Lombardini Diesel on Wood Mizer

MartyParsons · December 26, 2016, 09:03:12 PM

Hello,
Thought I would post some information on the diesel engines that were first used on the Wood Mizer mills in 1996. Lombardini diesel engine were available in a Turbo 40 hp and a non Turbo 30 hp. The very first Super LT40 mills used the Turbo version. There were some issues with these engines in the early days. ( was not with WM at this time) I had heard that Lombardini were very helpful resolving issues. Here are some issues that I head rumors about. Head gaskets, fuel rails etc. Fuel would leak into the lubricating oil and would damage the engine.
I think from my experience they work well as long as you do your maintenance as scheduled. Engine oil should be checked every 10 hours and changed at 250 hours. Valves and injector timing should be check and adjusted if needed at 1000 hours. These engines have a over head cam and it is driven with a timing belt. This should be replaced at 4000 hours or every 4 years. If this belt fails the engine is damaged beyond repair.
I have one in the shop now and I have some pictures on what we did to repair the issues all related to Maintenance. This engine has 2700 hours on it and the mill has been out of operation for some time.
Customer purchased it and the owner he purchased it from said the engine was just serviced. :

You will need to know the serial # and model if you are going to do maintenance.

You Will need a repair manual. Kohler purchased Lombardini or has a relationship with them and parts are available through Kohler.

You will need to get access to the front pulley on the engine. They first time I did this I did not remove the radiator. The second time I removed the radiator to get better visibility of the marks. A = TDC The two marks to the left of the TDC mark is for injector timing. If you have the 1204 engines then you will be using the D and F marks to do your settings.

Engine before I started. You can see the turbo on the side so this is a 40 hp.

The alternator bearing is out and the starter is very noisy so they will also need to go to the shop for repair.

This engine would hardly run, about 2 min running in the shop and we were all standing outside gasping for air.

These engine seem to like to produce smoke rings out the muffler when the injector timing gets off. Sorry no picture of this.

I removed the radiator because this is the view for the marks.

Diesel engine oil is always dirty. This one was black. I did flush out the engine with fuel oil and changed it. I would not recommend you start the engine with fuel oil in the crank case.

You can check the valve clearance at the valve or the cam. .22 mm at the Valve and .15mm at the cam.

I found it easier to check the clearance at the valve. You will need to review your manual to get the proper rotation and mark on the pulley end. Firing order would be 1 3 4 2

Next we check the fuel injector timing. You will need a special tool shown in the picture.

You will also need a fuel supply to get the proper flow.

Remove the check valves on each injector. You will also need a special gasket not shown for this location.

The blue tube on the tool should not drip when injection starts.

The valves were at .050+ thousands when I first checked the clearance. Not good. I set the clearance as shown. Then went to the injector timing. I did not get it correct the first time and that is why I removed the radiator to get the timing correct. I had the injector timing retarded. Or the fuel injection was to close to TDC. It needs to be close to 12 degrees before TDC.

I had it running and it smokes for a few seconds after starting then clears up with no white smoke when running.

This engine does have glow plugs and you need them even when it is warm. It seems to start when in colder climates quite well.

If you ever need to run the engine with out the valve cover on you need to plug the oil hole, or you Will get a oil bath! You can cancel the cylinders if needed to see which one is not firing.

I also purchased a compression tool to check condition of the engine. I had 400 PSI on 2 and 3. 350 PSI on 1 and 4. They were lower but getting the injector timing correct seemed to make it work. I think since the timing was off the rings may have been stuck due to incorrect fuel injection. ?

I hope this helps others.

Marty

barbender · December 26, 2016, 11:45:57 PM

Thank you for digging in and documenting it all, Marty! I have the 40hp turbo. I bought my mill used with about 1000 hours on it, and it has 1500 or so now, so I need to go through some of these adjustments. Mine runs well, they are really a nice little engine I think. The only issue I've had has been with the fuel supply lines- they get hard and the supply pump sucks air at the connections.

LeeB · December 27, 2016, 06:16:54 AM

I also have the 40 turbo. Interesting about the smoke rings. I see one every now and then when starting the engine, but only then though. Do you think it is indication of the injector timing being of as you mentioned? Not sure of the exact hours on mine because it's a long ways from where I am right now. Pretty sure it's around 3000 or maybe a little more.

fishpharmer · December 27, 2016, 08:08:01 AM

Thanks Marty, I just book marked this for future reference.

MartyParsons · December 27, 2016, 08:36:45 AM

Hello,
When this mill came in it would start but it took many cycles with the glow plugs. It smoked white would not clear up. It was only running on 3 and 4 cylinder. I really was not sure I could get it to run. I get to see about one or two of these a year. One smoke ring not sure. If you have never adjusted the valves, I think it would be time. I got a feeling the owner gave it a shot of starting fluid. These engines would not take this very well. I am guessing.
I do like these engines. They are complicated to a point that you need some special tools to adjust the injector timing. There is another tool to measure the degree advance exactly. I do not have this tool. I am still learning on these engines.
This engine is very noisy I am not sure if it is normal. It may not last. I could not get the noise to change when canceling the cylinders one by one. ???

If your engine is running rich, white smoke, hard to accelerate hard starting. You need to check the injector timing.

Marty

LeeB · December 27, 2016, 09:19:52 AM

The smoke isn't white. It nice black smoke and only make a ring occasionally. I'm sure it could use a tuneup though. I haven't put a whole lot of hours on it since I bought it 10 year ago. Not sure what the previous owner did to it. I haven't done anything other than the 2000 hour service done by Will in Missouri. It had over 2000 hours on it then. It starts fine most of the time if I let the glow plugs do their thing. Due to my hearing loss I can't always hear it when the relay clicks off to know when to crank it over. If it's sat for several months it takes a little cranking. That's when I see the smoke rings.