Two Diesel Techinical questions:

[Andrew M. Frankli]

1. I just bought a Lister 1 cyl. diesel generator - air cooled, 500cc from 1972. This has no glowplugs or cold start assist, but at 20 degrees I can crank this thing by hand and it will start after only 2 or 3 tries. My IDI diesel from 1993 WILL NOT start - even at 60 degrees, without the glow plugs working. What is the difference???

2. Why is it that I can idle my idi in my garage for 1/2 hour, come back in and see the room filled with toxic smoke. I can run my bullet heater on diesel for the same amount of time, burning the same amount fuel, and it just smells a little smoky. What is the difference??

 

[res0wc18]

answer to number one is: size matters, along with cranking force needed and the path the fuel has to travel to before reaching the point of ignition.

as for number to it has to do with the amount of air the two move and burning efficency. engines move huge amount of air and even brand new ones are not perfect, secondly it has to do with the different chemicals produced from the different combustion pressure etc