaking sound when the
injector fires so will settle with that for now. It is a
single tapered pin with one hole for injection.
Here's a photo of the Allmand Maxi-Lite Generator unit.
I'm thinking of mounting the unit on a smaller trailer
as this trailer is too big to move around comfortably.
Also a nice paint job and an enclosed cover might be
an enhancement. It's starting to snow here so it would
make a good project for winter.
Black smoke indicates a too rich situation. Sticking injectors, fuel adjustment for elevation, oil getting past rings under load - you will have to research the cause.
Andrew
Black smoke usually means that the engine is overloaded. On a boat barnacles on the propeller will do it and I heard about a bloke who tore down his engine when the problem was actually barnacles! A clogged air filter can give black smoke but this is fairly unusual. Blue smoke usually means oil getting past the piston rings. Grey smoke can be caused by either late injection and the fuel not having enough time to burn, or low injection pressure. If the injection pressure is too low, say psi, the fuel will not be "atomised" into small enough droplets. As big droplets take longer to burn than small ones they will not have finished burning when the exhaust valve opens. Result a stench of diesel in the exhaust and grey smoke. Getting the injector(s) serviced so that they "pop" at around to psi will eliminate grey smoke. It is so simple when one understands the smoke signals that the engine is sending out. Good luck!