Priming Badly, regulator leak and injector troubles

Hi,

Thunderbolt has had his 6th steaming. i am using boiler treatment however not too much. The issue is that when i'm driving around the engine is priming a lot. is there anything that can be done about this? And will the priming cause any mechanical problems to any bearings or the crank shaft. Would you recommend i steam it a few times and only have it ticking over?

Secondly i am struggling to sort out the fact that i have a leaky regulator. what would you recommend to do with this. i have lapped in it but that doesn't seem to solve the issue

thirdly i up untill now the injector has worked fairly well not the best though but this time it was really bad. could this be to do with priming or could it be the problems with these injectors?

look forward to replies

many thanks

Priming on a new boiler is always an issue, you just need to keep filling and draining and eventually it will stop, some folks opt to not use boiler treatment for the first half dozen steamings, others I've seen take the safeties off, fill the boiler and light a fire and just boil it up several times draining it down after each one.
Keeping the water level on the lower side can help, but obviously that can have other consequences if you're not on the case.

The biggest issue is the mess it makes each time

Cant help much with the reg letting by bar doing the lapping in as it sounds like you've done ?

Re the injector, you mention you're using water treatment, are you putting this in the tender ? its not recommended as it will tend to bung up the injector over time, I've found this to my cost, the only option is to pull it off and give it a clean out with some citric acid or similar de-scaler, you might also be having issue with the priming coming over in the injector steam line and that will likely cause it to play up.
Also it really doesn't take much to bung them up, again something I found to my cost when in my early days I thought PTFE tape was needed on everything and I ended up on more than one occasion finding a tiny wisp of it jammed in the inner cone, PTFE tape is now banned on the engine

Hi Thunderbolt.
PRIMING. .
As Livesteam said it’s a little soon for water treatment, and it should not be put in the tender or belly tank.
Driving the engine hard can cause it to prime, so drive it slowly and consistently, jerking the engine or accelerating quickly will make the water in the boiler slosh back and forward.
Driving in a low gear with a high crank speed will require a greater quantity of steam, again encouraging the priming.
LEAKY REGULATOR.
Several things can cause this symptom apart from the puck to plate fit.
Is the valve plate 41203 sealed to the block properly ?
Is the puck 41350 free to move on the regulator shaft ?
Is the nut 41118 free in the puck ?
Is the regulator spring 41133 fitted properly?
Are the glands on the regulator rod over tight casing the rod to deflect ?
Is the simpling valve passing?
Sorry to answer your question with another 6 questions, but they are all possible causes.
INJECTOR.
Black magic involved with this one !!
Injectors don’t need much of an excuse to stop working !!
Firstly give the injector a good clean as livesteam suggested, don’t use anything abrasive on it.
Is the injector getting overheated ?
Check the clack ball lift is correct and the ball is clean and seated properly.
Is the Steam supply valve passing ?
Finally the hard one to find and answer, are you getting air Ingres in the suction side ?
Check all connections and the valve itself for Ingres leaks and make sure the suction filter is clear of obstruction.

Hope this helps you get it all sorted ! Good luck and happy steaming.
Simon C

I found the regulator rod began to seize in the cylinder block so I opened up the holes carefully, it's fine now. The regulator plate needs a thin gasket under it or a very thin smear of steam Seal.