BMW STARTING

[Guest]

Can anyone help me with the correct procedure for starting a BMW D 12 single cylinder diesel engine. It has electric start and turns over well with plenty compression, injector and pump checked and working, but will not fire. There are two levers at side and a small pull button which I guess is the stop button, if any one could tell me the correct positioning I would be most gratefull. Thanks Ed

 

[Guest]

Hi Ed,The pull button is for excess fuel for starting,the engine speed control is the longer of the 2 levers on
the side of the engine,fully forward is full speed,fully aft is stop,the shorter lever is the engine stop which
allows the longer lever to go to the stop position .There is also a gradual decompressor at the top of the
engine which winds itself off.
Hope this helps Mike

 

[PaulJ]

Ed,
I'm afraid I don't know the specific engine to which you refer but many engines of that ilk have a "glow plug" which pre-heats the cylinder to aid starting when the engine is cold. If you have an "ignition" key with a number of detents as you turn it to the start position, the glow plug heating will probably be a spring-loaded position just before "Start". Unless you know it is there you probably wouldn't even notice it. Hold the key in that position for about 30 secs and then continue to turn the key to "Start". If you have an ammeter (Battery charge/discharge) you should be able to see the battery discharge while you are holding the key to heat the plug. It is possible that the control for the glow plug, instead of being a position of the start key could be a mysterious button somewhere near the start control that has hitherto appeared to do nothing......So the starting procedure would be :-
Set the throttle
Lift the decompression lever
Turn the key (or press the button) to "Heat" and hold it for 30 secs
Turn the key a bit more to "Start" to spin the engine up
Release the decompression lever

Hopefully it will start!

Alternatively, if your engine doesn't have a glow plug, I am told that "old" fuel can sometimes make an engine difficult to start so if the fuel in your tank has been there for an age then perhaps you could drain the tank and put some fresh fuel in? Failing that I can recommend a good sailmaker ........!