Starting a diesel manually??

[rpell1@msn.com]

Considering the current rain conditions, some of the guys at our Club were discussing the possibility of manually starting a Universal 25xp in critical situations. We couldn't find any reference in the owner's manual, (perhaps due to the quantity of beer being consumed at the time). But, the contention is that it is possible. However, no one knows how. (Imagine that?)

Any (sober) ideas or experiences out there?

Let's drink to that......

 

[Ted]

Starting a diesel manually

If your diesel engine has a manual crank and decompression levers, it can be started manually. On a Yanmar and some other engines this is possible. Not sure about a Universal 25xp. Place the throttle in your normal starting position. Flip all of the decompression levers so that the engine crankshaft will be able to spin easily when manually cranked. Crank the engine with the hand crank and once the engine is rotating as fast as you can get it to go, flip one decompression lever at a time until the engine is running on all cylinders. The engine will start running when only the first lever is engaged.

 

[bffatcat]

crank starting a diesel

when you hear the engine kick over get your arm out of the way fast. I had a faryman 2 cly diesel a few years back and found it physically demanding to handcrank

 

[kito]

With a big enough crank handle plus eating your Wheaties it should be possible (as long as it's got a shaft for a manual crank). My little ysm12 single cylinder can be started manually. I can only imagine turning a 2 cylinder.

 

[RIVERCRUISER]

Be sure to crank in the proper direction of rotation. A small diesel engine will run in either direction. lol

 

[capta]

If you do not have a compression release, there is an old trick to starting a diesel with a nearly dead battery. On any older diesel, say pre 1986, you can remove the valve cover and place dimes (US) between the rocker arm and the valve stem of each exhaust valve. Anything thicker than a dime and the valve could hit the piston (I'm not sure this will work because of the clearance on the newer high rpm diesels). Without compression, the engine should turn over with a minimum of battery power and then you pull out one thin dime, basically starting your engine as a one cylinder engine. Keep pulling out dimes in the normal firing order. Put the valve cover back on and clean up the unholy mess you've made, but hey, it's operating.

 

[Bob J.]

Volvo MD7A's came with a hand crank. There is a U-tube video floating around with a couple of guys doing in to a motor on a bench.

 

[Chenega]

Volvo MD7A's came with a hand crank. There is a U-tube video floating around with a couple of guys doing in to a motor on a bench.

my old H-28 had a Volvo MD7A and was easy to start by hand. It had a large heavy flywheel - flip compression release leaver, get it cranking by hand, pull the crank handle off, then flip compression lever back to compression and off it would go... Just had to be sure to get that handle off before flipping the lever or look out!! (Don't ask how I know...)

 

[Serenity21306]

Weak Battery

If my previous attempt to post manages to show up in the thread, I apologize. I must have hit a destroy-message key by accident.

To try again, what I intended to say is that in case your battery is too weak to crank normally, try releasing the compression briefly while energizing the starter. With that resistance removed, the starter might be able to spin the engine enough.

The rest of what I tried to say was that I used to start a Yanmar 1GM, single cylinder, by hand. Its compression release had to be held open and I couldn't spin the engine with one hand. So if I had no helper, I would put a prop under the lever with a string attached to my foot. With the engine spinning as fast as I could make it, I would give a jerk on the string and presto... The 1GM did not use glow plugs. The crank was an accessory sold by Yanmar.