Engine oil ?

[GRW]

They are impossible to swing with the lever off the valve anyway..decompress a necessity

You can do so with the proper starter motors....but as above - it always seems very tough on the starter even so.
Because so many are in enclosures to meet noise regs the decomp isn't readily accessible - so most leccy start owners just beast the starter.

 

[Turbo]

Place I worked had a pressure washer for hire with a Yanmar 10hp diesel engine fitted, pull start only. There was a definite knack to starting it & even if you knew how it could still catch you out. You soon learned not to grip the pull handle too tight so that it would slide from your hand rather than wrench your shoulder if you got a kick back.

No matter how many times you showed the hirer how to start it you were guaranteed to get a phone call from an angry man with a sore shoulder asking how do you start this fing thing!

 

[Prajna]

You can do so with the proper starter motors....but as above - it always seems very tough on the starter even so.
Because so many are in enclosures to meet noise regs the decomp isn't readily accessible - so most leccy start owners just beast the starter.

My Kama genny has a L100 with a pullout knob for the decomp. When I had problems starting I'd pull it out, turn it over and push the decomp knob back in. Haven't had it running for a while; it died with a cloud of black smoke and won't crank, so I need to hoik the cover off and see what's amiss.

 

[zzr1200]

My oil (05/40w?) now comes from Costco in 20 or 25ltr blue tubs and get put in all my engines....its the cheapest semi sin oil I can find....

 

[GRW]

I don’t know of a car engine that has a decompressor - and they rarely have trouble with the starter motor.

It's much easier to turn over a multi than a single though fir any given displacement.
(Anyone who's kickstarted big single motorcycles and also kickstarted a 70's Jap Multi will know this well - the multi is easier than a moped to kick over )

 

[jerrytug]

There is no comparison between kickstarting a 500 single, and a 500 four, the four is almost no effort and will never kick back.

 

[Bornfree]

Old lister diesels had a massive flywheel that modern one's lack. The flywheel stores a huge amount of kinetic energy during cranking.

 

[GRW]

If you are comparing the total engine capacity, yes - but that is like comparing apples with oranges.

I you are comparing the same size cylinders, I disagree. It is the initial start that consumes the maximum power and the multi would need both that one pot to be driven on its compression stroke and for the rest of the engine to be accelerated from a stationary situation. There is no ‘free lunch’ where energy is concerned.

Theoretically maybe - in practice it's perhaps 50x easier to start an equivalent-capacity multi over a single.
If you'd ever tried it, you'd know

 

[roofman]

Old lister diesels had a massive flywheel that modern one's lack. The flywheel stores a huge amount of kinetic energy during cranking.

100% this ^^^^^and its the main thing lacking on the L100 Yanmars.

 

[Farside]

It's much easier to turn over a multi than a single though fir any given displacement.
(Anyone who's kickstarted big single motorcycles and also kickstarted a 70's Jap Multi will know this well - the multi is easier than a moped to kick over )

Yep, first time I kicked my 79 GS850 over it was so easy I was sure something was amiss.
Nope, it's just the puny little pistons compared to two bigger ones or one honking big one.

 

[zzr1200]

Yep, first time I kicked my 79 GS850 over it was so easy I was sure something was amiss.
Nope, it's just the puny little pistons compared to two bigger ones or one honking big one.

Agree, a DBD34GS or a GS750, I know which one I'd prefer to kick over but I also know which one I'd prefer to ride and listen too......